Each person has a basic dignity that stems from our very creation rather than from any action on our own part. The dignity of the human person is a criterion against which all economic, political, and social systems are to be judged and all aspects of the debt situation must be measured. Rights and Duties Human rights are moral claims to goods broadly defined which are necessary to protect and promote human dignity. They specify the minimum conditions necessary to protect and promote human dignity in the political, social, and economic order. In Catholic social teaching, rights and duties also extend to relationships among states.
States have responsibilities to each other and to the international common good.
The Community Rights, duties, and human dignity are protected or eroded by the social communities in which people live. All individuals have the duty, as members of society, to contribute to and to further the achievement of the common good. The common good is defined as the sum total of those conditions in society that make it possible for all people to achieve their full human development. The common good has both national and international dimensions. However, there is currently no entity, which carries the responsibility and power to promote the international common good.