Health, Human rights and Intervention EQ2 Flashcards
What are human rights?
Moral principles that underlines standards of human behaviour. They are commonly understood as the fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled to simply because they are a human being.
What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
A statement of intent and a framework for foreign policy and laws. It was adopted by the UN in 1948 after WW2 setting out 30 wide ranging universal rights. They are vital strands is what is widely recognised as constituting human development.
How has the UDHR been used?
- to place political pressure in counties seen to be denying people basic human rights, and to press for charge
- as a justification for economic sanctions against countries
- as a justification for military intervention in foreign countries seen to be committing genocides or widespread human rights abuses.
What are the downfalls of the UDHR?
The UDHR had serval downfalls such as
- the fact that is is not universally applied
South Africa (protect is system of apartheid)
Russia (claimed that the declaration didn’t sufficiently condemn Fascism)
Saudi Arabia (as it sated everyone has a right to change their religion as well as women’s rights
Have not signed the UDHR
- they could be classed as weak as they are not legally binding (only be used as basis for law making)
- has had limited progress
- can be seen as too ‘western’ as the concepts do not apply easily to Islamic or Asian cultures.
What is the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)?
The ECHR is a further human right treaty drafted by the council, of European in 1950 to help prevent conflict, and unite country’s after WW2. It has a stated 15 factors with a total of 47 countries signing it.
e.g. integrated into 1988 Human rights act and made them part of UK law making it easier to have there rights upheld.
Why is the ECHR controversial?
The ECHR is controversial as
- not legally binding
- may undermine national sovereignty (by signing human rights treaties sovereign states could be seen as handing authorities to a higher legal body UN/council of Europe)
What is the Geneva Convention?
The Geneva convention forms a basis in international law for prosecuting individuals and organisations who commit war crimes. The current version is the fourth, signed in 1949 by 196 countries consists of 7 rules that re enforces the needs of vulnerable people to be treated with dignity.
What are the downfalls of the Geneva Convention?
- international cooperation to bring war criminals to trial can be be hard to achieve as not all states agrees with it
- war criminals have to be captured and then brought to Hague, those accused attempt to avoid this at all costs
- gathering evidence of war crimes during war is very difficult.
- people argue that it is poorly enforced with 150 countries still engage in torture as a form of punishment.
Why are there differences in human right definition between different countries?
Majority of countries in today’s world that favour economic development over human rights as it can be argued that it is key to achieving global influence. Additionally, the type of government decide where the countries sits on the continua of ‘no regard’ to ‘healthy regard’.
Why do some countries prioritise economic growth over human rights?
Countries priories economic growth as it can be argued that
- human rights brings a finial cost (only achievable for already developed nations)
- workers rights add to costs reducing profit (reduce FDI)
e.g. China defend their vies by stating that once economic development is reached, human rights can then follow
What are the argument for privatising human rights over economic development?
- people more productive and innovative when they have freedom of speech and education
- this is proven as many of the most wealthiest counties are those with the best human rights
What can be used as a measurement of human rights?
Freedom house produce a global map of freedom rating levels of political rights and civil liberties. Rating counties as ‘free’, ‘partially free’ and ‘not free’
What type of government promotes human rights?
Human rights are usually promoted strongly by democratic counties which are cultural ply and economically secure. This is because they tend to have very low levels of corruption and normally has a recognition of global conventions (UDHR, ECHR, Geneva)
What prevents countries from being able to have a ‘healthy respect’ for human rights?
- political corruption (totalitarian regimes) poor governance will inhibit social progress
- levels of development (may not have the fund to improve human rights)
- prioritising economic growth (China)
- Beliefs (Use of sharia law)
E.g. 2/3 countries scored below 50(low) on political corruption.
What is an example of human rights differences due to governance?
The Koreas Chalk and Cheese:
At the end of WW2 the country was divided in two, creating two very opposing counties. Within North Korea is effectively a totalitarian regime with one family in charge, they live in isolation to the world and frequency violate human rights such as executions of dissidents (person whose opposes), arrest of foreigners and job freedom of speech. Additionally the poor governance has led to severe malnutrition and famine killing 2.5 million people in 1990.
Opposingly, South Korea has a capitalism society with democratic governments it has world renowned education and human rights systems.
What is an example of a human rights difference due to prioritising economic growth?
China:
China’s massive economic growth has made it a global player in today’s world however it can be criticised for overlooking human rights
- re -education through labour
- suppression internet and media freedom (Great fire wall of China)
- bad workers rights (no unions, unsafe conditions)
- death penalty
How can political corruption cause a country to have poor reposed fo human rights?
- allows private interest to dictate government policy
- rigging elections
- diverting foreign aid and scare resources into the private pockets of politicians
This results in corrupt politicians who can steer country away from human rights.
What is an example of a corrupt government impacting human rights?
Myanmar:
For more than 49 year Myanmar has been ruled by an unelected military junta suppression democracy with high amounts of political violence.
- has an illicit economy based on human traffickers p, illegal logging and drugs
C > has first fair election in 2015 Aung San Suu Kyi given high hopes of progress (was criticised for inaction against violence to Muslim communities)
How can corruption levels be measured?
The index of corruption can be used. It ranks counties form 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt).
2/3 of counties scored below 50.
Why are their difference between human rights within countries?
There can be significant variation between human rights based on
- gender
- ethnicity
Why do human rights vary with gender?
Gender inequality still persists in many countries (even the developed ones) globally it vary due to the Gender inequality index. Gender equality is determined by government, policy and law, a low one can result in human rights violations against women such as no education, rights to vote or even freedom of speech compared to males.
How does ethnicity effect human rights variations?
After WW2 there was an era of decolonisation and independent bringing with may ethical tensions and divisions. This is because post-colonial borders rarely reflected the traditional religious and ethical borders this resulted in chaos, with certain groups gaining political control and leaving the minority groups to be ignored or even persecuted by the major.
E.g. Rwanda
How does health and education link to human rights?
There is a strong correlation between access to health and education and human rights. As greater education leads to a population more likely to assert there human rights. Additionally, access to education is a UDHR human right.
Lack of human rights due to discrimination (ethnicity/gender) has direct influence on quality of life as key services can be denied.
E.g. under Sharia law women can’t receive medical attention from men, but they are Laos not allowed to work resulting in health care being largely unattainable.
Why is there a high demand for equality?
Differences in human rights due to gender or ethnicity lead to significant differences between education, income and healthful between countries and internally. This is viewed as unfair and unjustified leading to a demand for equality.
C > change takes place at different rates and has often been slow
