Global Governance: Human Rights Flashcards
Developments in human rights [Legislation] - 1948:
The UNGA adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the Genocide Convention.
Developments in human rights [Legislation] - 1951:
The Refugee Convention: recognises the rights of a refugee, such as non-penalization, non-discrimination, and non-refoulment.
Developments in human rights [Legislation] - 1966:
- Economic, Social and Cultural Covenant: expands the UDHR to recognise social and economic rights like education and healthcare
- Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: confirms certain rights like habeus corpus and freedom of association
Developments in human rights [Legislation] - 1979:
Discrimination against Women Convention: compels nation state to end discrimination against women
Developments in human rights [Legislation] - 1984:
Convention on Torture: big no-no to torture
Developments in human rights [Legislation] - 1989:
- Children’s Convention: recognition of the sepearate rights of a child, such as rights to rest and leisure (Article 31)
- Indigenous People’s Convention: regnition or the rights of indigenous people and their cultures, especially in the erasure by globalisation
Development in humanitarian intervention [Event] - 1989
The end of the Cold War establishes the ‘New World Order’ (Bush), the US as the global policeman and hegemon, enforcing human rights and more easily authorising intervention.
Developments in human rights - [Legislation] 1990:
Convention on Migrant Workers: rights of migrant workers, who are at special risk of discrimination, are recognised
Development in human rights [Event] - 1994
The force sent into Rwanda by the UN lacked the mandate and power to take decisive action; the ensuing reluctance of the UNSC to send in a full-scale force mean that most of the killing had already finished whenthey were deployed.
Development in human rights [Event] - 1995
Originally, the UN involvement was minimal in what Clinton saw as a complicated and bloody conflict; however, massacres in Srebrenica and Sarajevo covinced NATO to deploy troops and quickly push back the Serbians, convince both sides of the Dayton Peace Treaty and deployed an International High Representative to aid in its reconstruction.
Development in human rights [Event] - 1997
Blair becomes PM, believing (in part due to his deep Christianity) that politics and morality are inseperable, trying to encourage the international community to live up to the idealism of a more liberal global cosmopolitanism.
Development in human rights [Event] - 1999
The international community, spearheaded by Tony Blair, begin an aerial bombardment against Serbia, who had begun an ethnic cleansing to crush the Kosovar Albanian Seperatist movement in Serbia. This high point established the ‘Blair Doctrine’, which he stated that ‘acts of genocide can never be a purely internal matter’.
Additionaly, Clinton sets out the ‘Clinton Doctrine’, that the US should be prepared to intervene in the event of human rights violations.
Development in human rights [Event] - 2005
Kofi Annan argues that state sovereignty is now conditional on their ability to protect their citizens’ human rights - the International Committee on Intervention and State Sovereignty cointing ‘Responsibility to Protect’: states have a ‘Responsibility to Protect’ their citizens’ rights; if they fail, it passes to the international community.
Developments in human rights [Legislation] - 2006:
Convention of Persons with Disabilities: ensurance that people with disabilies have the same rights as everyone else.
What is the realist perspective on human rights?
- Human rights are impossible, as states exist in an anarchical system that voids the possibility of sovereign to enforce respect for human rights.
- Human rights are not preferrable, as they get in the way of the raison d’etat and states should not consider morality
What is the liberal perspective on human rights?
- Human rights are entirely possible, through IGOs (like the ICC), international law (like the UDHR) and a global respect for natural rights, they can be achieved
- Human rights are an entitlement to all those that exist within society (Rosseau) and are based on our natural rights
What is the realist perspective on international law?
- International law is impossible as it is not derived from a global sovereign that can enforce it, Hobbes says, ‘where there is no common power, there is no law’
- International law is not preferable, states should not act on a system that is easily exploitable and can be undermined, as that weakens them compared to others that are more willing
What is the liberal perspective on international law?
- Liberals believe that states can easily become authoritarian, so a system of codified checks and balances can keep states from exploiting their citizens.
- International law deepens interdependence so furthers so promotes greater peace
What are the main institutions that enforce human rights?
UN institutions
- ICJ
- ICC
- UN special tribunals
Others:
- ECtHR
What is the role of the ICJ?
The ICJ’s judges represent the ‘main forms of civillisation and the principle legal systems of the world’, providing judgements on legal disputes between member states and advisory opinions on legal questions submitted by authorised agencies, like the UNGA.
Give two successes of the ICJ
- After a dispute over territorial and maritime sovereignty, the ICJ forced Nicaraguan troops to withdraw from Costa Rican territories
- The ICJ settled a border dispute between El Salavador and Honduras
What is the problem with the ICJ?
State egoism and the voluntary nature of international law are huge problems given only 74 states have signed an aditional clause to accept the ICJ’s rulings in advance - although the UNSC can technically enforce their rulings with coercive action, it would undermine the UN’s liberal principle that violent action can only be taken for the sake of international peace and security.
Give a failure of the ICJ.
The Chagos Islands has evidenced a weak spot for the ICJ: their ruling that the UK lacked sovereignty over the territory went ignored for 5 years and even when the UK declared negotiations, they’re on thin ice currently as Trump has gotten involved due to the shared military base on the island.
What is a smaller problem of the ICJ?
It’s not an entirely neutral body, judges have national allegiances that affect their judgement - the only two judges to rule that Russia didn’t need to “suspend all military operations” that may be breaking the Genocide Convention, were Chinese and Russian.
What is the European Court of Human Rights?
The Council of Europe (not the EU) established the European Convention on Human Rights in 1949 to include things like the abolition of the death penalty; 10 years later, the ECtHR was created to judge whether human rights are being abused.
Give examples of the ECtHR’s success.
- In 2022, the Azeri suprememe court quashed the 214 conviction of opposition politician Mammadov, after the ECtHR ruled it was only based on his criticism of government
- Buturuga v Romania (2020): the ECtHR ruled that the Romanian Courts had insufficiently protected Ms Buturuga’s right to privacy and from degrading treatment when they refused to prosecute her abusive husband.
What is the present issue with the ECtHR?
There is a rise in populism and nationalism across Europe, sparked by the 2008 recession and the following Eurozone crisis - states are increasingly turning away from international cooperation and instititions like the ECtHR. Additionally, the main proponent of human rights abuses is Russia, who clearly aren’t going to listen.
Give two examples of failure by the ECtHR.
- In 2020, the Council of Europe expressed ‘profound concern’ that the UK had no reopened investigations into the killings carried out by security forces in Northern Ireland, despite ECtHR judgement
- In the past 5 years, Russia has ignored 3 judgements by the ECtHR, one on the conviction of Navalny, one on war crimes commited in Georgia and one on the illegal annexation of Crimea
Give two examples of NGOs promoting human rights.
- Human Rights Watch’s 2020 ‘Annual World Report’ specifically focussed on the ‘existential threat to the human rights system’ that China’s increasingly blatant disregard posed
- In 2021, they demanded Trump be held accountable for his ‘reckless campaign’ to ‘undermine the democratic process and rule of law since his electoral defeat’
What are the strengths and weaknesses of NGOs in promoting human rights?
+ NGOs have a more bottom-up approach, using the internet to promote human rights and spread awareness of its abuses to the people, rather than states - this may be increasingly useful in an increasingly democratic world
- States can and are often willing to ride out bad press. This tactic also relies on a rights culture within that country for citizens to apply pressure - not true in places like East Asia
What were the aims of the UN special tribunals?
- To punish and bring justice to those who have committed war crimes and human rights abuses
- To develop the idea of a global comunity that will keep states and statesmen and accountable to human rights standards
- To make public the extent of the horrors of genocide, war and crimes against humanity to stop people repeating them
What were the successes of the UN special tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia?
The first UN special tribunal, by its closing in 2017, sentenced more than 90 war criminals ranging from low-ranking soldiers to the former president of the Bosnian Serb Rebublic, Kadarzic, who recieved 40 years - it “brought justice for thousands of victims and [gave] them a voice” that they otherwise would not have had
It also brought many of the atrocities into public perception, such as the trial of Mladic (a Bosnian Serb general) and Kadarzic uncovered much of the Srebrenica Massacre
What was the importance of the Yugoslavian tribunals?
They set the precedent of statesman and soldiers being held accountable for their actions; without the tribunals, the other Baltic states wouldn’t or couldn’t have done so without more war.
What was the importance of the Cambodian special tribunals?
They, aside from convicting three leaders of Khmer Rouge who were responsible for the deaths fo 2 million, engaged the young Cambodian public and encouraged them to learn more about what happened in their country in the 70’s, the first trial of multiple Khmer Rouge leaders having almost 100,000 in attendance.
What was the importance of the Rwandan UN special tribunals?
- First tribunal to convict a head of government (PM Kambanda)
- Established the precedent that rape could be used as a way of perpetrating genocide
- Changed the precedent set in the Nuremberg trials that journalists that encourgaed genocide cannot be considered liable - convicting three men of causing the deaths of thousands ‘without a firearm, machete or any physical weapon’
How may UN special tribunals be ‘victors’ justice’?
Those who win usually aren’t the ones in the hot seat: the US sat in judgement of Japanese war criminals despite having bombed 2 cities full of civillians (Hiroshima and Nagisaki) and killing up to 250,00 people. Similarly, the trual of Taylor in the Hague (funded by the West) and his imprisonment in the UK has been accussed of necolonialism as it implies that Africa cannot deliver justice without the white man.
How can the power of certain states weaken UN special tribunals?
Superpowers have the ability to veto or change the circumstances of special tribunals to suit them, weakening justice: the US declared that, rather than an international court, Sadam Hussein would be tried hy his countrymen, thus making the death penalty possible.
Who created the ICC, and why?
UN Secrtary-Generals Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan helped establish the ICC to have a permenantly sitting body as a constant reminder to the global community of the permenance impartiality and reach of international justice.
How many states are members of the Rome Statute?
125, after Hungray left due to the warrant on Netanyahu
Give two successes of the ICC.
- Developed the idea of ‘cultural terrorism’ by convicting Militant Islamist al-Mahdi to 9 years for destrying historic sites
- Expanded past Africa to convictions of IDF and Allied forces in the West Bank and Gaza and Afghanistan, respectively
What is the biggest criticism of the ICC?
The major powers (the UK, Russia, China, India, most of East Asia) haven’t signed the Rome Treaty, this means that 70% of the population don’t live under their jurisdiction so aren’t protected, but also means that states feel empowered to ignore them (Israel) or leave (Hungary).
What does the AU say about the ICC?
They see it as institutionally prejudiced, having only ever actually indicted and convicted Africans, so urged members not to comply, Burundi becoming the first state to withdraw from Rome.
What are the main problems with enforcing human rights?
- State sovereignty
- Differing cultures and views on human rights
- The unaccountability of powerful states
What is the state sovereignty problem of human rights?
States are sovereign over all domestic matters (Westphalia Principle) and there lacks a world government, so human rights law is largely ‘soft law’ (Hobbes), more of an agreement than an actual enforced law - states can refuse to comply with enforcement agencies or just leave the treaties.
Give 2 examples of state sovereignty affecting human rights enforcement
- Refusal by the Sudanese al-Bashir government to acknowledge the legitimacy of the ICC warrant against the president delayed his imprisonment 10 years
- Orban and Hungary recently left the ICC and 70% of the population aren’t under its jurisdiction
How may state sovereignty be less of a problem in enforcing human rights law?
The international system is increasingly interdependant, so states are losing their ability to just deny the international community - the ECHR hold special power over EU members as the EU is a strong proponent of human rights and equality, so encouraging members to cooperate, such as in Buturuga v Romania (2020) and the quasing of Azeri politician Mammadov’s conviction.
How are differing cultural traditions a barrier to human rights standards?
Many states argue that human rights are a product of the Enlightenment project and signify an attempt by the West of ‘moral colonialism’ by attempting to enforce their values over those of other cultures - this can mean states develop their own set of human rights, inhibiting a global standard. It’s imprtant to note that, although universal and unanimous at ist creation, the UDHR was only voted for by 51 states.
Give examples differing cultural traditions acting as a barrier to human rights standards:
- Many Muslim countries’ standards of human rights are based in the ‘higher’ Shariah Law or general Islamic principle - Saudi Arabian law is based on a literalist Wahhabi interpretatation of the Qur’an that criminalised homosexuality
- The 1993 Bangkok Declaration created a seperate set of rights by Asian countries, rejecting the West’s focus on individualism and allowing for things like the death penalty.
Why may differing cultures not be a problem for an international standard of human rights?
Some theorists, like Fukuyama, argue that the international community is increasingly embracing Western Liberal principles, since the end of the Cold War - with Russia ratifying the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1973. Additionally, the increasing acceptance of capitalism will force states to accept individualistic rights.
How are powerful states unaccountable for their actions?
Powerful states often have the structural power to stop any official action condemning them, as well as the economic dependence on them to discourage any unofficial criticism.
Give 2 examples of powerful states not being accountable for their human rights abuses.
- The US sat in judgement of Japanese WW2 war criminals despite having bombed 2 cities full of civillians (Hiroshima and Nagisaki) and killing up to 250,000 people, as well as ‘enhanced interrogation’ in Abu Ghraib and extraordinary rendition of terrorist suspects to Egypt where thet could be tortured
- Russia was widely criticised for using its UNSC P5 powers to veto a UN tribunal into the shooting down of Malaysian Flight 17 over Ukraine
How may the power of states be becoming less of a barrier for an international standards of human rights?
Powerful states may be kept accountable, especially those in the West that so frequently condemn others for their human rights absues - in 2023, China published a report aver human rights abuses in the US, specifically those against Asian and Native Americans. Additionally, Home Secretary Patel criticsed France after a report said migrants called it a “racist” country where they “feared being tortured.”
What factors affect the success of humanitarian intervention?
- Feasibility v commitment to success
- Commitment to nation building v capacity for stable nation building
- A legitimate government to defend
- International support v international agreement
- Whether the military is the answer
Why is feasibility important
