Applied Human Rights Accummulated Important Notes

Without all of their intricacies, what are human rights?

The fundamental rights believed all people should have simply because they are people. Human rights affirm treating people with dignity, respect, and equality.

What are the 4 different types of categories for human rights?

1. Generational categorisation

2. Soft and Hard

3. Positive and Negative

4. Collective and Individual

(Think SPEC, Soft, Positive, gEneraltional, Collective)

What are the 3 different generational categorisations for human rights?

1. 1st generation rights - rights regarding a person and the government

2. 2nd generation rights - rights regarding social equality

3. 3rd generation rights - a category still being debated but which includes things beyond the previous 2, including right to environment, culture, self-determination, and development

What are soft vs hard rights?

Soft rights are rights that we have ideas about but are not necessarily enshrined in law

Hard rights are rights that are enshrined in law

What are collective vs individual rights?

Collective rights are rights that apply to everyone, and no one person can own them. Although everyone has these rights, they also have a responsibility to ensure everyone else can continue to access them as well.

E.g. right to clean air, to infrastructure like highways, etc

Individual rights are rights that apply to people individualy. E.g. the right to own a home.

What are negative vs positive rights?

Negative rights are rights providing protection against something occurring.

e.g. right to not be tortured

Positive rights are rights providing something we don’t have

e.g. right to food and housing

Which rights are human rights?

Defining human rights can be quite tricky, which is why the Roosevelt committee made the UDHR, which was adopted by the UN in 1948. This is the most widely accepted list of human rights today.

List the very main events that occurred in history to bring human rights to where they are today

1. Throughout ancient philosophy, principles of human rights were taught e.g. Buddha taught about respect for life

2. The Roman Empire produced the idea of natural rights

3. Major religions developing taugh of principles consistent with HR, including justice, love for one another, and tolerance

4. The Magna Carta was signed, placing noone above the law

5. England created their Bill of rights, which outlined representative democracy

6. France created the Declaration of the rights of Man, and of the Citizen, which enshrined freedom and equality

7. The US created their Bill of Rights which enshrined freedom of speech and assembly

8. The UN was created in 1945 in response to the atrocities of WWI and WWII, to prevent these attrocities from ocurring again and improve the quality of life for all people

9. The UDHR was adopted by the UN in 1948

10. Numerous conventions regarding human rights have been formed and adopted by the UN, and ratified by different countries. The UN is limited in its power but functions as best it can to promote and ensure HR in the world.

What are the 2 human societal theories that have been applied to shape human rights as they are today?

1. Functionalism

2. Conflict theories

How has functionalism been linked to human rights?

This is a theory about how society works:

Functionalism sees morality and respect as serving a purpose in society, and that all societal institutions need to work together to ensure human rights can be realised.

How have conflict theories been linked to human rights?

This is a theory about how society works:

Conflict theories see society as being grouped into different groups, e.g. upper, middle and lower class; male and female

It sees that people in these categories have different needs, and each require different thigns to happen to ensure human rights.

E.g. feminist conflict theories see society through the interaction between male and female, with males oppressing females. Consequently, it sees males rights as needing to tone down a bit to ensure women can also all have their human rights.

In all aspects of life, human rights have to give way to another right at some point, e.g. the right to move your body around stops short of hitting someone else, as it is their right to be safe.

What are the 2 human nature theories that pertain to human rights?

1. Essentialist theories

2. Constructivist theories

How do essentialist theories apply to human rights?

This is a theory about the nature of human beings:

It says that all humans have certain ways of doing things built into them. These are ways of doing things that are moral.

Effectively, this is starting to get at natural law, which is a key principle of human rights.

How do constructivist theories apply to human rights?

This is a theory about the nature of human beings:

Is says that everything human beings do is socially constructed through socialisation, and that this is how we learn how to act.

Why is it important to study the history of human rights, and of social oppressions?

When we study the history of something, we can understand why that thing happened, and the effects it had for people. 

This allows us to not only prevent something similar happening, but also have a greater awareness of how things have been in society, which we can use to evaluate where we are today.

What is something that always occurs regarding human rights claims?

Society engages in discourse about what human rights should be, a group come to a consensus, and different members of society fight with each other for these rights to occur.

What are the 4 basic characteristics of human rights?

1. Universality - they apply to all humans no matter what

2. Inherent - they apply as soon as a human is born

3. Inalienability - They cannot be taken away

4. Indivisibility - No one right is more important than the other

What are the different sections of the UN relevant to human rights laws?

1. General assembly - includes every country and is where countries meed to debate recommendations for human rights

2. Secretariat - Adopts and follows up human rights documents

3. Security Council - Attempt to enforce peace

4. ICJ (International Court of Justice) - is a worldwide court where states can go to settle disputes

5. ICC - (International Criminal Court) - is a criminal tribunal used for trials about the most serious breaches of international law, such as genocide

How are human rights enforced?

1. Legal systems (regarding the courts, the legislature, and the executive) of the individual nation-states

2. Government organisations of the individual nation-states, including the AHRC

3. Civil Society - any non government individual or organisation acting alone or collectively to support a cause. People never really act alone however, as they always team with others to advance a cause.

What is the role of the AHRC for protecting HR’s in Australian society?

The AHRC is a government organisation jointly responsible for protecting human rights in Australia by:

1. Resolving HR complaints

2. Educating the public about their HR’s

3. Holding inquiries into HR issues of national importance e.g. the forced removal of Indigenous children from their homes, and refugees in immigration detention

How did Mary Wollstonecraft advance human rights?

Mary Wollstonecraft aimed to increase womens rights, as while previous human rights discourse successfully increased first generation rights, they only/mainly did so for males.

To do these Wollstonecraft:

1. Challenged the belief women were naturally inferior and only suited to domestic roles

2. Encouraged the idea that human rights were equal and applied to all people regardless of gender

Wollstonecraft was seriously influential in the feminist movement that continues to occur today, as women today are still experiencing inequal treatment to males, both explicitly and implicitly by the way different societies are formed.

How did Thomas Paine advance human rights?

Thomas Paine wrote 2 influential books, “The Rights of Man” and “Common Sense”

1. Thomas had lived life in poverty as a child, and after studying, identified further inequities in his treatment as a tax officer

2. He traveled to the US where he was influential in the American Revolution. At the time there was no central narrative for the reasoning behind a revolution, however, Paine’s first book, “Common Sense” provided a critique of the Monarch and uncovered corruption, advocating for a republic. This became highly popular and provided the central narrative needed for the revolution to take off

3. Paine later published his second highly infleuntial piece, “Rights of Man”. This both provided a counternarrative to a book attacking the French revolution, and spread Paine’s ideology regarding monarchies. This was successful, and helped fuel the French Revoluition to completion at a time when motivation was starting to run low. 

4. Rights of Man also lead to a revolution against the British Monarchy, leading to Parliamentary reform and better conditions for middle and working classes.

5. Rights of man spread 3 key human rights-based ideologies:

   1. that their needed to be limits on the power of government to prevent oppression

   2. That natural rights belonging to every person existed. Including the ability to pursue happines.

   3. Democracies representative of the population were the only way to create a governance structure that actually serves the people within it.

What is a social movement?

Social movements are another name for members of civil society working together to advance a human rights cause. This advancement can occurr in any way.

What does a capitalist economic system look like?

This is where the market is a free market, and is what decides everything.

The thinking here is that everyone has an equal chance to exploiut the market, however, this is not true and there are addititonal barriers some people face to doing this than others.

Inherently, the capitalist system produces excess (workers work and produce product, this product is sold however, for more than they were paid for it). This excess is what fuels wealth inequalities and inequities like there are in America today.

How does the communist economic system work (in theory)

The communist economic system (in theory) sees no class, as wealth is divided equally among people. 

The communist economic system has never been implemented to this day however, as any country which has tried has ended up with continued wealth inequities. Additionally, this system promotes having only one person in charge, leading to abuse of power and corruption.

What does a socialist economic system look like?

This is where there are still classes, however, the economy is structured to benefit the majority of people

What does a Liberalism economic system look like?

Liberalism as an economic system is effectively the capitalist economic system, and it really emphasises freedom of the market from interference with the government.

Liberalism has a strong emphasis on individuality

Neoliberalism is the highest form of liberalism, where markets are truly free and everything is privatised. This form perpetuates wealth inequities and inequalities the most.

Consistently throughout the history of human rights, where do human rights come from?

Consistently, this follows a 3 step process:

1. Society discusses what they think rights should be

2. Society agrees on certain rights, however, others of society do not

3. Those who do fight those who do not to achieve their rights. 

This is why major human rights achievements have come at times of revolutions or massive rights violations. E.g. WWII lead to the UN and the UDHR

What was the suffragette movement and how was it a social movement?

The suffragette movement was a movement for women’s rights. It got its name because the most militant of activists were called suffragettes (I think). The word suffrage means to be able to partake in government.

This was a group of women who fought  for women’s rights together by organising meetings, petitions, deputations and leaflets; as well as lighting fires on trains and chaining themselves to objects.

Wary Wollstonecraft was especially significant for this movement.

What was the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and how was it a social movement?

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was created as a symbolic Embassy to signify separation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal society. 

It stood for reconciliation that was symbolic and practical which allowed Aboriginal people their rights, especially the right to self-determination. 

The Embassy aimed to achieve the rights in the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous people, which Australia voted against in 2007. Australia had violated most, if not all, of the rights in this declaration.

What is the generic word for human rights laws and other laws?

Legal instruments

How do the UDHR, International legal instruments, and domestic laws connect?

Think of this like a pyramid, with each step building upon the other:

1. UDHR - provides moral responsibility to protect rights in document

2. Other declarations outline extra information regarding human rights, however, are also only moral responsibilities

3. International legal instruments like conventions/treaties/covenants outline how this should be done - not binding until ratified

   1. Once ratified, it is known countries don’t have the resources to do this straight away, so they are asked to work in good faith to continually implement the provisions of the articles as they are able to

4. Optional protocols can be standalone instruments or monitoring documents outlining methdos for monitoring Nation-states implementation of the HR’s

5. International legal instruments are either accepted as laws themselves, enshrined in existing laws through amendments, codified in new laws, or upheld by creating guidelines to interpret legislation in ways consistent with the international instruments

How do International legal instruments come about?

1. An instrument is proposed at the UN General Assembly, and adopted by the assembly if supported

2. States sign the instrument, and are then given time to implement it domestically

3. States implement the instrument domestically

4. States submit an instrument of ratification (outlining how they have implemented the international legal instrument into domestic laws)

5. States can create reservations or declarations. A reservation seeks clarification on a section and refuses to do anything with the section until clarified. A declaration states a section will not be followed/does not apply.

Why is the pursuit of human rights inherently a social one?

Because human rights apply to all people equally, they inherently involve other people

Society has the responsibility to:

1. Ensure other people can access their human rights

2. Recognise the humanity of others

3. Stand in solidarity with others whose rights are not being recognised

What is a Charter/Bill of Rights?

These:

1. Codify the rights of people into law that cannot be overridden

2. Provide positive rights and negative rights

3. Ensure the legal system upholds human rights

What are 2 key organisations responsible for human rights monitoring internationally?

1. Amnesty International (Oh Yeah!)

2. Human Rights Watch

What is the Aus Human rights framework currently made up of?

1. International legislation including the UDHR, ICCPR, ICESCR, protocols, and more Conventions

2. National legislation including Anti-discrimination laws and parliamentary scrutiny laws

3. Common Law

4. State Legislation for different laws, including more anti-discrimination legislation, HR’s acts, scrutiny acts, etc

What is the International Bill of Rights made up of?

1. The UDHR

2. The ICCPR

3. The ICESCR

4. The 2 protocols for the ICCPR and the ICESCR

What does the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) do?

This (much like the Parliamentary Scrutiny Act in QLD), says that all Bills require a statement of compatibility regarding HR’s.

Parliament however, is able to vote specific sections as not having to be compatible with HR’s

What are the 3 principles of CEDAW?

1. Past mistreatment of women has created inequalities which exist today, and interventions need to occur to remedy these inequalities

2. State Obligation - states are obligated to promote and uphold the rights of women

3. Temporary measures - to fulfill their obligation and rectify pre-existing inequalities, states can take temporary measures to place women on an even playing field for the future

What are the 2 approaches to protecting women’s HR’s?

Protectionist:

This ignores the specific needs of women really and aims to protect them from anything that may harm them by removing them from that situation.

Corrective:

This looks at what differences exist regarding access to rights between men and women and what can be done to ensure this access is equal and just

What are parallel reports and why are they called that?

Parallel reports are reports by non-government organisations to human rights monitoring committees.

They are called this as governments submit their own reports, however, the reports submitted by NGO’s can dive deeper than macro level government data, looking into individual case studies from the most remote and vulnerable people to more broad levels like community organisations.

What is the 3 step process followed by NGO’s to engage with HR monitoring processes?

1. Monitoring - NGO’s collate data from micro to more macro level sources, focusing on people government data might not reflect. This occurs over a period of time.

2. Reporting - NGO’s report their data to 3 places:

   1. Governments so they can improve

   2. HR’s monitoring committees

   3. The public to provide advocacy

3. Advocacy - once reported, NGO’s work with org’s like the AHRC, other NGO’s, International org’s, and community movements to apply pressure to the government to fulfill their HR’s obligations

What are the 3 main benefits for engaging with HR monitoring processes?

1. Policy change that is more consistent with HR’s

2. communities can be educated about the rights they have, how they are protected, and what constitutes violations of them

3. legal instruments such as CEDAW can be recontextualised for the modern context - e.g. although there si no mention of violence against women in CEDAW, this has become a key measure at the committee level for the implementation of this convention.

What is an especially effective way to frame social issues?

As human rights issues - shifting the mindset from one of receiving gifts to enjoying the right to something people are already entitled to.

What relationship do NGO’s have with government (is it more of an aggressive critical one, more of a partnership, etc)

NGO’s job is to work in partnership with governments, as they are the people who can effect real policy change at the highest levels.

Contrary to what some may believe, NGO’s do not exist to constantly ridicule governments or get them to constantly change, they care about ensuring human rights. It is important NGO’s have good working relationships with governments so that this can happen, and they can do their job in holding them to account.

What is the concept of Ubuntu, and how does it apply to the realisation of human rights today?

Ubuntu is a concept from South African communities which effectively emphasises how we could not live in a flourishing society without one another, and consequently, we need to forgive each other no matter what, and allow ourselves to live together in harmony again.

This has been used very successfully in lots of reconciliation processes where atrocities have occurred. It was used when the South African resistance took power of the corrupt government at the time who were responsible for apartheid, it was used in Europe at various times, and has been used in reconciliation processes in Australia. 

What is an egalitarian society?

One where everyone is considered to be equal and treated this way. It is a socially just society.

What is social exclusion?

Social exclusion is where someone is unable to participate in an element(s) of society for reasons beyond their individual control, and is a HR’s violation.

What are the 2 concepts/theories related to social exclusion?

The deficit model - which is a weak conception - says it is due to a persons own limitations e.g. disability or too lazy

The structural model - which is a strong conception - says it is due to societal structures outside the persons control e.g. society not providing for peoples needs, not being inclusive enough, etc

How can social exclusion occur even when we try to be just and outlaw certain types of discrimination?

It can occur when there is a stigma towards people that makes it hard for them to participate in society, or when there may be laws as to anti-discrimination but these have not been effectively implemented or upheld. e.g. there aren’t wheelchair ramps in an area, people can’t leave to a quiet space and come back, etc