Children’s Right to an Open Future

Moinifar, Mohaddetheh

Children’s Right to an Open Future

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Mohaddetheh Moinifar

Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Jurisprudence and Law, Faculty of Islamic Sciences and Research, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran

Abstract

One of the spiritual rights of children is the right to an open and free future, which scientists have put forward in various expressions. This paper aims to examine the various dimensions of the right and to justify it in theories of law. It, therefore, seeks to answer the question "What is the concept and basis of justifying the right to an open future and what are the criticisms of it? Everything that is expressed as the right to an open future or other titles seems to refer to the same right to individual freedom and independence that has been taken as a right within the framework of determinism which is basically a corrupt idea that cannot be the correct basis for creating and enforcing the right. Hence, with this theory, the enforcement and implementation of the right cannot be guaranteed. Moreover, this right in the Islamic view has no rational and defensible basis, because Islam basically prevents the conflict between the rights of children and parents as much as possible by enacting the correct laws, and finally, in case of conflict, it offers solutions to resolve it. In addition, this right is based on a set of probabilities that are not provable.

Keywords

Right

Child

Criticism

Right of Ignorance

Open Future

The Holy Qurān

Altman, Scott. 2018. "Reinterpreting the Right to an Open Future: from Autonomy to Authenticity", in: Law and Philosophy, vol. 37, pp. 415-436.

Anonymous. 1997. Cloning Human Beings: Report and Recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, available from:

http://bioethics.georgetown.edu/pcbe/reports/past_commissions/nbac_cloning.pdf (Accessed 15 Sep 2010).

Anonymous. 2000. "Human Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (Cloning)". In: Fertility and Sterility, vol. 74, no. 5, pp. 873-876.

Bernard, Prusak. 2008. "Not Good Enough Parenting: What’s Wrong with the Child’s Right to an “Open Future”". In: Social Theory and Practice, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 271- 291.

Bredenoord, Annelien et al. 2014. "The Right to an Open Future concerning Genetic Information". In: The American Journal of Bioethics, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 21-23.

Brock, Dan W. 2002. "Human Cloning and Our Sense of Self". In: Science, vol. 296, no. 55-66, pp. 314-316.

Burley, Justine; Harris, John. 1999. "Human Cloning and Child Welfare". In: Journal of Medical Ethics, no. 25, pp. 108-113.

Chadwik, Ruth F. 1982. "Cloning". In: Philosophy, vol. 57, no. 220, pp. 201-209.

Champon, Benoit. 2003. How to Regulate Embryo Research? A Procedural Approach, First Edition, Canada: Hetitage Brand.

Chen, Jason. 2016. "The Right to Self-development: An Addition to the Child’s Right to an Open Future". In: Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 47, issue 4, pp. 439-456.

Cutas, Daniela; Hens, Kristien. 2015. "Preserving Children’s Fertility: Two Tales about Children’s Right to an Open Future and the Margins of Parental Obligations". In: Med Health Care and Philos, no. 18, pp. 253-260.

Darby, Robert J. L. 2012. "The Child’s Right to an Open Future: Is the Principle Applicable to Non-therapeutic Circumcision". In: J Med Ethics, no. 39, pp. 463-468.

Davis, Dena S. 1997. "The Child’s Right to an Open Future: Yoder and Beyond". In: Capital University Law Review, vol. 26, no. 93, pp. 93-105.

Davis, Dena S. 2012. "The Parental Investment Factor and the Child’s Right to an Open Future". In: Hastings Center Report, vol. 9, issue 2, pp. 24-27.

Dworkin, Roland. 2007. Taking Rights Seriously, London: Duckworth, 1977. In: Carter, Ian; Kramer, Matthew h.; Steiner, Hillel, Freedom a Philosophical Anthology, Australia.

Esmaili, Mostafa. 2009. "Shabih-sazi wa Payamad-hay Feghhi, Kalami wa Akhlaghi An (Cloning and Its Jurisprudential, Theological and Moral Consequences). In: Medical Law, no. 8, pp. 109-147. [in Farsi]

Gethmann, C. F.; Thiele, F. 2001. "Moral Arguments against the Cloning of Humans". In: Poiesis Prax, no. 1, pp. 35-46.

Harris, John. n.d. Clones, Genes and Reproductive Autonomy the Ethics of Human Cloning, Oxford: The Center for Social Ethics and Policy, pp. 209-217.

Hottois, Gilbert. 1998. "Is Cloning the Absolute Evil?", in: Human Reproduction Update, vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 787-790.

Johnston, Judith A. 2007. "Tied up in Notes over Genetic Parentage". In: The Hastings Center Report, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 28-30.

Karimi, Abbas; Chalbi, Azadeh. 2008. "Moarrefi wa Bast Nazariyeh Hufold az Hagh wa Karbord An dar Zamineh Hoghugh Kudak (Introduction and Development of Hoffeld's Theory of Rights and Its Application in the Field of Child Rights). In: Law Quarterly Journal, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 211-231. [in Farsi]

Kuhse, Helga. 2001. "Should Cloning be Banned for the Sake of the Child?". In: Poiesis Prax, no. 1, pp. 17-33.

Langton, Rae. 2009. Sexual Solipsism, New York: Oxford University Press.

Lotz, Mianna. 2006. "Feinberg, Mills, and the Child's Right to an Open Future". In: Journal of Social Philosophy, Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 537-551.

Macintosh, Kerry Lynn. 2005. Illegal Beings Human Clones and the Law, First Edition, New York: Cambridge University Press.

McGee, Glenn. 1999. "Cloning, the Family and Adoption".In: Science and Engineering Ethics, no. 5, pp. 47-54.

Melo-Martin, Inmaculada De. 2002. "On Cloning Human Beings". In: Bioethics, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 246-265.

Mills, Claudia. 2003. "The Child’s Right to an Open Future". In: Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 499-509.

Millum, Joseph. 2014. "The Foundation of the Child’s Right to an Open Future". In: Jounal of Social Philosophy, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 522-538.

Mintz, Rachel L. et al. 2019. "Will CRISPR Germline Engineering Close the Door to an Open Future". In: Science and Engineering Ethics, no. 25, pp. 1409-1423.

Moinifar, Mohaddetheh. 2019. "Tazahom Hagh Madar ba Hagh Hayat Janin dar Nezam-hay Hoghughi (Conflict of Maternal Rights with the Right to Life of the Fetus in Legal Systems). In: Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, yr. 12, no. 1, pp. 422-437. [in Farsi]

Morgan, J. 2005. "Religious Upbringing, Religious Diversity and the Child's Right to an Open Future". In: Studies in Philosophy and Education, no. 24, pp. 367-387.

Murdoch, Jenny. 2014. Re-defining an Open Future, The Child's Right to an Open Future Revisited from a Virtue-ethics Perspective, Submitted to the University of Hertfordshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of MA by Research.

Nabawiyan, Seyyed Mahmud. 2011. Falsafeh Hagh (1): Tarikhcheh wa Mafhum Hagh (Philosophy of Right (1): History and Concept of Right, Qom: Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute. [in Farsi]

Nurmohammadi, Gholam Reza. 2005. Shabih-sazi Ensan: Bim-ha wa Omid-ha (Human Cloning: Fears and Hopes), Qom: Maaref, First Edition. [in Farsi]

Ranjbariyan, Amir Hoseyn; Seyf Zahra. 2009. "Chalesh-hay Hoghugh Bashari Shabih-sazi Ensan (Human Rights Challenges of Human Cloning). In: Law Quarterly Journal of the Faculty of Law and Political Science, vol. 1, pp. 129-156.

Schmidt, Eric B. 2007. "The Parental Obligation to Expand a Child’s Range of Open Futures When Making Genetic Trait Selections for Their Child". In: Bioethics, vol. 21, issue 4, pp. 191-197.

Sparrow, Robert. 2012. "A Child’s Right to a Decent Future? Regulating Human Genetic Enhancement in Multicultural Societies". In: Asian Bioethics Review, vol. 4, issue 4, pp. 355-373.

Spier, Raymond. 1999. "An Approach to the Ethics of Cloning Humans via an Examination of Ethical Issue Pertaining to the Use of Any Tool". In: Science and Engineering Ethics, no. 5, pp. 17-32.

Tooley, Michael. 2006. The Moral Status of the Cloning of Humans, Bioethics: an Anthology, First Edition, Australia: Black well Publishing.

Waldron, Jeremy. 2002. Philosophy of Right: Right and Expediency, Translated by Mohammad Rasekh, Tehran: Tarh No, First Edition. [in Farsi]

Watt, Helen. 2002. "Thinking Twice: Cloning and in Vitro Fertilization". In: Ethics & Medicine, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 35-43.