The Forgotten Dimension of Human Dignity

For decades, human rights discussions have revolved around civil, political, and economic rights. These rights are fundamental, but there is a notable gap: our emotions, often referred to as affective rights. Emotions shape our interactions, contribute to our sense of dignity, and profoundly impact the quality of our lives. Yet, despite their importance, they remain largely unprotected within our legal and ethical frameworks.

Our emotional experiences are not peripheral to human existence; they are central to our wellbeing and identity. For instance, the joy of witnessing a child’s first steps or the love we feel for family and friends gives life meaning and purpose. However, while we have protections against physical harm and privacy invasions, legal frameworks rarely protect us from emotional exploitation or violation. This gap in protection fails to recognize the deep harm that can result when our emotional lives are infringed upon, disrespected, or manipulated.

The Reality of Affective Rights

Affective rights are about safeguarding people from emotional harm and honouring emotional integrity. Emotional harm may leave no physical scars, yet it can be as damaging as physical injury. The exploitation or degradation of our emotional lives often occurs in subtle but harmful ways, whether through relationships, workplaces, or increasingly, in the digital and social media space.

To understand the impact of affective rights, consider two powerful examples of emotional harm linked to cultural identity: the Irish response to the British red poppy on November 11 and the feelings of Aboriginal Australians about January 26, the date of Australia Day.

For many in Ireland, the British red poppy symbolizes a history of oppression and conflict rather than commemoration. The poppy, intended to honour British soldiers who died in war, is seen by many Irish as a reminder of Britain’s colonial past and its impact on Irish lives. The display of red poppies on November 11 can feel like an emotional imposition, one that ignores the deep historical wounds of Ireland’s struggle for independence. The lack of legal or cultural protection for these feelings underscores a failure to recognize the emotional integrity of communities with distinct historical experiences. Recognizing affective rights in such cases could help foster understanding and respect for these complex emotions, making it easier for societies to navigate shared histories without imposing psychological harm.

Similarly, January 26—the date commemorated as Australia Day—evokes pain for many Indigenous Australians. For Aboriginal communities, this day marks the arrival of British colonizers, a historical moment tied to the dispossession, violence, and systemic discrimination against their people. Celebrating Australia Day on this date can feel like a disregard for their trauma, a deep wound that remains unhealed. An understanding of affective rights would recognize that emotional and cultural sensitivities deserve consideration and that symbolic choices like the celebration of national holidays impact more than just historical memory; they impact emotional dignity and the cultural wellbeing of entire communities.

Emotional Exploitation and Modern Technology

In the contemporary digital world, our emotions are increasingly targeted, manipulated, and sometimes exploited for profit. Social media platforms, for example, deliberately push users' emotional buttons to increase engagement, relying on psychological tactics to keep people scrolling and engaging, often at the cost of their emotional health. The problem here is not just a matter of marketing but rather a deliberate intrusion into users' emotional lives. By recognizing affective rights, society could create legal safeguards to protect individuals from this kind of exploitation, ensuring that our emotional experiences are treated with respect rather than as commodities.

Furthermore, emerging technologies like emotion-recognition tools pose new risks. These tools have the capacity to scan, quantify, and interpret emotional responses, potentially paving the way for significant breaches of emotional privacy. Imagine a world where our feelings can be tracked, analysed, and used without our consent. Recognizing affective rights in this context would mean advocating for restrictions on such technologies, protecting our emotional integrity from unwanted intrusions.

Why Emotions Deserve Protection

Some critics argue that regulating emotions is unrealistic. However, recognizing affective rights isn’t about legislating feelings themselves; it’s about safeguarding people’s emotional integrity against undue harm. Emotions are intrinsic to human dignity, shaping our decisions, relationships, and sense of self. By ignoring this aspect of human experience, we risk reducing our understanding of what it means to be fully human. Affective rights are not about fostering victimhood but rather about ensuring that our rights frameworks acknowledge the full spectrum of human experiences.

The Irish and Australian examples illustrate the impact of disregarding emotional histories and sensitivities. Just as physical wellbeing is safeguarded through laws against assault and harassment, emotional wellbeing deserves similar recognition. In practical terms, protecting affective rights could mean expanding legal definitions of harm to include severe emotional distress. It could also involve establishing guidelines for technologies that interact with human emotions or stronger protections against psychological manipulation in advertising and social media.

Practical Steps Toward Protecting Affective Rights

Developing a framework for affective rights requires a thoughtful approach. We already recognize subjective experiences like pain and suffering in other areas of law, such as personal injury cases. Similarly, we could develop a framework to recognize severe emotional harm, particularly when inflicted intentionally or recklessly. Ethical guidelines for emotion recognition technologies, for example, could ensure they are used responsibly and respectfully.

Digital environments are particularly challenging. Cyberbullying, trolling, and harassment have become significant sources of emotional harm, often with no recourse for victims. Recognizing affective rights could support the creation of healthier online environments, where people have a right to participate without fear of emotional assault. In workplaces, protections against physical harassment could be extended to cover persistent emotional harassment, recognizing that such harm can profoundly affect confidence and mental health.

Addressing the Sceptics

Some may dismiss affective rights as vague or overly "touchy-feely," questioning their enforceability. Emotions, after all, are complex and subjective. But complexity alone should not deter us. In other legal contexts, we already address subjective harms, such as emotional distress or mental anguish. With the right approach, we can extend similar protections to encompass emotional wellbeing.

Consider the workplace, where employees are shielded from physical harassment, yet often remain vulnerable to emotional harassment. Subtle, persistent undermining and gaslighting can damage mental health and erode confidence, yet these are rarely acknowledged as legitimate harms. Recognizing affective rights could provide a foundation for addressing such issues, affirming that mental and emotional wellbeing is essential to a respectful and productive workplace.

Affective Rights and the Future of Human Rights

The need to address affective rights is part of a broader effort to adapt human rights to the complexities of the 21st century. We must decide whether we want a world in which emotional lives can be manipulated and commodified or a society that respects the full depth of human experience. Expanding human rights to include affective rights is not just progressive; it reflects a commitment to dignity and to honouring the potential of human beings.

Protecting affective rights is not merely about individual comfort but about recognizing the essential components of humanity. In a world where emotional lives are increasingly under pressure from technology, relentless productivity demands, and invasive media, prioritizing emotional integrity is more important than ever. Addressing affective rights allows us to build a society that values the complete human experience, affirming that our emotions deserve respect, dignity, and protection.

Moving Forward

Affective rights are a necessary extension of human rights, addressing the need to safeguard our emotional integrity in a rapidly changing world. While defining and enforcing these rights will pose challenges, they are challenges we must confront if we are to build a humane society. Just as we have established protections for physical bodies, autonomy, and personal privacy, we must now extend these protections to the emotional realm.

The examples of the red poppy in Ireland and Australia Day for Aboriginal communities serve as potent reminders that emotional and cultural sensitivities matter. Our emotional lives shape who we are, and they deserve the same respect and protection as our physical and rational lives. Recognizing affective rights is an essential step in affirming what it means to be human in the modern era.

Our emotional lives are not incidental but central to our dignity and self-worth. Protecting them is about affirming our humanity. Affective rights reflect a vision for a society that honours every facet of human existence, and recognizing them is vital to protecting what makes us whole.