Human rights. Flashcards
What is the definition of human rights?
- Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all human beings are entitled.
- They are applicable at all times and protect everyone equally without discrimination
What is the UDHR?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
What is meant by human rights norms?
- Human rights norms represent ways of living that have been inculcated into the culture of a nation or area over long periods of time.
- They are the foundations of human rights, protected by law and through the signing of international treaties or conventions.
- Human rights norms are based on the moral principles that underpin universally accepted standards of human behaviour.
What is one of the most widely ratified convention of all international human rights?
the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
In what two differing ways has globalisation impacted human rights?
- Positively, it has enhanced the ability of civil society to work across borders and to promote human rights
- Negatively, it has enabled some organisations to gain power and perpetrate violations
Why are human rights norms fundamental in appreciating the complexity of human rights?
- Human rights norms are difficult to establish on a universal basis, for example: Afghanistan have different values compared to the Western world on women.
Define humanitarian intervention
- Intervention by a state or group of states in a foreign territory in order to pacify gross violation of fundamental human rights of citizens.
- This involves the use of military force
What is the only body that can authorise use of force in intervention?
The UN Security Council
What is the complexity in using intervention?
- The entire military process in intervention is controversial.
- There is the immediate benefits of establishing political stability, however there can be unintended consequences. Consequences include injuries and death of civilians, loss of homes and population displacement.
Further down the line, it can facilitate further abuses, injustice and widen inequality.
What forms can UN involvement take?
- The UN can extend past singularly using military operation to restore human rights such as peacekeeping and coordinating of organisations active in the area
- In addition, other forms include economic sanctions and prosecution of those responsible for violations
In what ways is the overall global governance of human rights complex and multifaceted?
- It can involve direct physical intervention as well as the application of a growing number of human rights norms, laws, treaties and conventions.
- Effective intervention depends on their interactions and co-ordination at all scales.
Define geopolitics
- The global balance of political power and international relations
What is the pattern of political power closely related to?
- Political power, as part of geopolitics, is closely related to economic power (usually in terms of relative wealth or international trade strength)
Geopolitically, what is the only superpower in the world - and what is a challenge to it?
- The USA remains the only superpower.
- Despite this, China has overtaken them as the world’s leading trading nation - although the USA remains a superpower militarily and politically.
What is the significance of supranational organisations (such as the UN) in human rights?
- Organisations, including MNCs (multinational corporations) exert geopolitical influence - especially when they invest.
What about geopolitics is complex?
- Contemporary geopolitical power has a very uneven spatial distribution.
- This means there is inequalities in power between states dependent on wealth, political state and development.
- This creates the question of whether places with concentrated geopolitical power are enforcing their norms on other nations
What 3 human rights issues do we need to know spatial patterns for?
- Forced labour
- Maternal mortality rates
- Capital punishment
Globally, how many are victims of forced labour?
- 25 million estimated to be in forced labour
What is included in forced labour?
- Men unable to leave work due to debt
- Female (and others) exploitation
- Children being forced to work
What does the ILO define forced labour as? (International Labour Organisation)
- The ILO states forced labour takes many forms.
- These are ranging from physical and sexual violence or threats against family members to more subtle means such as withholding wages, retaining identity documents, threat of dismissal or threat of denunciation to authorities
In the estimated 25 million people in forced labour worldwide, how many are exploited in each of these categories?
- Economic activities
- Sexual exploitation
- State imposed
- Economic activity: 16 million
- Sexual exploitation: 4.9 million
- State imposed labour: 4.1 million
What is the spatial pattern of forced labour?
- South East Asia has the highest overall incidence of forced labour at around 12 million.
- No world region, however, is significantly unaffected.
What 4 factors influence global variations in forced labour?
- Economic
- Political
- Social
- Environmental
What are the economic factors influencing global variations of forced labour?
- Poverty
- Migration
- Low wages
- Lack of employment opportunities
What are the social factors influencing global variations of forced labour?
- Gender inequality
- Age (young children)
- Indigenous people
- Bonded labour in families
What are the political factors influencing global variations of forced labour?
- Conflict and corruption
- Political instability
- Breakdown of rule of law
- High levels of discrimination
- State sponsorship of modern slavery
What are the environmental factors influencing global variations of forced labour?
- Refugees from climate related disasters
- Hazardous working conditions (such as in mines)
What does MMR stand for?
Maternal mortality rate
Define maternal mortality rates
The death of a woman whilst pregnant or within the first 42 days related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management.
How is maternal mortality rate measured?
The annual number of deaths associated with pregnancy per 100000 live births
Where do most deaths associated with MMR occur?
- 95% of deaths occur in developing countries
- Chad and Sierra Leone are some of the most affected countries
- In 2020, South Sudan led at 1223 deaths per 100k, followed by Chad with 1063.
- The lowest figures were concentrated in developed countries, mostly in Europe with Belarus only having 2.
List factors that influence global variations of MMR
- Access to treatments for pregnancy and birth complications, especially emergency care.
- Quality of medical services (such as provision of skilled attendance at birth)
- Level of government investment
- Availability of education
- Cultural beliefs, practises and discrimination
- Poverty
Why is maternal mortality rate an issue of human rights?
- The vast majority of MMR deaths are preventable, therefore, it is not just a matter of development but a matter of human rights.
What international treaties legally protect the human right of MMR?
- The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Why is capital punishment a human rights issue?
- The death penalty is a denial of the most basic human right: recognition of the right to life.
What are the spatial patterns of capital punishment?
- Abolitionist countries (no death penalty) are found mainly in Europe and Latin America - being in democratic, high income countries with cemented human rights laws.
- Retentionist countries and those who are abolitionist in practise are found mainly in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and some US states. These are common in authoritarian states, conservative regions or in autocratic countries.
What were the 2018-2019 statistics on capital punishment?
- Almost 700 executions globally in 2018
- Over 2500 were sentenced to death in 54 countries
- By 2019, almost 20,000 people were sentenced to death.
In 2022, how many countries retain the death penalty?
55 countries
What factors influence the global distribution of capital punishment?
- Differences in countries laws for the types of crimes death penalty is imposed upon
- Religious factors, such as the implementation of Sharia law
- Abolitionist movements
- Reinstatement in some countries concerned with state security and terrorism, seen in the contested proposed death penalty in Israel for terror related offences.
What is meant by gender inequality?
The unequal treatment of individuals based on their gender.
What is a comprehensive measurement of gender inequality?
- The Global Gender Gap Index, devised by the World Economic Forum.
What are common gender inequalities?
- Forced marriage
- Human trafficking
- Access to education
- Gender-based violence
- Employment and wage equality
What regions have the worst closure in global gender gap and which ones have the fastest rate of closure?
- Slowest rate of closure: Middle East and North Africa
- Fastest rate of closure: Western Europe
What 4 indices are used by the World Economic Forum in the Global Gender Gap Index?
- Economic participation and opportunity
- Educational attainment
- Health and survival
- Political empowerment
What are the 4 main challenges for gender equality (variations in equality spec point)
- Educational opportunity
- Access to reproductive health services
- Employment opportunity.
What are gender equality challenges in educational opportunity, and where are they spatially located?
- Girls are often excluded in education in poorer countries, in particular, rural areas.
- Obstacles to female education progression and participation are greatest in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Why is educational opportunity imperative for gender equality?
- Female education empowers women financially, giving opportunity for them to move into the labor market, which also increases labor force production.
- In nations with an increasing parity in education, fertility rates, population growth rates and infant mortality rates have fallen, alongside poverty.
What are some challenges / factors influencing female educational participation?
- Costs prohibit children from continuing secondary education.
- Household obligations on girls due to male out-migration.
- Prevalence of child marriage
- Insufficient government investment
- Girls exploited in child labour
- Not enough female teachers
What UN proposal has been created to create educational parity for girls?
- Girls’ education initiative
- UNICEF is the lead agency of this.
Why is access to reproductive services an important human right for gender equality?
- Female reproductive health rights are violated when females are denied access to health care services.
- Those who are less likely to gain access to health services, information and education are less likely to be empowered to negotiate safer sex and decide on number and spacing of children birthed.
What is the result of lack of access to reproductive services?
- In developing / LIDC countries, sees higher death rates associated with MMR.
- For surviving mothers, education is inhibited and job prospects are diminished.
- Due to education and employment exclusion, women become vulnerable to poverty.
What has been put in place to tackle lack of access to reproductive rights?
- NGOs such as:
- ICRW
- Amref Health Africa
- Womankind
- These work closely with communities most closely affected.
- Global partnerships: Girls Not Brides.
What are challenges / factors affecting female reproductive health service access?
- Early forced marriage
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Harmful traditional practices such as FGM
- Forced sterilization or abortion
- Gender bias in access to education or information
- Sexual violence
- Lack of empowerment or autonomy over family
Why is employment opportunity a human right for gender equality?
- It is a right for both male and females to have equal access to employment opportunities.
- If there is a limited female access to labor markets or lack of female participation, this perpetuates a cycle of disempowerment and poverty in women.
What factors / challenges affect the spatial variation of employment opportunity in women?
- Social norms:
In many cultures, it is preserved that men secure household income with work whilst women attend to unpaid domestic care. - Levels of governmental and company support for childcare
- Safeguarding of equal opportunity.
According to the UN, there are still 18 countries where husbands can legally prevent their wives from working. - Gender based norms for education
- Sectoral structure of labor market
- Employer discrimination
What are the primary economic factors contributing to gender inequality?
- Limited access to financial resources
- Wage disparity
- Higher poverty rates
- This restricts women’s opportunities in education and employment.
How do political factors influence gender equality?
- Political factors such as representation of women politically influence equality.
- Underrepresentation of women in political positions leads to policies that disregard female-specific needs such as maternity leave, employment and reproductive health, so no equitable laws are established.
In what ways do societal factors perpetuate gender inequality?
- Cultural norms that preserve traditional gender roles often prioritize men’s education and careers.
- This limits women’s access to education and professional advancement
