Self-assessment: Respect, Protect, Fulfil, Promote
How well do you understand the four types of duties?
Instructions: Having watched the video lecture, test your knowledge of the four types of duties. For each of the examples given, identify which of the four types of duties (Respect, Protect, Fulfil, Promote) is most relevant to the obligation on the government. More than one type of duty might be relevant, in which case you can click on more than one answer.
1. Allowing for a free press.
Answer: The duty to respect, because governments must not interfere by banning news they don’t like or arbitrarily revoking or not granting media licenses. But the duty to protect might also be relevant. Most countries considered to have a free press put laws in place to guard against undue concentration in media ownership, and also take other steps to ensure a diversity of views in a free and open press.
2. Increasing the education budget to build more schools.
Answer: The duty to fulfill is most relevant in this case, because it is about using state resources to ensure the right to education is enjoyed by all children.
3. Tightening regulations preventing discrimination in the workplace.
Answer: The duty to protect is most relevant in this case – the government is taking positive steps to ensure that in workplaces employers cannot discriminate. The duty to fulfil might also be at issue, because for these regulations to work the government may need to increase funding to those overseeing the regulations and to tribunals where workers can bring complaints.
4. Prosecuting police officers guilty of ill-treating detainees.
Answer: Police officers are agents of the state and prosecuting them for mistreating detainees is part of a state’s duty to respect the rights of detainees.
5. Including anti-discrimination material in school curricula.
Answer: In this situation, the state is carrying out its duty to promote non-discrimination.
6. Enforcing laws against domestic violence.
Answer: Enforcing these laws is an example of the state meeting its duty to protect women from real or threatened violence, wherever it occurs.