Atrocity Crimes: Quiz 1

Clemson University - Atrocity Crimes JUST-4850

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

A foundational document adopted by the UN on December 10, 1948, that sets a global standard for human rights treatment but is not a legally binding law.

International Bill of Human Rights

The core global human rights framework comprising five key documents: the UDHR, ICCPR, ICESCR, and two Optional Protocols to the ICCPR.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

A major UN treaty focused on protecting freedoms such as speech, religion, voting, and life, ratified by the US in 1992 with non-self-executing reservations.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

A UN treaty emphasizing rights to fair working conditions, health, education, and social security, signed by the US in 1977 but never ratified by the Senate.

First-generation human rights

Political and security rights that protect individual liberty and personal integrity from state power, including rights to vote and freedom from torture.

Second-generation human rights

Subsistence and socio-economic rights focused on essential human needs, such as healthcare, education, shelter, and fair labor conditions.

Third-generation human rights

Solidarity and collective rights centered on group identity and community well-being, such as the right to a healthy environment, peace, and self-determination.

Radical Relativism

The theoretical position asserting that culture is the sole origin of moral rules and human rights, denying the existence of universal presocial rights.

Radical Universalism

The view that cultural context is entirely irrelevant to human rights, asserting that all rights apply identically everywhere without exception.

Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

An international norm stating that states must protect their populations from mass atrocities, and that the international community must intervene if a state fails to do so.

Retributive Justice

An approach to transitional justice centered on prosecuting, trying, and punishing individual perpetrators of mass atrocities.

Restorative Justice

A transitional justice model focusing on repairing societal relationships and documenting truth through nonjudicial bodies like truth commissions.

Reparative Justice

A framework within transitional justice aimed at addressing victims' suffering and losses through official apologies, financial compensation, and restitution.

UN Security Council Permanent Members

The five nations—United States, Russia, China, France, and United Kingdom—holding permanent seats and veto power over peacekeeping and diplomacy resolutions.

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The primary judicial organ of the UN, located in The Hague, Netherlands, consisting of 15 judges who resolve legal disputes submitted by sovereign states.