Human Rights Foundations Exam

Civil rights exist primarily to..

Protect individuals from state interference

Political rights allow citizens to..

Influence government and participate in democracy

Which is a civil right?

Freedom of speech

Which is a political right?

Right to vote

Civil & political rights are often described as:

Negative rights

The purpose of civil rights during early liberalism was to limit...

The monarchy and Church control

Political rights are necessary for

Democratic governance

Which institution is expected to enforce civil & political rights?

The state

Violations of civil rights typically occur when governments...

Interfere with personal freedoms

Locke argued the state should protect...

Life, liberty, and property

Locke supported separation of Church and State because...

Belief cannot be forced by law

Enlightenment thinkers believed:

Reason can improve society

Freedom of conscience refers to...

Right to religious belief and thought

The Enlightenment challenged:

Kings and religious authority

Locke influenced which modern human right most directly?

Freedom of religion

Enlightenment rights focused mainly on:

Civil & political liberties

What was a major flaw in Enlightenment rights discourse?

It often excluded colonized and non-property owners

Enlightenment thinkers valued:

Experimentation with democracy

Article 1 in declaration of rights of man and citizen (1789) states:

Men are born free and equal in rights

Which was defined as a natural right?

Security and resistance to oppression

Sovereignty in the Declaration belongs to:

The Nation (people)

Equality under the law means:

Same penalties and protections for all citizens

Contradiction in the Declaration:

It protected slavery through property rights

The Declaration was written during:

The French Revolution

Rights in 1789 mostly applied to:

Only white, propertied men

Who could NOT vote in 1789 France?

Women and the enslaved

Declaring rights in written form reflects:

Positive Law

The Declaration inspired:

Modern human-rights movements

Enslaved rebels in 1793 declared themselves...

Royal servants

Why did planters oppose equality for free people of colour?

They feared slave uprisings

Enslaved people used rights language to:

Claim universal equality and freedom

Abolition in French colonies occurred in:

1794

What do "Black Jacobins" refer to?

Enslaved and freed people fighting for revolutionary rights

Dubois argues enslaved people were:

Political actors who expanded rights

What contradiction did colonies reveal?

Universal rights excluded the racial majority

How did enslaved uprisings reshape rights?

Forced universality in practice, not just theory

Natural law claims rights come from:

Human nature and reason

Positive law refers to rights that are:

Enforced and written into law

Why is positive law necessary?

To enforce rights in reality

When a state violates rights, the conflict is between:

Natural law and positive law

Which institution can be both protector AND violator of rights?

The State

Which statement best fits rights history?

Rights expand through struggle

Positive law without natural law leads to:

Tyranny disguised as legality

Natural law without positive law leads to:

Rights existing only as ideal

Why did Eleanor Roosevelt originally resist a separate women’s commission at the UN?

She feared it would isolate women's issues from mainstream human rights work

What was ER’s strategy for increasing women’s real political influence?

Gain power within major political bodies and "speak the language of men"

Why is the UDHR considered limited in advancing women’s rights?

It had moral influence but no enforcement mechanisms

What shifted ER’s stance toward a dedicated women’s rights body later on?

Women activists proved exclusion was ongoing at the UN

Why is CEDAW considered a landmark for women’s rights?

It requires immediate, active state action against discrimination

What was groundbreaking about the 1975 Mexico City Conference?

It united states and NGOs to globalize feminism

What key norm emerged from the Nairobi Conference (1985)?

Violence against women was a peace and security concern

Why was the Vienna Declaration (1993) a turning point?

It declared women’s rights as inalienable human rights

What did Hillary Clinton’s 1995 Beijing speech accomplish?

Publicly popularized the phrase "Women's rights are human rights" worldwide

What did Betty Friedan argue in The Feminine Mystique (1963)?

Middle-class women were oppressed by being confined to domestic roles

What key assumption limits Friedan’s feminist lens?

She centered concerns of white, economically secure women

What did Domitila Barrios de Chungara focus on?

Workers' rights, survival, and basic living conditions

Why did Domitila argue political rights alone were not enough?

Hunger, poverty, and unsafe work made rights meaningless

What feminist tension does this case illustrate?

Liberal rights fail without social and economic equality

Why did Domitila criticize wealthier feminist movements?

They ignored working-class and Global South women's struggles

Which human-rights generation aligns with Domitila’s demands?

Second-generation economic, social & cultural rights

What is the learning outcome emphasized in your lecture?

Rights must reflect local material conditions and social realities

What does capitalism depend on according to the lecture?

Wage-labour and private property

Why did early capitalism create demands for ESCR?

Industrial labour conditions produced extreme social misery

Who was most vocal in pushing ESCR into human rights debates?

International working-class movements

What contradiction does socialist thought highlight about property rights?

Private property conflicts with social equality

What historical event symbolized a revolutionary attempt at worker-led rights?

The Paris Commune (1871)

What does the lecture say about the First International (1864-1876)?

It united workers globally for rights and equality

Why did employers and states try reform (labour laws) instead of allowing revolution?

To stabilize exploitation without changing structures

Which best describes the Marxist critique of capitalism in this lecture?

Capitalism creates exploitation that must be overthrown

According to Luxemburg, why is women’s suffrage essential to the working-class movement?

Without political rights, working-class women remain powerless against state-backed capitalist exploitation

Why does Luxemburg criticize bourgeois feminist campaigns for women’s voting rights?

They assume women's oppression can be solved without transforming class relations

Which logical claim does Luxemburg make to reject the idea that women must be “educated first” before gaining rights?

Political agency develops through participation, not waiting for permission

For Luxemburg, the denial of suffrage to working-class women most clearly demonstrates:

A deliberate strategy to preserve capitalist state power

What is Luxemburg’s view of women’s role in the labour struggle before winning the vote?

They already prove political consciousness through union activism and strikes

Luxemburg’s Marxist argument for suffrage relies primarily on:

The economic fact that working women produce profit for capital

Why does Luxemburg reject the idea that gender unity automatically creates political unity?

Even oppressed women can support capitalist and monarchist interests

What broader social transformation does Luxemburg believe women’s suffrage will intensify?

Expanding socialist movements and weakening capitalist domination

What major issue led to the emergence of Mjondolo?

Unfulfilled housing development promises and forced evictions

The South African Constitution requires socio-economic rights to be:

Realized progressively within available resources

Critics of rights-based strategies argue that legal tactics often:

Create dependency on elite lawyers and NGOs

Abahlali used legal strategies initially to:

Protect members during protests and stop illegal evictions

The KZN Slums Act was challenged primarily because:

It enabled mass evictions while limiting constitutional protections

Which constitutional right did Abahlali MOST commonly invoke?

Right to adequate housing + protection from arbitrary eviction

"Living politics" for Abahlali means:

Movement-led community knowledge, autonomy, and organizing

A key positive impact of Abahlali’s rights-based strategies:

They strengthened mobilization, identity, and political legitimacy

What distinguishes “hard law” from “soft law” in international human rights?

Hard law is legally binding through ratification; soft law is normative guidance only

Why does the lecture emphasize the importance of “positive law” in human rights?

Rights become effective only when written down as enforceable obligations

The failure to acknowledge the "indivisibility" of rights during the Cold War led to:

PRIORITIZING civil & political rights while sidelining ESCR

Which concept best describes how states must implement ESCR over time?

"Progressive realization" — states must take continuous steps toward full ESCR

What is one major criticism of “progressive realization,” as noted in the slides?

It can be used as an excuse to delay fulfillment indefinitely

Why does the state remain central to ESCR enforcement even after treaties exist?

States are the primary human rights duty-bearers under international law

Which of the following is a positive right?

Right to adequate housing

Why are ESCR more likely to be violated than civil & political rights?

They demand funding, policy change, and political will that states may resist

Which rhetorical strategy does Ho Chi Minh use at the start of the Declaration to legitimize Vietnam’s independence?

Cites U.S. and French revolutionary texts that Western powers claim to uphold

What contradiction does Ho Chi Minh highlight regarding France’s claims of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”?

France oppressed and exploited Vietnamese people despite claiming universal rights

Which concept of human rights does Ho Chi Minh emphasize as violated by colonial rule?

Both civil-political and economic-social rights

Why does Ho Chi Minh argue the French lost any legitimacy to return after WWII?

France twice surrendered the country to Japan, proving it could not "protect" Vietnam

Why does Ho Chi Minh emphasize Vietnam’s own role in defeating Japan?

To show independence was won, not granted by colonial powers

What specific grievance shows colonial rule as a threat to the right to life?

Two million Vietnamese died of famine under French and Japanese occupation

By invoking both U.S. and French revolutions, Ho Chi Minh:

Holds colonial powers accountable to their own principles