Unfinished business: Human Duties

Seventy years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world reality shows a strong frustration regarding the levels of satisfaction of human rights. In the search for answers to reverse this situation, Human Duties appear as a key element to be taken into account. As a counter-face, foundation and limit to Rights, the vindication of Duties claims a vehement centrality in order to achieve, as José Saramago asks, a better world. This essay will attempt to approach Human Duties on the basis of the difficulty in their conceptualisation, then it will be necessary to take a historical look at the changes in the paradigm of law and the different international documents on the subject; this journey will in turn allow us to determine certain causes that have led to their invisibility, in order to finally propose a concept and characteristics of human duties.