International Politics | Chapter 12 - Human Rights

human rights

the rights possessed by all individuals by virtue of being human, regardless of their status was citizens of particular states or members of a group or organization.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, this declaration defines a "common standard of achievement for all peoples" and forms the foundation of modern human rights law. Its 30 articles identity a diverse set of rights.

René Cassin, one of the main authors of the UDHR, described the document as having four pillars supporting what?? (4)

dignity, liberty, equality, brotherhood

NOTE: 4 PILLARS

NOTE: 4 PILLARS

each of the pillars represents a different historical principal and philosophy of human rights.

the first two articles of the UDHR stand for a timeless human dignity shared by all individuals regardless of race, religion, nationality, or sex. Articles 3 to 19 of the declaration define a first generation of civil liberties and other rights founded in a Western philosophical and legal tradition begun during the enlightenment. Articles 20 to 26 focus on political, social, and economic equality, a second generation of rights that emerged during the Industrial Revolution and that is associated with socialist thought. Articles 27 to 28 address rights of communal and national solidarity, first developed in the late nineteenth century and championed by the states emerging from colonialism.

genocide

(according to the ________ Convention)... acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. (this was the first piece of hard international human rights law).

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

the agreement completed in 1966 and in force from 1976 that details the basic civil and political rights of individuals and nations.

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

the agreement completed in 1966 and in force from 1976 that specifies the basic economic, social, and cultural rights of individuals and nations.

what was the United Nations specifically trying to develop while trying to translate the UDGR into legally binding and internationally enforceable treaties?

two separate treaties.

what were the two treaties supposed to be individually about?

one focusing on the civil and political rights of liberty then favored by Western states, one focusing on the economic, social, and cultural rights of equality and brotherhood supported by the then-communist states and others in the developing world.

what exactly does the ICCPR do?

details the basic rights of individuals and nations, defining in sometimes more precise terms the political and civil rights first claimed in the UDHR.

what exactly does the ICESCR do?

specifies the basic economic, social, and cultural rights of individuals and nations, including the right to earn wages sufficient to support a minimum standard of living, equal pay for equal work, equal opportunity for advancement, the right to form trade unions etc. also forbids the exploitation of children and requires all countries to cooperate to end world hunger.

International Bill of Rights

refers collectively to the UDHR, the ICCPR, and the ICESCR. Together, these three agreements form the core of the international human rights regime.

NOTE: HUMAN RIGHTS CONTROVERSIAL

NOTE:

why are human rights controversial?

because of differing legal traditions, domestic political regimes and institutions, and philosophies, states often have different interests in human rights. Even though human rights are by definition universal, states do not necessarily have the same interests in promoting the same rights to the same extent. They also have an interest in preserving their own sovereignty.

Critics of the rights specified in the UDHR point to their origin in a Western, liberal philosophical tradition that emphasizes first-generation individual rights over second- and third-generation collective rights.

Freedom from torture is likely one of the most widely and deeply held human rights.

nonderogable rights

rights that cannot be suspended for any reason, including at times of public emergency. These include freedom from torture or cruel and degrading punishment, recognition as a person before the law, and freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

NOTE : NONDEROGABLE RIGHTS

NOTE : NONDEROGABLE RIGHTS

in the ICCPR, there are nonderogable rights

in the ICESCR, there are no nonderogable rights.

despite their special status, however, nonderogable rights are not automatically enforced more than other rights, as the continuing practice of torture in countries around the world makes clear.

Human Rights TANs also have supported many of these nonrerogable rights. Amnesty International (AI), focuses on protecting people from any types of torture. AI has done much to shape notions of what human rights are today.

Prisoners of Conscience (POCs)

a label coined and used by the human rights organization Amnesty International to refer to individuals imprisoned solely because of the peaceful expressions of their beliefs.

NOTE: ARE SOME RIGHTS MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS?

NOTE: ARE SOME RIGHTS MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS?

although the UDHR specifies a wide range of rights, it appears that although all rights are equal, some are more equal than others. Although few if any human rights are internalized as norms, some rights in the UDHR and ICCPR do have a special status in international law, and along with the Genocide Convention, appear to have broader support than others.

Also, by examining when states incur costly actions to punish human rights violations in other states, we can infer something about which rights are most important to them.

what is the primary way in which states punish violators of human rights?

economic sanctions. (since sanctions inflict costs on states that impose them, these states must weigh their interest in defending certain rights against their other priorities. Although actual sanctions against violators are relatively rare, when states have taken steps to impose sanctions against human rights abusers, these steps have almost always been for unfair political detentions and torture and the suspension of peaceful political opposition).

NOTE: ECONOMIC SANCTIONS

NOTE: ECONOMIC SANCTIONS

since sanctions inflict costs on states that impose them, these states must weigh their interest in defending certain rights against their other priorities. Although actual sanctions against violators are relatively rare, when states have taken steps to impose sanctions against human rights abusers, these steps have almost always been for unfair political detentions and torture and the suspension of peaceful political opposition. states clearly act to enforce some rights more frequently than others. Through practice, the rights that states appear ready to defend are more narrow than the full rights of the UDHR and may, in fact, be limited to the nonderogable rights identified in the ICCPR.

what are some of the reasons why states violate human rights?

state incapacity, uncontrollable militaries or police, soft law, defense of national security, to preserve their own rule (for governments).

NOTE: REASONS FOR VIOLATIONS

NOTE: REASONS FOR VIOLATIONS

state incapacity - many poor countries may sincerely want but simply can't afford to provide free primary schooling to everyone.

uncontrollable militaries or police - governments may not be able to control their militaries or police sufficiently to stem human rights abuses.

soft law - understood to be aspirations or goals to which states should strive rather than strict rules to which they can and should be held accountable.

national security - violent or potentially violent opposition to the state is illegal everywhere, and thus it counts as criminal, not political behavior (AI specifically excludes as prisoners of conscience any individuals who use or advocate violence). when under attack, states are sometimes tempted to violate the rights of groups or individuals they fear may be allied with a foreign power. The existence of an interstate or civil war is strongly associated with increased human rights violations. Governments claim that national security trumps the human rights of individuals.

preserving rule - governments violate human rights to preserve their own rule. In these cases, the country is not under attack, but political opponents are abused in an effort to suppress internal dissent. This often comes together in genocide, the most extreme form of human rights abuse.

Lastly, autocracies and unstable democracies are significantly more likely to violate the human rights of their citizens than established democracies, where political competition is respected and channeled through regular elections in which incumbent governments accept defeat and leave office.

in which government types are overt acts of torture most likely to occur?

multiparty dictatorships (in single-party for personalist dictatorships, political opponents are sufficiently repressed that fewer acts of torture are necessary).

what are two of the main reasons why states have an interest in imposing human rights laws?

to demonstrate their commitment to democracy and political liberalization, to shed (a country's) automatic and possibly abusive pasts in attempt to lock in their new institutes and improved practices.

NOTE: COMMITTING TO HUMAN RIGHTS

NOTE: COMMITING TO HUMAN RIGHTS

by committing to international agreements that may carry some cost if they are violated-even if that cost is only a loss of international reputation- new democratic leaders and coalitions attempt to make political backsliding more costly and less likely. By obliging themselves to follow international human rights law, newly democratizing states aim to commit themselves credibly to political reform. This observation implies that the countries most eager to ratify human rights treaties should be newly democratic or democratizing states. Political scientist Andrew Moravcsik argues this.

why does the United States, for instance, need international human rights treaties less than newly democratic states (and therefore suffers the costs of international scrutiny without a corresponding domestic benefit?). (2)

Bill of Rights and stable democratic institutions.

(democracies are now recognizing the contradiction in advocating human rights for others while failing to ratify international human rights treaties themselves. Established democracies are now signing agreements they had previously rejected and shrinking the difference in treaty ratification between new and established democracies. The United States remains an exception to this, however).

what is an alternative reason of why some states may sign international human rights treaties?

they are induced to do so by contingent rewards provided by others. (a form of linkage. Established democracies often provide inducements for new democracies to join such regimes. They may include financial assistance).

what is another factor that many individuals naturally have that leads people to strive for human rights?

moral and philosophical motivations

(many individuals identify with a common humanity and feel personally affected by the welfare and treatment of others, including those in countries other than their own. Human rights for all, especially for the disadvantaged, is a cause that many individuals feel deeply about and are driven to try and protect).

how have TANs had such a large impact on the international politics of human rights?

by framing issues and socializing individuals

What are some of the more self-interested reasons why countries want to protect human rights?

everyone wants peace and prosperity, which cannot flourish at home without flourishing abroad. Civil conflicts may spill into neighboring states either directly or indirectly (as a result, all states have an interest in preventing abuses in neighboring countries.

what is a relatively large economic reason why many countries are self-interested in human rights?

in the labor movements within the United States they now demand that human rights (and environmental) clauses be inserted into nearly all regional trade agreements (RTAs).

(NAFTA includes extensive labor provisions that guarantee freedom of association and the right to organize, the right to bargain collectively and strike, etc.)

(to protect their ability to organize and strike for higher wages at home, unions want to ensure that workers in labor-abundant and low-wage countries have similar rights and possess the broader political rights necessary to protect their ability to form effective trade unions).

Labor demands for human rights clauses, however, may also disguise a form of trade protectionism, By inserting human rights clauses into RTAs, the unions may be making free trade pacts less appealing to foreign trading partners and therefore less likely to be approved.

what are the three reasons why individuals or groups press their governments to promote international human rights laws?

general concern for human well-being, concern with protecting democracy at home, hidden desire for trade protection.

NOTE: TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

NOTE: TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

as TANs grow and succeed, as they have done in a more globalized world, they influence the views of more and more individuals. The technology brings the horror of human rights abuses to immediate public attention. It is now much harder to ignore human rights abuses or to deny that we knew about the violations while they were occurring. Individuals and groups now increasingly recognize international human rights as part of their nations' interests and demand that their governments act accordingly.

generally, do states actually protect human rights abroad?

no (human rights practices have not improved significantly in recent decades).

what is the most frequent and deadliest form of violence in the world today?

governments against their own citizens. (including governments against their own citizens.

what is one way in which governments violate the human rights of their citizens?

by misguiding economic or social policies that lead to widespread suffering and deaths.

what are the only two noteworthy exceptions to the deterioration or neutrality of human rights practices over the past 25 years?

South America, Central and Eastern Europe.

what are the three possible explanations for why there are significant negative effects of human rights agreements?

international human rights law just might not matter (no effective way to enforce), international law not only contains material costs and benefits but also offers an expressive value in which states seek to benefit by taking positions rather than by modifying their behavior, the countries most likely to violate human rights are also more likely to sign and ratify human rights agreements.

NOTE: THE KEY PROBLEM IN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS

NOTE: THE KEY PROBLEM IN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS

the gains from cooperation that make international law self-enforcing, are small to nill, meaning that states have few incentives to bear high costs for enforcing the law. states that violate human rights, of course, have no interest in enforcing the law against themselves.

what are the three conditions in which states are most likely to pay the costs of enforcing human rights law?

when faced with domestic pressure to "do something" to stop human rights abuses, when doing so serves larger geopolitical interests, when the gap between the principal of sovereignty and international human rights law can be bridged.

Note: 5 ongoing innovations in international human rights.

Note: 5 ongoing innovations in international human rights.

transitional justice: emphasis has shifted to noncriminal and nonjudicial forms of reconciliation, which are believed to provide a better and more solid long-term foundation for rebuilding societies after conflicts involving human rights abuses. ( Include truth and reconciliation commissions, reparations to repair the suffering of human rights victims).

individual petition: without these, states act as gatekeepers, blocking international courts from hearing cases they might lose.

universal jurisdiction: its a new and controversial principal in which countries claim the right to prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity regardless of the citizenship of the individuals involved and the location where the crimes occurred. expected to hold only of war crimes, genocide, torture, and other serious offenses under international human rights law.

the international criminal court (ICC):

harnessing material interests: more and more frequently, RTAs are starting to contain obligatory and precise human rights provisions that bind states to standards of behavior.

lustration

refers to government policies of limiting members of the previous regime from serving in political, bureaucratic, or sometimes even civil positions.

individual petition

a right that permits individuals to petition appropriate international legal bodies directly if they believe a state has violated their rights.

international criminal court (ICC)

a court of last resort for human rights cases that possesses jurisdiction only if the accused is a national of a state party, the crime took place on the territory of a state party, or the UNSC has referred the case to the prosecutor.

NOTE: SOME OF USA's ISSUES WITH THE ICC

NOTE: SOME OF USA's ISSUES WITH THE ICC

The USA fears of frivolous and politically motivated prosecutions against political leaders or American military personnel for actions taken to protect the security of the United States or on peacekeeping missions abroad.

USA also claims that the ICC is insufficiently accountable and lacks oversight mechanisms for both the judges and prosecutors.