Human rights Flashcards
1
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Human rights
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fundamental rights that every human being is entitled to. It recognised the inherent value in each person.
2
Q
Three categories of human rights
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- o 1st generation: civil and political rights that can be found in articles 1-21 of the UDHR (1948) and the ICCPR (1966)
- 2nd generation: economic, social, cultural rights which can be found in articles 22-30 of the UDHR (1948) and ICESCR (1966)
- 3rd generation: the rights are international in scope and can only be addressed by global cooperation. The two most prominent of these rights are environmental and peace rights
3
Q
Developing recognition of human rights
abolition of slavery: Pt 1
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- Slavery is another type of forced labour in which a person is considered to be the legal property of another.
- Slavery was considered an integral part of society and the economy. The UDHR declared that to enslave someone was a violation of their rights. The abolition of slavery was one of the first successful movements for a globally recognised right.
- In many instances, Slaves were mistreated and brutalised, and had no real legal rights. Laws generally treated slaves as objects, rather than subjects of the law.
- The transatlantic slave trade was the trading of African people by Europeans who transported them as slaves from Africa to the colonies of the New World.
4
Q
Developing recognition of human rights
Abolition of slavery: pt 2
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- Known as abolitionism, the movement began in 18th century and gradually grew as the horrors of the slave trade became known.
- The importation of slaves to colonies ended in the British Empire in the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807 (UK). All US slaves were freed in 1865 and was abolished in the 13th amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America 1787 (US).
- Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery (1926), a comprehensive international convention on abolishing slavery worldwide, passed at the end of WW1 by the League of Nations.
- Post-WW2, the member states of the UN made a clear statement that slavery was prohibited under article 4 of the UDHR.
- Human trafficking, child labour, sexual slavery, and forced labour are still serious issues; slavery still exists but its form has changed.
5
Q
Developing recognition of human rights
Trade unionism and labour rights: pt 1
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- The UDHR included labour rights in 2/30 articles. Trade unions, an organisation of workers created to preserve and further their rights and interests, first emerged during the industrial revolution in response to appalling conditions and lack of safety.
- The British Parliament passed the Trade Unions Act 1871 (UK). The unions in Australia joined together to form their own political party, the Australian Labour Party.
- In late 19th century, the First International and Second International were created as organisation of unions and political representatives urging improved working conditions globally.
- In 1919, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was created to discuss social reforms and put them into practice. It was formed as an agency of the League of Nations with the aim to improve working conditions for workers and has been responsible for many conventions on working conditions and rights. It is now an agency of the UN.
- Labour rights were enshrined in article 23 and 24 of the UDHR, and the ICESC (1966) has further defined this.
6
Q
Developing recognition of human rights
Universal suffrage: pt 1
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- The movement only gained traction in western nations as populations living in European colonies had little capacity to protest. The right to vote was included in the UDHR however was not seriously considered a universal right until the end of the Cold War in the 1990s.
Suffrage refers to the legal right to vote in a democratic election. Even where democracies existed, the right to vote was usually restricted. - The concept of universal suffrage, the right of all citizens to vote in political elections regardless of their status, gender, race or creed, is only a recent development in the world but where it has been achieved, it is now considered an essential human right.
- It was not until the Representation of the People Act 1918 (UK) that the vote was extended to the whole male population. Women who campaigned for the right to vote were known as suffragettes.
- In 1893, New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women an equal right to vote. South Australia followed in 1894, with the Australian Commonwealth granting women’s suffrage in 1902.
- It was not until 1918, after the end of WW1, that the UK gave women a limited right to vote which was not made equal to men’s rights until 1928. The US passed the 19th Amendment allowing women to vote in 1920.
7
Q
Developing recognition of human rights
Universal suffrage: race
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- Race was another issued that conflicted with rights to vote. In 1870 in the US following the American Civil War, the right to vote was extened by the 15th Amendment to all adult males regardless of ‘race, colour, or previous condition of servitude.
- In Australia, indigenous peoples had the right to vote since the time of Federation in 1901. However, due to later interpretations by the government and discriminatory measure adopted by the state, indigenous peoples were effectively denied the right to vote until 1962. The Commonwealth legislated to ensure that indigenous peoples had the right to vote regardless of their state voting rights although voting was not compulsory for them.
- A 1967 constitutional referendum finally gave indigenous Australians the right to be counted in the Australian Census. The constitutional amendment became a symbol of public recognition of the rights of indigenous Australians.
- The right to vote was recognised as a universal human right in Article 21 of the UDHR (1948) but it was only with the end of the Cold War in 1990 that this right had the prospect of being accepted globally.
- Since the global financial crisis, the failure of the Arab Spring, and the rise of authoritarianism, the tide had now turned against democracy and this will result in fewer people in the world being able to exercise a free right to vote and to choose the form of government that will control their lives.
- Democracy alone had been confined to the nation state. many argue that the right to vote mentioned in Article 21 of the UDHR (1948) needs to go global so that all humans have some say in how decisions are made at the global level.
8
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Recognition of human rights
Universal education
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- Universal education is free and compulsory education for all children. It is the idea that all human beings have a right to an education.
- By the end of WW2, free and compulsory education had spread throughout developed countries and was regarded as not only a desirable goal for all governments to pursue but also aa basic human right.
- The UN made education a major priority of its economic and social development programs, and the right to free education for all human beings was included under Article 26 of the UDHR (1948), which goes on to state that children’s elementary education should be compulsory and made widely available.
- Goal 4 of the SDGs is ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning for all’.
9
Q
Recognition of human rights
Self-determination
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- It is the collective right of people to determine how they will be governed, or their political status, based on territory or national grouping.
- Political self-determination is something that has been fought for throughout history by peoples against various powers and regimes.
- Self-determination is also recognised in the declaration of the United Nations (1942.) The establishment of the Charter of United Nations (1945) led to the first universal recognition of the right to self-determination.
- Article 1 (2) of the UN Charter calls for respect for the principle of self-determination and is further strengthened by Article 15 of the UDHR (1948).
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966), includes self-determination as its primary right under Article 1 (1).
- There are many groups of people today who would like to exercise their right to self-determination but have failed to do so.
- A more right issue of self-determination is that of indigenous peoples. In many countries, indigenous people have been regularly excluded from the democratic process, forcefully assimilated, economically exploited or generally oppressed.
10
Q
Recognition of human rights
Environmental rights
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- Environmental rights are unlike individual rights, or even collective rights, but are argued to relate to many existing agreed rights. These rights are intergenerational rights and include the right to a healthy safe, and adequate environment.
- Recognised in some international agreements.
- UN Climate Change Conference in December 2015 produced the Paris Agreement was a plan to stabilise global warming below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, increase the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change, increased mobilisation and provision of financial resources and technology to support action by developing countries to achieve their own environmental national objectives
- Kyoto protocol (1997) includes attempts by the international community to deal with environmental problems, such as global warming, the spread of epidemics, marine pollution, the depletion of the ozone layer and atmospheric pollution
- ICC can deal with breached of environmental rights
Limitation
main problems in achieving progress in this area is the failure of all states to commit to measures to benefit the global community when there may be the short-term disadvantage of their national interests
11
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Recognition of human rights
Peace rights
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- It is the right of citizens to expect their government to do all in its power to make progress towards the elimination of war. Peace Rights are collective rights such that they belong to a distinct group of people and exercised on behalf of community
- Until the 20th century, there was no concept of a right to peace → war was legitimate and genuine to resolve disputes. Peace rights aim to protect the rights of citizens from war
- Elimination of the threat of war, particularly nuclear war → Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017) → approved by the UN General Assembly on 7 July 2017
- Renunciation of the use of force in international relations → UN Charter → prohibits the threat or use of force against the integrity of political independence of any state in international relations to remain consistent with the UN
- The settlement of international disputes by peaceful means on the basis of the UN Charter → in UN made Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace 1984 → all peoples have sacred right to peace → obligation to government policies
12
Q
Formal statements of human rights
UDHR (1948)
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- The UDHR was created by the UNGA on 10th December 1948. Originally signed by 48/58 states that existed in the world at that time.
- The UDHR had 30 articles overing rights such as the right to life, liberty, security, thought, religion, education, work, equality of movement and asylum. The right to join a trade union, have an adequate standard of living and be able to participate fully in cultural life are also included, as are the rights to freedom from slavery and torture.
- It was adopted as a declaration, rather than a fully binding treat for the purpose of defining ‘fundamental freedoms’ and ‘human rights’ in the UN Charter, which is binding on all member states.
- It is soft law, meaning officially non-binding but still influential, rather than containing enforceable hard law obligations. It inspired more than 200 international treaties, conventions, declarations and bills of rights in the last 50 years. It is possibly the most important of all human rights documents.
- Even though it isn’t a formal treaty, it has arguably become part of international customary law and has become the foundation for eight core human rights treaties.
13
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International community: state sovereignty
State sovereignty
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State sovereignty is central to international law and to the capacity of the world to enforce states’ compliance with recognised human rights.
14
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International community: state sovereignty
Statehood
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A state is the basic unit of the international system. States are the only entities in international law capable of exercising full political capacity.
15
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International community: state sovereignty
Nation
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A nation is a people that share a common heritage, language or culture and sometimes a common race.
