DPP faculty member Cameran Ashraf publishes new paper in Human Rights Review

August 21, 2023
Cameran Ashraf

DPP Assistant Professor Cameran Ashraf has published a new paper in Human Rights Review, together with his research assistant Nicky Deluggi, a CEU alumna. The main questions of the article are the following: What do politicians owe their constituents?  Are we owed the truth, or is it OK for elected officials to lie?  What if the lies are detrimental to individuals, societies, and the natural environment?  The paper analyzes European Convention on Human Rights case law to argue that human rights law provides an argumentative basis for extending individuals' rights towards a "right to truth spoken by politicians".  However, there are challenges in balancing a potential restriction of lies which leaves a vacuum in rights protections for less visible long-term harms to individuals, societies, and the natural environment.  This paper further argues that it is necessary to rethink the notion of harm to encompass more complex and abstract forms of damage to individuals and the broader public. 

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