A more democratic and therefore more peaceful world

Democracies, while not more peaceful than other kinds of states in most respects, nevertheless almost never fight each other. The apparent reason is a recognition by the people of such states that other democratically‐governed states share a commitment to individual rights and peaceful conflict resolution within their systems, and the consequent assumption that similar norms can make possible the peaceful settlement of conflicts of interests between such states. Movement toward greater democracy has been occurring in most of the third world and many communist countries; this movement has important implications for the prospect of peace between at least somewhat democratized states, and especially important implications for U.S.‐Soviet relations. Democratization can be assisted by a combination of diplomacy, promotion of international communication, and normative concern for human rights.     

GLOBAL BIOETHICS: TRANSNATIONAL EXPERIENCES AND ISLAMIC BIOETHICS

In the 1970s “bioethics” emerged as a new interdisciplinary discourse on medicine, health care, and medical technologies, primarily in Western, developed countries. The main focus was on how individual patients could be empowered to cope with the challenges of science and technology. Since the 1990s, the main source of bioethical problems is the process of globalization, particularly neo‐liberal market ideology. Faced with new challenges such as poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, hunger, pandemics, and organ trafficking the bioethical discourse of empowering individuals is no longer sufficient. Global bioethics nowadays is concerned with applying and implementing a universal ethical framework. Islamic bioethics has contributed to creating such framework (exemplified in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights) while at the same time it is continuously articulating and interpreting this framework in specific settings and contexts.     

试论伊斯兰妇女权益保护思想及其实践

妇女是人类社会历史发展中一支不可忽视的重要力量,当今,妇女地位的高低已成为衡量一个社会文明程度的主要标准之一;而对于妇女权益的尊重与保护,更是人们普遍关注的热点话题。然而,在人类的历史上,歧视妇女的现象由来已久且非常普遍。本文试图从伊斯兰教对于妇女在基本权益、宗教信仰、婚姻家庭以及社会生活等领域的权利与义务的论述,力图较为全面地阐释伊斯兰妇女权益保护思想及其实践,从而增进不同民族、不同宗教间妇女同胞之间的相互了解、交流与尊重,共同努力构建一个理解、宽容、团结、友爱的和谐社会。     

Parallels in Preschoolers' and Adults' Judgments About Ownership Rights and Bodily Rights

Understanding ownership rights is necessary for socially appropriate behavior. We provide evidence that preschoolers' and adults' judgments of ownership rights are related to their judgments of bodily rights. Four‐year‐olds (n = 70) and adults (n = 89) evaluated the acceptability of harmless actions targeting owned property and body parts. At both ages, evaluations did not vary for owned property or body parts. Instead, evaluations were influenced by two other manipulations—whether the target belonged to the agent or another person, and whether that other person approved of the action. Moreover, these manipulations influenced judgments for owned objects and body parts in the same way: When the other person approved of the action, participants' judgments were positive regardless of who the target belonged to. In contrast, when that person disapproved, judgments depended on who the target belonged to. These findings show that young children grasp the importance of approval or consent for ownership rights and bodily rights, and likewise suggest that people's notions of ownership rights are related to their appreciation of bodily rights.     

Islam Returns to Spain: Religious Diversity,Political Discourse and Women's Rights

On February 14, 2013, the Tribunal Supremo of Spain handed down a judgement which gave constitutional protection to the burka and which also contained important statements concerning contemporary Spanish society, its religious and cultural diversity and the convivencia of cultures and religions. Contrary to the position of the Tribunal Supremo, and showing very little variation, the political discourse is in favour of a ban, basing its arguments principally on women's rights, but with a perceptible shift towards public safety. This article will examine this bifurcated reaction to this manifestation of renewed religious diversity in Spain: the politicians’ arguments in favour of prohibition reflect the protectionist view of the French and Belgian parliamentary debates prohibiting the burka, but place them in the framework of the post-Franco rights-based society. On the other hand, the Tribunal Supremo anchors its judgement in a narrative of a free and democratic Spanish state and society in which a woman's individual freedom of choice takes precedence over all other considerations, including social norms.     

The five connections: A human rights framework for psychologists

This article provides a brief introduction to human rights, describes why human rights are intrinsic to psychology, and introduces the “Five Connections Framework,” which was adopted by the American Psychological Association in 2021. This framework articulates five distinct relationships between human rights and psychology: (a) Psychologists possess rights by virtue of being human, as well as specific rights essential to their profession and discipline; (b) Psychologists apply their knowledge and methods to the greater realisation of human rights; (c) Psychologists respect human rights and oppose the misuse of psychological science; (d) Psychologists ensure access to the benefits of psychological science and practice; and, (e) Psychologists advocate for human rights. Each of the five connections is described, highlighting implications for psychological research, practice, training and advocacy, with suggestions for how these connections can guide and inspire individual psychologists and psychological associations worldwide.     

The Concerned Mental Health Practitioner

Summary

A discussion is provided regarding a fundamental principle of psychology, a concern for other's welfare, as set out in the American Psychological Association's (2002) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Although the principle concern for others' welfare is essentially aspirational in nature, this is an ethical principle that is at the core of the mental health professions' stated values, and that must be positively put into operation in a variety of professional contexts. Unlike so much else in professional ethics codes that involves injunctions of what not to do, or which attempts to limit the self-serving tendencies of professionals, this general principle is essentially positive, pointing to the need to approach others and to consider their welfare first.     

THE CONCEPT OF DIGNITY IN THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

This essay examines the function of the concept of human dignity (both as an inherent feature of human existence and as an ideal achievement) in the United Nations's 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It explains why the key framers of the document affirmed an inherent human dignity in order to provide an explanatory basis for the validity of universal human rights while eschewing any religious or metaphysical justification for this affirmation. It argues that the key framers, while aware of the Christian anthropology informing the modern Western concept of the dignity of the person, grasped (1) that the Declaration, to be ratifiable, would need to be free of religious reference, and also (2) that the notion of inherency suffices to suggest heuristically not only a universal human nature but also, crucially, a transcendent reality in which all persons participate.     

Rethinking the Comparative Study of Religious Ethics

This essay describes the author's change of approach to the comparative study of religious ethics from the one contained in a book on the subject (with Sumner B. Twiss), published in 1978. The change resulted from interactions with Abdulaziz Sachedina, the noted scholar of Islam, demonstrating the importance of comparing different ethical systems in reference to global topics like human rights, particularly the right to freedom of conscience.     

Male/Male Sex in Hong Kong: Privacy,Please?

In August 2005, the age of consent for male/male sexual activity in Hong Kong was held to be arbitrarily and discriminatorily targeting gay men and thus in violation of an individual’s right to privacy and his right of equality on the basis of sexual orientation. While the decision has since been affirmed on appeal, it has been argued that judicial recourse to equality rights where privacy rights would have sufficed for the provisions to be struck down was a misguided, if not mistaken, effort that merely reinforced the stereotype that gay men are “hypersexualized” and was a setback for the gay rights movement in Hong Kong. This article examines whether the argument is a well-founded one and discusses the implications of confining a man’s right to have consensual sex with another man to his privacy rights alone.