Human Rights Exam 2

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI)

A term that situates minority sexual and gender identities as a significant category of human rights violations, the category also includes minority gender expression and discrimination based on perceived (even if not actual) sexuality and gender. The term and abbreviation are common in human rights groups and communities. A variation is LGBT (for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender), which focuses attention on the groups most likely to be targeted for discrimination on the basis of minority sexual or gender identity.

Yogyakatra Principles

a set of principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. The Principles affirm binding international legal standards with which all States must comply. They promise a different future where all people born free and equal in dignity and rights can fulfil that precious birthright.

Natural Family

In Christian conservative discourse, the model of the family that is ordained by God and consists of a married husband and wife and their biological children. Proponents of this family model consider it to be threatened in contexts in which alternative family forms are recognized by law, and they oppose the recognition of alternative family forms such as same-sex families as an issue of fundamental human rights.

heteronormativity

The prejudice against LGBTQIA people that results from the assumption of heterosexuality as the natural and normal, and therefore superior, social or cultural norm (ie, from heteronormativity).

United Nations Office o the High Commissoner on human rights (HCHR)

The UNOHCHR was established in December 1993 through General Assembly Resolution 48/141, shortly following the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights. Its mandate is: to promote and protect all human rights for everyone, to rationalize, improve, and strengthen the UN human rights system, coordinate activity within it, and recommend improvements; promote and protect the right to development; provide technical assistance to states; coordinate UN human rights education and programs; engage governments in dialogue to secure respect for human rights; and enhance international human rights cooperation.

Rapheal Lemkin

coined the term genocide and pushed for it to be recognized as an international crime. Began the push at the nuremburg tribunal

Genocide

Genocide, as defined by the 1948 UN Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide, is a crime under international law comprising acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.”

Genocide convention

The 1948 international treaty that codifies the crime of genocide and obligates state parties to punish and prevent genocide. The treaty came into force in 1951 and is widely accepted around the world today

qualitative (studies)

empirical studies that rely on the analysis and interpretation of data in ways that do not involve statistical techniques. These studies often utilize an in-depth case analysis of a particular country, region, or reference group; evidence might include interviews, assessments of historical data, and so on.

Quantitative (studies)

empirical research studies that rely on statistical techniques for the analysis and interpretation of data (typically, regression analysis—a technique for determining the nature and strength of the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables). In the human rights field, quantitative methods examine a number of countries together over a period of time in the search for generalizations that can be made from these countries’ collective experiences—for instance, to explain state repression or treaty ratification.

Gacaca Courts

Literally translated as “justice on the grass,” the gacaca courts were established after the 1994 Rwandan genocide using a traditional model. Local courts were established to try perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide for crimes that were divided into four categories, based on the seriousness of the offence; judges were elected by the local community to adjudicate these trials.

Truth Commision

A mechanism established to uncover the truth about past events, often part of a program of transitional justice.

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

In 1994, the UN established the ____ to prosecute the major architects and planners of the genocide. Inside Rwanda, the victorious RPF initially established domestic courts to prosecute perpetrators. They later followed with a large experiment in “community justice” called gacaca courts, in which ordinary Rwandans would judge perpetrators in open-air sessions
The United Nations ad hoc tribunal established to prosecute the major planners of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The court is based in Arusha, Tanzania.

International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia

The United Nations ad hoc tribunal established to prosecute war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. The court is based in The Hague, the Netherlands.

amnesty

Immunity from prosecution, often granted through legislation as part of a peace agreement.

retributive justice

The dispensing of sanctions (imprisonment, monetary fine) in punishment for a crime committed by an individual.

restorative justice

A process whereby both the victim and perpetrator of a crime are brought back into harmony with the community.

reparative justice

Justice that makes right the things that have gone wrong by provision of a remedy (such as reparations or restitution) for the suffering and loss that have occurred; comes from the notion of “repair.”

transitional justice

A process of helping societies deal with the difficult questions of justice that arise as a society moves from war to peace, or from a repressive or authoritarian regime to democracy. It focuses particularly on social, political, and economic institutions and on addressing past wrongs and on roles for former combatants. It may be carried out by means of retributive, restorative, or reparative justice or some combination of these.

dissapearance

The forcible detention or abduction of people by the government (or with its consent), followed by a refusal to disclose their whereabouts.

Internally displaced persons (IDPs)

An individual who has been forced or obliged to flee from the individual’s home or place of habitual residence as a result of, or in order to seek safety and protection from, the effects of armed conflicts, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights, or natural or human-made disasters, and who has not crossed an internationally recognized state border.