SOCIAL RIGHTS FOR WHOM? ON UNIVERSALITY AS A FEATURE OF SOCIAL RIGHTS

Universality is claimed as a main feature of Human Rights and it is supposed to be a characteristic and distinctive feature of them. Nevertheless, many lawyers and legal philosophers sustain that extending universality to Social and Economic Rights is wrong both conceptually and politically. They hold that Social and Economic Rights are not for everyone, but only for whom that need them. They argue that Social Rights are particular rights (rights for people who are not capable of satisfy their needs) and that a different conception would beunfair. This paper analyses what universalism is, and discusses and rejects the idea that Social Rights are not universal. Eventually, is defended a conception of Social and Economic Rights as means of decommodification of social relations.