Human rights article 2 Flashcards
Define: Human rights
The rights of human beings against certain abuses of their own governments.
The very idea of human rights flies in the face of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states. Explain what this means.
No one can tell them how to treat their own citizens, as sov. gives states the right to do as they please in their own territory.
What is universal rights?
No matter where a person resides, no matter his or her ethnic nationally, and no matter his o or her local religious, ethnic,or clan traditions, that a person has certain rights that must be respected.
Relativism meaning?
Local traditions and histories should be given due respect even if this means limiting rights that other outside that local context find important.
The concept of human rights arises from at least 3 sources, they are…
1) religion: a higher power exists, respect and dignity.
2) Political and legal philosophy
3) Political revolutions.
There was an argument that universal rights are misleading. Explain.
Two of the three sources were from the Western tradition, as non-Western societies have different perceptions of family groups. Even after the 18th century, women, children, and non-whites were not assumed to enjoy the same rights as landholding white males, which was unfair.
What is civil politic? What are they also referred to as?
Negative rights, free of speech, freedom of religion, equal protection under the law, and freedom from arbitrary imprisonment. This right is best guaranteed by limiting the power of the government over its people.
what right is best guaranteed by limiting the power of the government over its people?
Civil politics is also known as negative rights.
Economic social rights also referred as
Positive rights, and include rights to good living condition, food, healthcare, social security,e education.
Which rights are the best help provided by the expansion of government to provide minimal standards to their people?
Economic and social rights.
What document was adopted by the UN General Assembly and is considered the core document concerning human rights?
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
True or false: The UDHR has the force of international law.
False. It does not have the force of international law, but it sets forth international norms regarding governments’ behavior towards their own citizens and foreigners alike.
Whats does the declaration (document) proclaim?
All human beings are born free and equal, without regard to race, sex, language, religion, political affiliation, or the status of the territory in which they were born. Promote norms in a wide variety of areas.
After the adoption of UDHR, what has the UN done?
Opened 7 treaties for state signature to further define protections of human rights.
What’s the difference between UDHR and the treaties made for protection of the Human rights?
The treaties are legally binding contracts signed by states.
Why are the treaties (that are legally signed by states) important?
These treaties are important in outlining the basic protection for indivisuals expected by the international community.
What are the 2 key treaties from the 7 treaties?
-International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR)
-International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
What do the 2 key treaties codify?
COdify the promises of the UDHR while dividing the list of rights in the UDHR into civil political and economic social rights, respectively.
What are the 2 treaties + UDHR called?
International Bill of Human Rights
The remaining treaties are considered vulnerable? True or false
True, the remaining treaties each deal with a particular group that the international community considers vulnerable.
True or false: Besides the UN-related Human rights treaties, several regional IOS have promoted the protection of Human rights.
True, especially in Europe, for example, the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the European Court of Human Rights all work to ensure that human rights are respected by all states in the region.
What are some examples of the IOS that promote the protection of the human rights? And where can the issue be here?
1) Inter-American Court of Human
barrier: Limited by state refusal to abide by its decisions
2) African Union
barrier: Lack of monetary and political support from African states.
What have the states been doing from the past decade to promote Human rights?
Developed states have begun to use other international organizations to pressure developing states to improve Human rights conditions, by free trading agreements.
-Trade agreements on the respect for human rights, especially workers’ rights.
Because these treaties provide political benefits to the developing states, they create a ready mechanism to punish countries who abuse their citizens, by not trading with them. Where can the issue arise from here?
So the states have to abide by the rights of Human rights so they are able to trade with other states but that limits the economic benefits to countries that harm their economic development which is likely only to make the human rights situation worse.
How do NGOs play a role in Human rights?
In an effort to win basic political rights in authoritarian countries.
The most popular NGO?
Amnesty International, operates globally to monitor and try to rectify glaring abuses of human rights.
What does Human Rights Watch do?
Works in a similar way as Amnesty, but often with a more regional or national focus.
What do the NGOs provide for the UN?
Advocacy for the UN and other regional organizations essentially serves as a bridge between the global or regional organizations and efforts to promote human rights “on the ground.”
How can enforcing norms of Human rights be difficult?
becuase it involves interfering in a states internal affairs. Cutting off trade or contact with a government that violated human rights tends to hurt the citizens whose rights are being violated by further isolating them.
The most effective method for enforcing the norms of Human rights?
1) Publicity: Digging up information about human rights abuses. In hopes that publicity will embarrass the regime and change its behavior. This is also known as “Naming & Shaming”
Motive: Human rights activists hope this negative attention will convince individuals to stop their interactions with the state in question, putting further economic pressure on it.
2) Pressure: Pressure from other governments, as well as private individuals and businesses, consists of threats to punish the offender in some way through nonviolent means.
Issue: Since governments seek to maintain normal relations with each either most of the time, this is not reliably successful…
What is a rare humanitarian intervention>
Using military force
How can the use of military force to overcome armed resistance to bring helo to civil victims of wars be an issue?
-Sovereignty
What are 2 perceptions when viewing the humanitarian crisis, and intervening through a military base?
Should we intervene?
1) Morals: They need the rights and protection.
2) Soverighntly limits it, as the coalition) the group can see it as an attack.
A major summit of world leaders in 2005 enshrined the concept of….. And what is its purpose?
R2P: Responsibility to protect which holds that governments worldwide must act to save citizens from genocide or crimes against humanity perpetrated or allowed by their own governments.
What are War crimes?
Violations of the law governing the conduct of warfare (ex: mistreating prisoners).
What is Genecodie:
In international and systematic attempts to destroy national ethnic, racial, or religious groups, in whole or part.
Crimes against humanity mean…
Concerved as inhuman acts and persecutions against civilians on a vast scale in the pursuit of unjust ends.
A category of legal offenses created at the number of trials after ww2 to encompass genocide and other acts committed by the political and military leaders of Nazi Germany.
Where do large-scale od abuses of human rights often occur?
During war
The international community should try… against war crimes.
prevention and diplomacy first, but ultimately, military intervention as a last resort if necessary to stop mass atrocities.
How does the dominance principle then govern the response to atrocities?
When great powers see action as in their national interest, they act. Otherwise, they do not, Until the world’s strong military powers decide to act against mass atrocities, the provision of the collective good embodied by R2P will continue to fall short.
How can r2P fail?
When great powers don’t acknowledge the conflict or don’t want to waste resources, money, army or gain enemies.
What does the ICC hear from around the world?
International criminal court hears cases of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity from anywhere in the world.
True or false, ICC opened in business with 18 judges sworn from round the world including the United states.
false, not including the United States.
What has the US refused to do?
Refude to ratifying the ICC agreement and shows little interest in doing so, in addition, the United States has pressured ICC members state to sign immunity agreements (BIA).
Why did the U.S. sign the BIA?
To protect the American soldiers serving in those countries from prosecution, the ones that serve in peacekeeping missions or in NATIO allies, that fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC rather than under the American military own justice system.
How is ICC different?
1) Individuals, not states as defendants or complainants.
2) The idea of universal jurisdiction, that the court has the ability to prosecute individuals of any nation
What are the 3 mechanisms that can trigger an ICC trial?
1) First a state can turn over an individual for trial if the state agrees to do so.
2)Against the wishes of a state, a special prosecutor at the ICC can begin trial if the crimes occurred in the territory of a signatory to the ICC.
2) The UN Security Council can. begin proceedings even against individuals from nonsignatory states.
What is the most important principle in the laws of war? What is illegal, and when is it legal?
The effort to limit warfare between the combatants and protect civilians.
It is illegal to target criminals in a war. It is not illegal how however to target a military force knowing civilians will be killed.
The amount of force used must be…. when fighting back in ware fare.
Proportional, only the necessary amount of force can be used.
What has challenged the laws of war?
The use of private military force in wars. Because these private forces are not members of a country’s military, international law does not necessarily apply to them.
Soldiers have the right under the laws of war to surrender, which is to abandon their status as combatants and become…
POW-prisoners of war, give you their weapons, their right to fight, and earn instead the right not to be targeted.
What can’t they do to POWs?
They can’t kill them, mistreat them, or force them to disclose information beyond their name, rank, and serial number.
The law of POWs is enforced through
practical reciprocity.
What role does the International Committee of the Red Cross play?
ICRC- provided practical support, such as medical care, food, and letters from home to civilians and to POWs.
True or false: Do the laws of war reserve a special role for ICRC?
True
What are the Armed forces’ responses to ICRC?
Must respect the neutrality of the Red Cross.
The law of warfare has been undermined by the changing nature of war, explain.
1) Conventional wars by defined armed forces on defined battlegrounds are giving way to irregular and “low intensity” wars fought by guerrillas and death squads in cities or jungles. The lines between civilians and soldiers blur in these situations and war crimes become more commonplace.
2) Statres rarely issue a declaration of war setting out whom they are warning against and the cause of their action.
