Human rights - history, concepts, laws & treaties

Question 1

Generations of human rights

Answer 1

1st generation

• UN Charter
• civil and political
• ‘No one shall be subject to torture’

2nd generation

• economic, social and cultural
• society developing equally
• ‘right to be free of hunger’

3rd generation

• environmental, self-determination, group rights

Question 2

History of human rights

Answer 2

1215 Magna Carta: granted English barons specific rights

1870 Brussels Convention: abolished slavery

1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man: French revolution ‘Men are born and remain free’

“60 years ago the idea of human rights had little or no traction on the behaviour of states”

Question 3

Principles of human rights

Answer 3

1) represent demand for sharing power and wealth and other human goods
2) be fundemental and distinct from non-essential claims
3) allow for the rights of others
4) be universal and equally applicable to all

Question 4

Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment

Answer 4

• adopted by GA on 10 Dec. 1984
• 153 states, or 79% of UN members are party to the convention
• the Committe against torture enforces it, but has limited power as it cannot enforce sanctions on violating states
• Article 2 of the convention prohibits torture, and requires parties to take effective measures to prevent it in any territory under its jurisdiction.
• 42% of signatories systematically violate convention
• 83% violate it each year
• 5. No one has the right to hurt you or to torture you. (UNDHR)
• This law is relevant to the ethical debate about the use of torture to combat terrorism.
• Sweden: In 2001, two Egyptian nationals, Mohammed Alzery and Ahmed Agiza, were deported from
• In 2001, two Egyptian nationals, Mohammed Alzery and Ahmed Agiza, were deported from Sweden and transferred by the CIA to Egypt were they faced subsequent torture and abuse. In October 2006 the UN Human Rights Committee found that Sweden had violated Alzery’s rights by standing by as he was brutally prepared for the CIA rendition flight. The UN Committee against Torture ruled in 2005 that in Agiza’s case, Sweden had exposed him to the risk of torture in Egypt. The decision to expel the two men was also examined by Sweden’s Ombudsman, and in 2008, the Swedish government awarded Agiza and Alzery around $500,000 each as compensation.
• 2002 CAT report recommended that Norway ammend its practice of pre-trial solitary confinement and introduce the offence of torture into the penal code
• 2007 CAT report found that Norway had followed all recommendations, establishing a special police unit to investigate police torture crimes

Question 5

Convention for the punishment and prevention of the crime of genocide

Answer 5

• adopted on 9 Dec. 1948
• 142 ratified
• Bosnia vs Serbia 26 Feb. 2007 ICJ ruling, Seria breached the Convention by failing to prevent the 1995 Srebrenica genocide
• Serbia was ordered to hand over Ratko Mladic to ICTY