History Quiz

Religious origins of human rights

• Hinduism: promotes sacredness of life

• Buddhism: teaches equality and compassion

• Islam: proclaims ideas of charity and justice

• Judaism: provides guidelines for ethical behavior

• Christianity: teaches loving others as one would love oneself

Philosophic origins of human rights

• Chinese philosophers: believed in a common humanity and promoted respect for others and the idea that the government exists to protect the well-being of its people

• African philosophers: believed in protecting the well-being of individuals from those in positions of power

17th and 18th century philosophical influence

Enlightenment thinkers establish the idea of:

• Natural rights: life, liberty, property

• “Men are born free, equal, and entitled to certain rights and liberties”

Natural rights

• These are beyond the reach of government

• Governments exist to protect the rights of its citizens and that these citizens should elect their leaders

• “Whenever any form of government because destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government”

• Needs are different to wants, wants are not necessary for a person to survive, grow, and develop

World Changing Documents

• U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights

• Declaration of Independence

• French Declaration of the rights of Man and Citizen

• Change the way citizens interacted with the government

• Gave hope to all human beings that freedoms were their rights on this earth

League of Nations

First global organization to bring many human rights issues such as the rights of the child and unequal treatment of women to the attention of the global community

The turning point: WWII

• The Rape of Nanjing, China

  • Widespread rape and killing of Chinese civilians at the hand of Imperial Japanese soldiers

• The Holocaust

  • Widespread, systematic murder of Jews, political dissidents, gypsies, homosexuals, others

• The global reaction to these atrocities helped create the modern human rights movement

Immediate response to Japanese and German atrocities

• Japanese and Nazis tried for “crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and violating the rules of war”

• 2 main defense arguments in the German Tribunals held at Nuremberg, Germany: state sovereignty/just following orders. Neither worked

Groundbreaking Rule of Law are established during these tribunals

• Certain acts are so horrendous they should be considered crimes even in countries that don’t have laws against those crimes

• Government leaders no longer immune to punishment. "Just following orders” no longer a valid response

• Eroded the idea that state sovereignty is absolute

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

• Developed by the United Nations in 1948

• New era of human rights

• Used to hold leaders accountable for their human rights violations in their countries

Goal, Challenges, and Resources of the UDHR

• Goal: To set universal, global expectations of individual rights and freedoms

• Challenge: Include values/rights that would be compatible with many different regions, cultures, and political systems

• Resources: The authors consulted political scholars, religious leaders, and philosophers

UDHR contention (Cold War connections)

• USA (and Great Britain) argued for civil and political rights (focus on liberties)

• The Soviet Union (and many Latin American nations) argued for social welfare provisions to be included (focus on economics)

Did the UDHR place legal obligations on its signatories?

No, its purpose is to put political and moral pressure on countries to change their human rights practices

Impact of colonialism

• Western colonialism was still there in 1948

• Powerful countries of the West were imposing their ideas/values on others

Legally binding treaties

• 18 years after UDHR

• 1966:

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

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

• Took 10 years for either of these two treaties to get enough signatories to enter into force

• Many countries were very comfortable pledging their support for UDHR due to its non-binding status

• These new legally binding covenants were viewed as a violation of their state sovereignty

International Bill of Human Rights

• UDHR

• ICCPR

• ICESCR

1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights

• Cold War had recently ended

• Makes room in the international discussion for more compressive attention to understanding and protecting human rights

• Attended by 171 countries and 840 NGOs (non-gov. organizations-nonprofit)

• Strengthened the commitment of the international community to human rights

Rome Statute established the International Criminal Court (ICC)

• A permanent criminal court created in 1998

• Tries individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and human war crimes

• 125 countries have adopted the agreement

• China, Russia, India, and the US refused to join

• This has been criticized by the international community

US opposition to the ICC

• The language of the treaty is unclear and could allow for politically motivated prosecutions of US citizens

• Certain rights protected by the Constitution such as a right to a jury of your peers would be lost

• It is seen by many experts to be a violation of state sovereignty

Classification

• Uses the idea of “us vs them”

• Distinguishing by nationality/ethnicity/religion

• Example: Belgian colonists believed Tutsis were naturally superior to Hutus, Tutsi were treated better, Hutu targeted Tutsi

Symbolization

• The creation of various labels for different groups in society

• Types of dress, group uniforms, colors, religious symbols

• Example: Rwanda—ethnicity being noted on ID cards

Discrimination

• A dominant group uses law, custom, and political power to deny the rights of other groups

• Powerless group may not be accorded full rights

• Example: Nazi German Nuremberg Laws

Dehumanization

• One group denies the humanity of another group, makes victim group seem subhuman

• Overcomes the normal human revulsion against murder

• Example: Hate propaganda, members of victim group described badly

Organization

• Is a group crime, state organizes/arms/financially supports the groups that conduct the genocidal massacres but it is less centralized

• Plans and secret police

• “Hutu power” elites armed youth militias

Polarization

• Extremists drive the groups apart, hate groups broadcast polarizing propaganda, laws against intermarriage/social interaction, political moderates silenced

• Attacks staged/blamed on targeted group)

• Cultural centers of groups are attacked

Preparation

• Members of victim group forced to wear identifying symbols, victims separated because of ethnic/religious identity, perpetrator “ethnic cleansing”

• Weapons imported/extermination camps

Persecution

• Basic human rights are systematically violated, death lists, still forced to wear symbols, property taken, segregated or deported to camps

Extermination

Conducted mostly by militias funded by government

Denial

Always found during and after events, denies the event

Types of denial

• Deny the evidence

• Attack the truth-tellers

• Deny genocidal intent

• Blame the victims

• Deny for current interests

• Deny facts fit the legal definition of a genocide

Deny the evidence

Deny that there was any mass killing at all, question statistics, destroy evidence

Attack the truth-tellers

Attack the motives of truth-tellers, point out atrocities

Deny genocidal intent

Claim that deaths were inadvertent, blame out of control forces or ancient ethnic conflict

Blame the victims

Emphasize strangeness, claim disloyal insurgents, claim civil war

Deny for current interests

Sometimes by other powers not the perpetrators, avoid upsetting peace process, deny for benefits of relations

Deny facts fit the legal definition of a genocide

Not actually a genocide, etc.

Why does genocide continue to occur even after the Modern Human Rights Movement?

This is because state sovereignty blocks UN from interfering