Health and Human Rights - 8.4 Flashcards
1
Q
What is the universal declaration of human rights?
A
- Statement of intent – a statement countries intend to uphold – not legally binding
- Framework for foreign policies
- How they are going to deal with other countries
- Helps to explain economic or military intervention – gives the reason for this
2
Q
When were the UDHR’s created?
A
- Created after the world war 2 to ensure that atrocities that had happened in the war didn’t happen again
- There was a basic agreement of the rights that every human being should be entitled to
- Eleanor Roosevelt – united nations made them – to sign
- Was originally signed by 48 UN countries but the following countries refused to sign it at the time (Soviet Union, South Africa (Aparti ruled where races were separated), Saudi Arabia)
- Many countries have taken them and put it into their own legal system
- It’s not legally binding but it forms the basis for international laws (Geneva Law is legally binding)
3
Q
Concept and history of the human rights?
A
- United nations created
- Un general assembly in 1948
- Written by an international committee
- Everyone is born free and equal
- Basic civil and political rights
- Social, economic and cultural rights
4
Q
Why are human rights ignored?
A
- Not easy to influence these rights
- Hard to punish those who violate it
- Main bodies in un – investigate violations but cannot punish them
- Development of these are mostly western nations
5
Q
Religions and human rights
A
- Sharia Law doesn’t have may rights for women’s
- As the rights were made by wealthy western countries, they don’t reflect different cultures or beliefs in religions
6
Q
Criticisms of western use of UDHR’s
A
- Arguably used by western countries as and when they feel like it
- Western, developed countries trying to keep poor countries poor – most developed countries violated human rights previously to grow and develop (UK – children working in factories, slavery)
7
Q
Why are the UDHR good?
A
- It sets out a benchmark and international declaration which all countries should adhere to
- When it works, all human have equal rights
- Development aid has been used to pressure countries into improving the human rights of their people
- It protects the weak, the vulnerable and the underrepresented in the world
8
Q
Why are the UDHR bad?
A
- Some of the declarations contradict religion (stoning, executions, Sharia Law)
- Some of the declarations contradict culture (India has strict classes – that creates inequalities in treatments)
- Some countries believe economic development is more important that human rights
- Human rights violations – are often used as a military action (Trump’s bombing of Syria for power but also their human rights were not good)
- Some countries believe sovereignty should be more significant that international pressure (Ability to rule your own country is the ruler’s autonomy – the international community shouldn’t interfere)
9
Q
Which countries are most likely to violate the UDHR’s?
A
- Muslim countries which follow Sharia Law – women have fewer rights to men and goes against many declarations
- Developing countries – don’t have access to education due to lack of funding
- Totalitarian ideologies – censorship restricts what they view – North Korea restrict what their population think and say.
10
Q
Why may some countries not want to sign these rights?
A
- Some countries are not even close to reaching good human rights just due to the lack of development so therefore their reputation would be worsened if the signed and didn’t follow
- For countries to start development, sometimes human rights don’t take priority
11
Q
What is the echr?
A
- An international human rights treaty between the 47 members of the council of Europe
- Made a legal commitment to abide by certain standards of behaviour and to protect the basic rights and freedoms of ordinary people
12
Q
When and how were the echr created?
A
- This was written by the Council of Europe and adopted by its 47 member states.
- The Council of Europe is an international organisation set up in 1949 with the specific aims of upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.
- It is not the same as the EU - but has a close relationship with it
- Pre-dates the founding of the EU in 1957
- Established the European Court of Human Rights to uphold the ECHR and bring people or organisations abusing human rights to trial and justice
13
Q
when were the echr made?
A
- The ECHR was specifically set up to prevent conflict in Europe and the sort of atrocities committed during the World Wars.
- It is different to the UDHR, but they have similar aims and refer to similar rights.
14
Q
How did the UK integrate the echr into law?
A
- The Human Rights Act 1998 took the rights that were part of the ECHR and made them part of UK law.
- This makes it easier for citizens to have their human rights upheld in the UK, rather than having to take the UK government to court at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
15
Q
Why do some people in the UK appose to ECHR?
A
- Some people think that they impact the country’s sovereignty
- By signing international human rights treaties, sovereign states could be seen to be handing authority on human rights issues to a higher legal body (UN or Council of Europe)
16
Q
Why is the concept of human rights being criticised?
A
- Some have criticised the concept of ‘human rights’ as being Western, put into place after WW2 by European and North American politicians and thinkers.
- They argue that this Western concept of human rights does not apply easily to Islamic or Asian cultures, which have different histories and traditions.
- Different cultures may take a different view of gender equality or treat some crimes more/less seriously than other cultures.
17
Q
Example of the ECHR undermining national sovereignty and putting the UK at risk
A
- Abu Hamza – caught preaching anti-western views that were violent (hate crime)
- Arrested and put in prison in UK for this
- Given legal aid – this was very
- Take citizenship away – seen as a danger by government
- Contested it and went to echr – said it was his human right to live in UK
- Terror charges in USA – training and money to terror attacks – USA tried to expedite him
- Went to echr again – at risk of torture and can’t lose citizenship
- British law made a decision, but he was entitled to got to European court to get British law to be overthrown
- This whole process was very expensive as it takes lots of taxpayer’s money
18
Q
What has the UK government started to do now?
A
- Prepared to bypass human rights laws echr to push through emergency laws on sentencing for terrorists
- Changed the law to allow them to change sentence length of time a terrorist ha
- Serving full length of years
19
Q
The Geneva convention
When were they created?
A
-1864 – basic limits of how war can be fought
20
Q
The Geneva convention
What was the aim of them?
A
- To limit the brutality of war
- Who or what can be attacked?
21
Q
The Geneva convention
What are some of the laws?
A
- Civilians can never be targeted – (e.g., Assad killed civilians)
- Can’t cut off water, medical supplies or food – try to make a side weak
- Prohibit torture of detainees and prisoners – need to be treated with respect and dignity
- Medical workers must always be able to do their job
- Recross must never be attacked
- Advancements in technology has caused the rules to adapt
22
Q
The Geneva convention
How many members?
A
-196 countries have agreed to the convention
23
Q
The Geneva convention
How is it agreed and managed?
A
- It’s not widely considered that the conventions should apply whether a country has signed or not
- Its legally binding and you can be tried in the international court
- Violations are investigated and judged in an international court but are dealt with national and regional laws
- The UN security council has the final say and can deploy their peacekeepers if they think a violation may be in place
24
Q
Example of how human declarations and international community is not being effective: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
A
- Gross financial waste
- Gross mismanagement
- 40 prisoners – held for terrorist charges for nearly 20 years
- Right for freedom, right for a fair trial
- Taxpayers money going towards this site to keep it open = $6 bn to operate since opening 18 years
- $380 million a year, $60 million annual expense for operating, plus wages for 1,800 guards
- Only 1 person convicted out of 800 prisoners
- Not getting information out of the prisoners
- Taking people prisoner and torturing them – sending them back to their country – this is growing their hatred for the west
- Trying to find out if their involved in terrorist attacks on September 11th or the Gulf stream war
25
Example of how international law, Geneva law and UDHR didn’t work:
Rwanda 1994 – The Rwandan Genocide
- 800,000 people in 100 days were slaughtered
- Ethnic cleansing – murder, rape and torture
- Hutu ethnically cleansed the Tutsi’s
- Tutsi’s were the minority group, Hutu had the largest populations
- Tutsi driven out of the homeland and wanted to overthrow Hutu’s
- Hutu plane with president on was shot down and was killed – assumed that the Tutsi’s did this
- The Hutu systematically killed people who were against the government and the Tutsi’s
- 1.2 million people were tried in the local court
- Hutu were forced into the democratic of congo
26
How did the international community allow this to happen?
UN had troops in Rwanda but didn’t intervene
UN security council – made the decision to get involved
French who were friends with Hutu government sent help to protect citizens
27
Why are war crimes hard to prosecute?
-Which country takes ownership over that prosecution, where does the money come from, which country is prepared to run and lead the prosecution
28
ICC persecution
Ratko Mladic
Who is he?
- A Bosnian Serb
| - He led the army of Respublika Srpska during the Yugoslav Wars (1991-2001)
29
ICC persecution
Ratko Mladic
When was he found guilty?
- He was found guilty in 2017
- This was two decades after the massacre occurred
- 5 years after is trial began
30
ICC persecution
Ratko Mladic
What was he found guilty of?
- In 1995, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were slaughtered by Bosnian Serbs
- This was his plan to make an ‘ethnically cleansed city’
31
ICC persecution
Ratko Mladic
Who was he persecuted by?
- He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a UN tribunal at the Hague
- He was charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity
32
ICC persecution
UK soldiers
Why may they be persecuted?
-UK soldiers could face prosecution at the International Criminal court over allegations of war crimes in Iraq between 2003 and 2009
33
ICC persecution
UK soldiers
What are they being charged with?
- Unlawfully killing prisoners
- Torturing and inhuman treatment
- Outrages on personal dignity
- Rape or sexual violence
34
ICC persecution
UK soldiers
What is the UK’s response?
-The UK has said that there is no need for the ICC’s involvement
35
ICC persecution
UK soldiers
Iraq historic allegations team
- A British government group
- Has a £60m budget
- Was shut down due to a lack of professionalism
36
What has the ICC been accused of?
- Recently they have been accused of racism and imperialism
- They have mostly pursued African politicians
- Going after the UK, who are one of the main ICC’s backers, will go against this claim
