Global Politics Unit 2: Human Rights

Flashcards on Human Rights, covering the nature, evolution, definitions, concepts, types, and generations of human rights, as well as international and regional structures, treaties, and violations.

What are Human Rights?

Universal legal guarantees protecting individuals and groups against actions and omissions that interfere with fundamental freedoms, entitlements, and human dignity.

What do Human Rights laws oblige Governments and duty-bearers to do?

To do certain things and prevents them from doing others.

What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

Adopted by the UN in 1948, it's recognized as the beginning of the modern formal discussion of human rights around the world.

What are the five traits of Human Rights?

Inalienable, Universal, Indivisible, Interconnected, Egalitarian

What are the types of Rights?

Civil/Political Rights, Work/Economic Rights, Social/Cultural Rights, Women/Children’s Rights, Indigenous People’s Rights, Refugee Rights

What is the focus of First Generation Rights?

Liberty and participation in political life; civil and political in nature.

What is the focus of Second Generation Rights?

Equality; economic, social, and cultural in nature.

What is the focus of Third Generation Rights?

Solidarity; collective rights dealing with the principles of brotherhood.

What did the Cyrus Cylinder (539 BC) do?

Freed slaves, declared the right to choose religion, and established racial equality.

What limitations to government were established in the Magna Carta 1215?

Free church, due process, equality under law, rule of law, protection from excessive taxes.

What idea did the Enlightenment emphasize?

Reason and individualism rather than tradition.

What did Enlightenment thinkers value?

Reason, science, religious tolerance, natural rights (life, liberty, property), rule of law, due process, and limited government.

What is the Social Contract?

The theory that if people choose to live in a country they give their consent to be governed by its government. Government must protect the natural rights of the people.

What did the US Declaration of Independence, Constitution, & Bill of Rights promote?

Freedom of speech, of/from religion, press, petition, rule of law, due process, civil rights, civil liberties.

What do the Geneva Conventions focus on?

Rules, rights and limitations during times of war.

What does the UN Declaration of Human Rights do?

Sets out fundamental human rights to be universally protected globally.

How are agreements, treaties, UN, UDHR, ICC, ICJ expressed?

International Level

How are Regional HR Agreements-European Union, African Union expressed?

Regional Level

How are National Constitutions and National and Local Justice Systems expressed?

National Level

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The judicial branch of the UN whose jurisdiction extends to international conflicts, with the exception of political ones.

What core international crimes did the Rome Statute establish?

Genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

What is the mandate of the International Labour Organization (ILO)?

To advance social justice and promote decent work by setting international labor standards.

What is the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)?

An international human rights treaty between the 47 states that are members of the Council of Europe - not to be confused with the European Union.

What are Nation-States responsible for?

Providing and protecting the human rights of people.

What is International Law?

The set of rules, norms, and standards generally accepted in relations between nations.

What sources do International Law include?

Treaties, international customs and recognized general principles of law.

What is International Humanitarian Law (IHL)?

Agreements between states on how to conduct war, and on protection of enemy civilians and combatants

What is International Human Rights Law (IHRL)?

Agreements between states regulating the relationship between each state and the individuals over whom it has jurisdiction.

What does Universalism mean in the context of Human Rights?

All individuals possess rights simply by virtue of being human, or sharing a common humanity

What concept does Universal jurisdiction promote?

Supranationalism and Universality of rights.

What is Customary International Law?

The idea that normal standards and practices of nations become “International Laws” regardless of whether the states have formally accepted these laws domestically or through treaties.

What does Globalization of Human Rights refer to?

As globalization, global trade and Multi-National Corporations (MNC) become more of the norm there is a pressure towards an interdependent global community rather than separate nation-states.

What kind of organization is the Human Rights Watch?

An International, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)

What is the the official mission of the ICRC as an impartial, neutral, and independent organization?

To stand for the protection of the life and dignity of victims of international and internal armed conflicts.

What is Amnesty International's stated mission?

To campaign for a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments

What are Indigenous land rights?

The rights of indigenous peoples to land, either individually or collectively.

What does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) guarantees?

The right to seek and enjoy asylum in other countries and the protection of migrants.

What is a cultural challenge in Gender equality?

Unfortunately in some developing societies women are not valued and laws and policies prohibit women from equal access to land, property, and housing and are treated as less then full citizens

What is one of the most prominent Labor Rights?

The right to freedom of association, otherwise known as the right to organize.

What did the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized on July 28, 2010?

The human right to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights.

Why does China cite the “the right to development?

To explain why the Chinese government gives priority to economic growth over political freedom.

What does state sovereignty have to do with human rights?

States can also use human rights events to enrage or influence populations towards nationalist or political goals

In Human Rights, what does DP stand for?

Displaced Person

In Human Rights, what does IDP stand for?

Internally Displaced Person (Refugee)

What results from Human trafficking?

Forced labor, organ trade, sexual slavery, forced marriage or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others.

What is Forced Disappearance 'Disappearing'?

When a person is secretly abducted, tortured, killed or imprisoned by a state or by a third party.

What is an Extrajudicial Killing?

The policy of killing of a person by governmental authorities or individuals without the sanction of any judicial proceeding or legal process.

What is Ethnic Cleansing?

The systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial and/or religious groups from a given territory.

What was Apartied?

A political and social system in South Africa until 1990 that enforced racial discrimination against non-Whites.

What is an Honor Killing?

The murder of a member of a family, due to the perpetrators' belief that the victim has brought shame or dishonor upon the family, community or a religion.

What took place in The Cambodian Killing Fields?

More than a million people were killed and buried by the Communist Regime (Khmer Rouge)

What occurred in the Rwandan Genocide (1994)?

The mass slaughter of Tutsi and moderate Hutu peoples in Rwanda by members of the Hutu majority.

What occurred during the war in Darfur 2004-Today?

The government organized a program of ethnic cleansing of black Africans by Arab Africans

What is the violation of human rights in China presently?

Ongoing violations the freedoms of speech, movement, and religion.