Rights as Security

A legal and conceptual inquiry into the meaning of the right to security of person, drawing on case law (primarily from Canada, South Africa, and Europe) as well criminology, security studies, and philosophy.

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The right to security of person is widely recognized but little understood. Courts, legislatures, and scholars disagree about how the right to security of person should be defined. This book investigates the meaning of the right to security of person through an analysis of its constituent parts. Applying an original conceptual analysis of 'security', the right to security of person imposes both positive and negative duties. Also, identifying the interests to be protected by the right requires a theory of personhood or wellbeing such as Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum's 'capabilities approach'. It is accepted that any existing legal rights to security of person must be artificially delineated in order not to overstep the boundaries of other rights. In recognition of the naturally broad meaning of the right to security of person, it is proposed that human rights law as a whole should be seen as a mechanism to further security of person: rights as security.