Globalization and Human Rights

Related Issue 4: Responding to Globalization

General Outcome

  • Students will assess their roles and responsibilities in a globalizing world.

Key Outcomes: Values and Attitudes

  • Students will recognize and appreciate the impact of globalization on the quality of life of individuals and communities.
  • Students will recognize and appreciate the importance of human rights in determining quality of life.
  • Students will accept political, social, and environmental responsibilities associated with global citizenship.

Key Outcomes: Knowledge and Understanding

  • Students will explore various understandings of quality of life.
  • Students will analyze impacts of globalization on children and youth (awareness of global issues, employment issues, identity).
  • Students will analyze impacts of globalization on women (gender issues, labor issues, opportunities for entrepreneurship).
  • Students will evaluate relationships between globalization and democratization and human rights.
  • Students will analyze how globalization affects individuals and communities (migration, technology, agricultural issues, pandemics, resource issues, contemporary issues).
  • Students will explore multiple perspectives regarding the civic responsibilities that individuals, governments, organizations, and businesses may have in addressing opportunities and challenges presented by globalization.
  • Students will evaluate means by which individuals, governments, organizations, and businesses could address opportunities and challenges of globalization (pro-globalization activism, anti-globalization activism, legislation, agreements, consumer activism, corporate responsibility).
  • Students will develop strategies to demonstrate active, responsible global citizenship.

Human Rights, Democracy and Globalization

Key Terms
  • Basic needs
  • Inalienable
  • Inalienable Rights
  • Equality before the law
Maslow's 5 Levels of Human Need
  • Physiological needs: breathing, food, water, shelter, clothing, sleep
  • Safety and security: health, employment, property, family and social stability
  • Love and belonging: friendship, family, intimacy, sense of connection
  • Self-esteem: confidence, achievement, respect of others, the need to be a unique individual
  • Self-actualization: morality, creativity, spontaneity, acceptance, experience purpose, meaning, and inner potential
Inalienable Rights
  • Definition: Unable to be taken away, cannot be transferred or surrendered.
  • Human rights are inalienable, meaning they cannot be lost because they are linked to the very fact of human existence and are inherent to all human beings.
  • In particular circumstances, some (though not all) may be suspended or restricted.
What are Human Rights?
  • The basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law.
  • Equality before the law means each individual is subject to the same laws, with no individual or group having special legal privileges.
Milestones in Human Rights
  • The Great Law of Peace
  • American Constitution
  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Great Law of Peace
  • Originally a confederacy of five indigenous nations (later 6), the Haudenosaunee consisted of the Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, and Mohawk.
  • The Great Law of Peace was a political and cultural document and considered a constitution.
  • It set out a decision-making process in which elected representatives of each nation met to make decisions on issues that concerned the confederacy.
The American Constitution
  • Created in 1787 by representatives of the 13 colonies that had formed the United States.
  • This document established the Congress, which consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives and set out a decision-making process.
UN: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • Created in 1948 by the United Nations.
  • It is the foundation of international human rights law, the first universal statement on the basic principles of inalienable human rights, and a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.
  • Includes 30 basic human rights:
    • Political rights (e.g., right to vote and to participate in government)
    • Civil rights (e.g., right to freedom of opinion and expression)
    • Equality rights (e.g., right to be free from discrimination)
    • Economic rights (e.g., right to fair wages and safe working conditions)
    • Social rights (e.g., right to education and adequate health care)
    • Cultural rights (e.g., right to speak one’s native language)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Key Articles
  • Article 1: All children are born free and equal, with reason and conscience.
  • Article 2: Everyone can claim rights regardless of sex, race, color, language, religion, origin, or social status.
  • Article 3: You have the right to live in freedom and safety.
  • Article 4: Nobody has the right to treat you as a slave.
  • Article 5: Nobody has the right to torture you.
  • Article 6: You should be legally protected everywhere.
  • Article 7: The law is the same for everyone.
  • Article 8: You should be able to ask for legal help when your rights are violated.
  • Article 9: Nobody has the right to imprison you unjustly.
  • Article 10: You are entitled to a fair and public trial.
  • Article 11: You are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and have the right to defend yourself.
  • Article 12: You have the right to protection if someone tries to harm your reputation or privacy.
  • Article 13: You have the right to freedom of movement and to leave and return to your country.
  • Article 14: You have the right to seek asylum in another country if you are hurt.
  • Article 15: You have the right to belong to a country.
  • Article 16: You have the right to marry and have a family with equal rights.
  • Article 17: You have the right to own things.
  • Article 18: You have the right to freedom of thought and religion.
  • Article 19: You have the right to express your opinions freely.
  • Article 20: You have the right to peaceful assembly.
  • Article 21: You have the right to participate in your country's government.
  • Article 22: Society should help you develop and make the most of available opportunities.
  • Article 23: You have the right to work and receive fair pay.
  • Article 24: You are entitled to rest and paid holidays.
  • Article 25: You have the right to an adequate standard of living.
  • Article 26: You have the right to education.
  • Article 27: You have the right to participate in your community's arts and sciences.
  • Article 28: There must be an order to protect your rights.
  • Article 29: You have duties towards the community.
  • Article 30: No one should act to destroy the rights outlined.
What is our role?
  • Human rights are the choices we make every day.
  • Youth have a special responsibility to develop a global perspective and values based on qualities such as love, truthfulness, kindness, justice, and esteem for others.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
  • Adopted in 1982 as part of the Constitution Act.
  • It establishes and protects human rights for all people.
Key Rights Protected by the Canadian Charter
  • Fundamental freedoms: e.g., right to freedom of conscience and religion
  • Democratic rights: e.g., right to vote
  • Mobility rights: e.g., right to move from place to place within Canada
  • Legal rights: e.g., right to life, liberty, and security of the person
  • Equality rights: e.g., right to protection of the law without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, sex, age, or physical disability
  • Language rights: e.g., the equality of the French and English languages in particular situations
  • Minority-language education rights: e.g., provincial governments must provide certain language rights to English or French minorities, where numbers warrant
Outcome
  • 4. 7 evaluate relationships between globalization and democratization and human rights
Democratization
  • The introduction of a democratic system or democratic principles.
Democracy
Authoritarianism
  • A political system characterized by the rejection of democracy and political plurality.
  • It involves the use of strong central power.
Trade and Transnational Corporations
  • Many transnationals move factories to countries or regions where labor costs are lower and environmental regulations are less strict.
  • This practice has led to human rights violations and a growing grassroots movement protesting the practices of some transnationals.
Transportation
  • Globalization has led to the freer movement of goods.
  • Transportation and movement of people is also an issue, as people try to escape economic hardship, political violence, and human rights abuses.
  • Human trafficking is one of the tragedies of globalization.
  • Both undocumented immigrants and victims of human trafficking are often exploited because they are not protected by their home country or their newly adopted country.
  • It involves recruiting, moving, or holding victims to exploit them for profit, usually for sexual reasons or forced labor.
  • Traffickers can control and pressure victims by force or through threats, including mental and emotional abuse and manipulation.
Human Trafficking
  • Perceptions of human trafficking often involve women forced into prostitution; however, it is just one aspect.
  • Survivors of trafficking also include men and children, and these survivors are exploited by any number of means.
  • Victims may be forced into various types of labor, including:
    • domestic servitude
    • agricultural work
    • manufacturing
    • janitorial services
    • hotel services
    • construction
    • health and elder care
    • hair and nail salons
    • prostitution
The Media
  • The media can be a powerful force in the fight for human rights.
  • The media inform society on matters of public interest and create an important platform for public debate, scrutiny, and reflection.
  • Therefore, independent media and quality journalism are considered to be the “watchdog” of a democratic society.
Communication Technologies
  • A powerful tool for Human Rights Groups
  • Internet has been called a source of “information democracy” or “media democracy.”
  • Activists can create large coalitions of people and organizations that otherwise would probably never have come together
  • They can target transnational corporations and inform a worldwide audience about protests through mass e-mails, blogs, e-zines, eye-witness accounts, and online petitions.