Solidarity as a Human Right

After exploring the relationship between solidarity and human rights, I argue that, when considering civic solidarity, the right to solidarity as a human right may be understood as the negative right not to be hindered by social vulnerabilities in the exercise of citizen rights. I define social vulnerabilities as those vulnerabilities that result from structures of society. As a negative right, the right to solidarity shifts attention away from what is necessary for basic flourishing and toward what social structures hinder full participation in other civic or political obligations and rights. The analysis of a human right to solidarity provides a useful framework for understanding the crisis in solidarity in the European Union and helps to elucidate the obligations of other regional and global solidarity relations.