Human Rights Flashcards

Question

CASE STUDY: The Yugoslav Wars and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) when was the ICTY established? and with what purpose?

Answer 1

the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was established by UN Security Council Resolution 827 in 1993 to bring the political and military leaders accused of war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars to justice

Answer 2

the ICTY was the first international tribunal since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials it was also the first to indict a sitting head of state - in 1999 Slobodan Milosovic, former Yugoslav president, was put on trial at the ICTY after being accused of genocide and war crimes, but he died before his trial ended

Answer 3

Radislav Krstic, a Bosnian-Serb army officer, was the first person at the tribunal to be found guilty of genocide - he was found guilty of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 7500 Muslim men and bovs Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian-Serb political leader, was found guilty of genocide and war crimes in 2016 and sentenced to 40 years in prison Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian-Serb military commander, was recently on trial in The Hague, charged with 2 counts of genocide and 9 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity - in 2017, he was convicted of 10 of the 11 charges and sentenced to life imprisonment

Answer 4

the Council of Europe was set up in 1949 in response to the human rights abuses of the Holocaust the ECHR was established in 1959 and acts as a court of last resort - individuals or groups who feel that their rights have been breached by a signatory state may appeal to the ECHR to have their case heard if all other legal avenues have been exhausted the ECHR aims to promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe the Council of Europe and the ECHR are not related to the EU

Answer 5

currently has 47 member states - the only European country that is not a member is Belarus all member states are signatories to the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights, which is upheld by the European Court of Human Rights based in Strasbourg, France while ECHR rulings are not directly enforceable, all signatory states have agreed under international treaty to uphold the rulings of the court

Answer 6

the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Answer 7

Following World War I the Nuremberg trials in which leading Nazis were tried as a war criminals for crimes against humanity and waging aggressive warfare demonstrate what could happen if the government acted in defiance of all moral principles The way in which the Nazi state had persecuted many of its own citizens waged war and committed acts of mass genocide suggested that nationstates could not be allowed to act with impunity If the international community did not learn lessons from these horrors they would be repeated The crime is exposed at Nierenberg made the development of human rights-based approach to international law and urgent concern no longer was international law simply a way in which states achieve just enough global stability to survive instead it would have to take into account human rights as well as state self interests In order to achieve this nationstates would need to come together to establish international institutions of justice and global standards of moral behaviour by doing this they could create a world of peace and justice and contain the aggressive impulses of nation states to this end in San Francisco in 1945 the UN was established

Answer 8

in the immediate aftermath of WW2, there were 2 international tribunals to deal with those responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity the Nuremberg Trials dealt with the violence committed by the Nazis in Europe and the Tokyo Trials dealt with the violence committed by the Japanese in the Far East it was felt that the perpetrators responsible for the atrocities carried out by both regimes must be brought to justice

Answer 9

these trials can be considered controversial because they prosecuted individuals for crimes that were not actually crimes at the time they were committed

Answer 10

these trials were unprecedented because they were genuine international trials, not just trials in one state under the legal system of one state these tribunals set the precedent for future war crimes tribunals and for the ICC the view that some crimes are so abhorrent and heinous that they must be punished has been the thinking behind the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the ICC

Answer 11

the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) set out for the first time a set of rights that are applicable to all human beings the UDHR is a remarkable achievement in that it was the first time that statesmen and women from different political, legal and cultural backgrounds agreed on a common set of fundamental rights that apply to everyone

Answer 12

although not legally binding, the UDHR has been a significant document in developing human rights around the world it led to a collection of covenants that seek to underpin human rights such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both adopted in 1966

Answer 13

not all states signed up to the UDHR in 1948, limiting its overall influence and reach most notably, Saudi Arabia refused to sign on the grounds that the UDHR was incompatible with Islamic law Saudi Arabia does not allow citizens to renounce their religion which could be considered a breach of their human rights as guaranteed by the UDHR

Answer 14

the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, signed in 1990, was an attempt by Islamic countries to give their view on human rights from an Islamic perspective freedom of religion is a key tension between the Cairo Declaration and the UDHR

Answer 15

there are many criticisms of the ICC including... • the implications for sovereignty • Western cultural bias within the court • bias against African states • the slow process of cases which delays justice • the double standards of Western states that criticise others but appear to act with impunity • the lack of arrest powers of the court allowing fugitives to avoid justice

Answer 16

a criticism of the ICC is that it can be seen to infringe on state sovereignty some countries, like China, have not signed up to the ICC because they believe that sovereignty is a fundamental right of states and they should be able to decide for themselves what happens in their country the principle of non-intervention is at the heart of the Westphalian system and is enshrined in Article 2 of the UN Charter they argue that states have the right to conduct affairs in their own territory without unwanted interference from states who have their own interests to pursue - these states may be politically motivated

Answer 17

the ICC depends on the cooperation of the states that have ratified it to turn over suspects and help in the information gathering process to speed up and complete fair and efficient trials unfortunately for the ICC, this is not always the case specifically, many instances have occurred since the inception of the court where the prosecutor has the evidence, the indictment has been issued, but no trial ensues simply because the indicted is not turned over to the ICC for trial therefore, the suspect remains at large as an international criminal - this is especially the case with Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan due to the lack of cooperation, heads of states indicted, as well as powerful military, leaders continue to purge local populations without having to answer to their crimes despite ratification of the Rome Statute, the perception of state cooperation and the actuality of it can be vastly different

Answer 18

the use of force to protect people in another state from gross and systematic human rights violations committed against them or too avert a humanitarian catastrophe when the target state is unwilling or unable to act

Answer 19

Since the ICC is in permanent session unlike ad hoc Tribunal's it provides a constant standard of international justice to which governments should aspire By convicting human rights abuses before an international court establishes precedents for the development of international human rights-based law By delivering retribution and punishment within countries future human rights abuses may be deterred as war criminals realise they cannot hide from justice behind borders it's persecution of Laurent Gbagbo, Former president of the Ivory Coast has reinforced the principle that heads of state are morally responsible for their actions It has recorded and made public evidence of atrocities so making denial more difficult It is able to provide justice in cases where nationstates might not be able to either because of prejudice or lack of governance

Answer 20

The ICC interferes with the state sovereignty nation states have the responsibility to protect their citizens the international community has no mandate to intervene within state and the court therefore lacks legitimacy Article 2 of the UN charter Leysdown the principle of sovereign equality of all member states and that nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorise the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially in the domestic jurisdiction of any state It challenges the legitimacy of states to try cases within their own borders Its authority is undermined by the refusal of three members of the Security Council China Russia and the USA to except it's jurisdiction with so many powerful countries absent the ICC only provides partial justice and cannot claim to provide truly international justice By 2017 the ICC had only successfully Prosecuted three individuals it is very costly and very slow moving and has achieved very little So far the only people to have been indicted by the court or Africans given the global extent if you would like to be uses this indicates an inbuilt bias against Africa which is why South Africa has withdrawn its Signature from the Rome Statute

Answer 21

International law has four key sources of authority as established in article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of lustice International conventions for example the 1968 nuclear nonproliferation treaty International custom long established practices of states The general principles of law actions that are legal within states are illegal in international law Judicial decisions on the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of various nations

Answer 22

The first time at the global community came together to define a comprehensive code of rights Integral part of the liberal world order Article 30 links to John Stuart Mill is harm principle Not binding as it is not a treaty but it is an example of customary international law standard of behaviour that is expected but cannot be in forced It means that states can no longer encroach upon human rights without the action being potentially taken out by the UN this legitimises humanitarian intervention and poses a further challenge to state sovereignty

Answer 23

the UDHR Raises two issues Article 1 states all are born free an equal indignity and rights this is seen as conflicting with state sovereignty as violates the domestic jurisdiction states the document contains only civil and political rights as fundamental rights as it is a liberal conception of rights Economic and social rights which are collective rights are not included in 1966 civil and political rights became international law through the International covenant on civil and political rights while economic and social rights were incorporated through the International covenant on economic social and cultural rights but economic and social rights are also included in the international bill of human rights which the universal declaration of human rights is also included in

Answer 24

Universal declaration of human rights and both covenants are collectively known as the international bill of human rights the inclusion of economic and social rights such as the right to an adequate standard of living and the right of people to self determination is a further challenge to state sovereignty

Answer 25

Human rights are commonly understood as fundamental rights to which a person is entitled simply because they are a human being sometimes referred to as natural rights as defined by John Locke

Answer 26

The concept of human rights is controversial for a number of reasons The infringement of human rights has resulted in humanitarian intervention which is a violation of the principle of national sovereignty universal declaration of human rights legitimises such interventions that acts as a further challenge to state sovereignty There is disagreement about whether human rights are universal human rights and whether they should take into account cultural differences between societies and peoples should they take into account the differing values and legal systems of the Asian of Muslim world E.g. women were previously unable to drive in Saudi Arabia the band was recently lifted in 2018 The Lindsey Sandyford case demonstrates a clash between cultures the death-penalty exists in Indonesia but not in the UK Universal human rights can be seen as a form of neocolonialism that seeks to replace the cultures of other societies with western liberal values The west trying to impose their values on other countries without considering the heritage history and culture

Answer 27

The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the UN and was created in 1946 it deals with legal disputes between states submitted by states and requests advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by UN bodies It consists of 15 judges who must be elected by majority of votes in both the general assembly and the Security Council Each judge serves a nine year term the make up of the court is representative of the regions of the globe but the court has always included the judge from each of the P5 countries

Answer 28

That is almost universal jurisdiction it is that this is the principles by which disputes may be judged such as setting a just and equitable solution to maritime border issues for example Peru versus Chile 2014 It settles better international border disputes states even losing states observe the decision of the ICJ even though it has no in Forssmann power as decisions have moral power with a high cost to the reputation and legitimacy of states who defy the court For example Costa Rica versus Nicaragua 2015 where the IC] ruled That's a patch of wet lands on the San Juan river occupied by Nicaragua was the property of Costa Rica The increasing number of cases brought to the ICJ from an increasing range of states by 1980 for example the court had commenced 65 cases added by 2017 this had risen to 166 cases

Answer 29

Advisory opinions can shape international politics in 2010 for example the ICI ruled that Kosovo's declaration of independence did not breach international law this has led Kosovo to ratchet up its campaign for recognition as a state and Catalonians have drawn parallels with their case for independence from Spain

Answer 30

The jurisdiction of the IC] only applies to states not nonstate actors or individuals which excludes a wide range of humanitarian issues The ICJ has no enforcement powers states have to sign up to be bound by IC] decisions and have the option to withdraw their commitment In 1984 for example Nicaragua brought a case arguing the USA had violated international law by supporting the CONTRAs in the rebellion against the government the ICJ Ruled in Nicaragua's favour in 1986 but the USA said that the court had no jurisdiction

Answer 31

The ICJ appears to favour western states on the P5 in particular Today the distribution of 15 judges is free from Africa to from Latin America and the Caribbean three from Asia to from Eastern Europe and five from Western Europe

Answer 32

In 2002 the ICJ ruled on a border dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria which had sparked violent confrontation in the 1980s and 90s The ICJ ruled on the allocation of territory over the whole 2100 km border but most importantly awarded the Bakassi Peninsula To Cameroon With the UN as a mediator the dispute was resolved and the Peninsula was handed over by Nigeria in 2008 This resolution is seen as a model for peaceful resolution of all the border disputes particularly in Africa where only 30% of borders are precisely drawn

Answer 33

Key international criminal tribunals established after World War I include the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials Following the collapse of the Cold War in 1991 the UN Security Council established more tribunal to consider violations of international humanitarian law where there was evidence of crimes of genocide crimes against humanity and war crimes For example the international tribunal for Yugoslavia was established in the Hague in 1993 and the international tribunal for Rwanda in Tanzania in 1995

Answer 34

62 sentenced 14 acquitted 10 referred to national jurisdiction for trial three fugitives referred to another tribunal to deceased prior to judgement to indictment withdrawn before trial 93 individuals have been indicted by the international tribunal for Rwanda since 1995

Answer 35

The trial is focused attention on human rights violations attention was increased by global media coverage and the emergence of a 24 hour news cycle Leaders cannot act above the law and can be held personally liable for crimes Jean Kambanda The former prime minister of a wonder pleaded guilty to 6 charges of genocide and was given a life sentence Successful convictions act as an example to deter future crimes for example the conviction of Radislav Krstic for genocide at Srebrenica Crimes can be committed not just during war between states but in Civil War even during periods of peace

Answer 36

Prosecutions are too slow This is a major problem The cost of special UN tribunals - the ICTY costs rose from $267,000 in 1993 to $301 million in 2010 These court decisions on the international humanitarian law they rest on a culturally biased they reflect western liberal values of human rights over other values These courts on international humanitarian law or a threat to state sovereignty by intervening in the domestic jurisdiction The courts are based on events in developing or transitioning countries giving the impression that these countries are seen by the west as backward

Answer 37

The ICC successfully prosecuted the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga for recruiting and using child soldiers from 2000 to 2003 he was sentenced to 14 vears the case against Kenya's president (Kenyatta) in 2014 was withdrawn the case against the Ivory Coast's former president Laurent Gbagbo on charges of murder rape and other forms of sexual violence persecution and inhumane acts is ongoing

Answer 38

Setting an example it sends out the message that political and military leaders will be prosecuted for their actions and so should deter future crimes although this deterrent is difficult to measure Intervention the ICC intervenes as a last resort Westates will not all cannot prosecute military and political leaders for committing crimes against own citizens this provides a defence of human rights across the globe The power of international law international humanitarian law now has a court with global jurisdiction to enforce the law and crimes of genocide crimes against humanity and war crimes

Answer 39

Cost and inefficiency the cost of the ICC is met by the individual contributions of states based on their wealth the burden of member states is great due to the absence of key powers like the USA the first successful prosecution was 10 years after the ICC was established National sovereignty the court will intervene in the states which is in conflict with the key international principle of national sovereignty one issue is whether the jurisdiction of the court extends to nonmembers if they break the law in a member state for example US soldiers in Bosnia Western imperialism the ICC is based on western values and principles of ignoring alternative worldviews its initial prosecutions appear to have an anti-African bias according to the African union as it is only prosecuting black African leaders Lack of jurisdiction the lack of support from key powers reduces legitimacy and jurisdiction of the ICC the ICC also has no enforcement powers for example the African union has instructed its members not act on the arrest warrant for president Omar al-Bashir President of Sudan

Answer 40

Abu Katada versus UK 2012 which ruled the radica cleric could not be deported to Jordan for fear he would be tried using evidence obtained by torture Sand Marper v UK 2008 which ruled that holding DNA samples of those arrested but not prosecuted or later acquitted is a violation of the right to privacy

Answer 41

The high level of compliance with the ECHR rulings by its 47 signatory states

Answer 42

The huge backlog of cases due to the arrival of new states from central and Eastern Europe to its jurisdiction where human rights protection is flawed in 2013, over 13,000 cases were referred from Ukraine alone and the backlog in the same year for the ECHR stood at over 99,000 cases The jurisdiction of the court can be seen to clash with the sovereignty of the state this is made worse where rulings against states are unpopular within that state

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Human Rights Flashcards

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