Relational Rights

Relational Rights — A Discussion Paper
by Emily Ho, Matthew Fergusson, Jeremy Ive & Michael Schluter

Relational Rights are proposed as a distinct understanding of the rights of every human person, understood as interdependent persons in relationships with one another. They seek to protect important interpersonal interests with a view to securing healthy and proximate interpersonal relationships between people. Although these interests would include many core freedoms that are presently recognised as individual rights—such as free expression and freedom of religious belief—they would be justified not by an ideal of individual autonomy, but rather an ideal of healthy and proximate relationships between interdependent persons.

In a claim for a relational right, each right is located within the full matrix of rights and responsibilities attaching to the interpersonal relationships involved in a dispute. Therefore, in a claim for a right, an individual’s claim does not take presumed precedence over the interests of other stakeholders in the relationship. Furthermore, the outcome of a claim would be one that seeks common understanding and relational restoration rather than an individual’s atomised autonomy, hearing input from stakeholders and constructing judgments and remedies that best address all the various relational rights and obligations involved.