Social Justice Activism

Freedom of association;
Freedoms necessary for the liberty and integrity of the person (namely: freedom
from slavery, freedom of movement and a reasonable degree of freedom to
choose one's occupation); and
Rights and liberties covered by the rule of law.
Thomas Pogge
Thomas Pogge's arguments pertain to a standard of social justice that creates human
rights deficits. He assigns responsibility to those who actively cooperate in designing or
imposing the social institution, that the order is foreseeable as harming the global poor
and is reasonably avoidable. Pogge argues that social institutions have a negative duty
to not harm the poor.
Pogge speaks of "institutional cosmopolitanism" and assigns responsibility to
institutional schemes for deficits of human rights. An example given is slavery and third
parties. A third party should not recognize or enforce slavery. The institutional order
should be held responsible only for deprivations of human rights that it establishes or
authorizes. The current institutional design, he says, systematically harms developing
economies by enabling corporate tax evasion, illicit financial flows, corruption, trafficking
of people and weapons. Joshua Cohen disputes his claims based on the fact that some
poor countries have done well with the current institutional design. Elizabeth Kahn
argues that some of these responsibilities should apply globally.
United Nations
The United Nations calls social justice "an underlying principle for peaceful and
prosperous coexistence within and among nations.
The United Nations’ 2006 document Social Justice in an Open World: The Role of the
United Nations, states that "Social justice may be broadly understood as the fair and
compassionate distribution of the fruits of economic growth ..."
The term "social justice" was seen by the U.N. "as a substitute for the protection of
human rights [and] first appeared in United Nations texts during the second half of the
1960s. At the initiative of the Soviet Union, and with the support of developing countries,
the term was used in the Declaration on Social Progress and Development, adopted in
1969."
The same document reports, "From the comprehensive global perspective shaped by
the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, neglect of
the pursuit of social justice in all its dimensions translates into de facto acceptance of a
future marred by violence, repression and chaos." The report concludes, "Social justice
is not possible without strong and coherent redistributive policies conceived and
implemented by public agencies."
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