Human Rights Midterm Flashcards
The Possession Paradox
“We need human rights principally when they are not effectively guaranteed by national law and practice” (Donelly, p. 23).
Rights become important only when one doesn’t possess them.
The Ten Commandments
Key Concepts of the 10 Commandments:
- Sets limits on behavior
- Regulates society through the articulation of specific moral standards
- Supremacy of God; people need to acknowledge a higher power
- 6 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 7you shall have no other gods before me.
- 8 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, 10but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
- 11 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
- 12 Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. … 5Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
- Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
- 17 You shall not murder.
- 18 Neither shall you commit adultery.
- 19 Neither shall you steal.
- 20 Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.
- 21 Neither shall you covet your neighbor’s wife.
Neither shall you desire your neighbor’s house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Essence of the Law in Deuteronomy
Emphasizes subservience to higher law and adherence to moral code
Concept of Sabbatical year – debts removed every 7 years, and slaves freed – but only for neighbors.
Concept of charity
Justice and equality of all people – within the community
Sabbatical Year
Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. so a person’s debt is not forever. they cannot be enslaved indefinitely
a yearlong period to be observed by Jews once every seven years, during which the fields were to be left untilled and all agricultural labors were to be suspended. Leviticus 25.
The Book of Jonah
Significance of the story of Jonah:
- Nineveh is the capital of Assyria, Israel’s chief enemy.
- God has compassion for the people of Nineveh and is their God as well.
- God is god to all.
- Introduces concept of more universal humanity
- this story is about compassion. God has modeled forgiveness.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
This parable sends the message that worldly and earthly possessions are of no benefit in the afterlife. Those who have suffered on Earth will receive their reward in Heaven.
Samaritans(The New Testament)
The third selection is the story of a Samaritan woman. Samaritans were considered heretics and ostracized by Jews.
Code of Hammurabi
this is like an actually written code of law that demonstrates that there are consequences and punishments for specific crimes.
1754 BCE - Babylon
1. If a man bring an accusation against a man, and charge him with a (capital) crime, but cannot prove it, he, the accuser, shall be put to death
- If a man steals the property of a god or palace, that man shall be put to death; and he who receives from his hand the stolen property, shall also be put to death.
- If a man steals ox or sheep, ass or pig, or boat—if it be from a god or a palace, he shall restore thirtyfold; if it be from a freeman, he shall render tenfold. If the thief has nothing wherewith to pay, he shall be put to death.
- If a man has stolen a child, he shall be put to death.
- If a man aids a male or female slave of the palace, or a male or female slave of a freeman to escape from the city gate, he shall be put to death.
- If a man has committed highway robbery and been caught, he shall be put to death.
- If a male slave says to his master: “Thou art not my master,” his master shall prove him to be his slave and shall cut off his ear.
Massachusetts Body of Liberties
The colony was set up around Boston by the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1630 (chartered 1628). Business ventures made up mostly of Puritans fleeing persecution under Charles I. Governor John Winthrop described the new colony as “A City on a Hill.”
Compiled by Rev. Nathaniel Ward, adopted by Massachusetts General Court in 1641 as a basic legal framework.
People should be judged only according to the law, through courts, not arbitrarily.
Equality under the law: “Every person within this jurisdiction, whether inhabitant or foreigner, shall enjoy the same justice and law.”
Makes distinctions between social categories, yet each social group has some rights.
The State of Nature
Hobbes:
Develops mental experiment: The State of Nature:
- “The war of every man against every man”
- “The life of man is nasty, poor, brutish, and short.”
Second Treatise on Government (1689):
- Government is needed to ensure contracts and protect our property:
- “The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges everyone: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”
The Social Contract
Hobbes:
To protect themselves from one another, people form a social contract, an agreement to give up absolute individual freedom in exchange for security.
Living in society involves giving up individual freedom for peace of mind
Locke:
Social contract promotes idea that government is beholden to the population
Habeas Corpus Act(1679)
- Adopted by the British Parliament in 1679 during the reign of Charles II.
- people cannot be detained indefinitely.
- Included in US Constitution
- Habeas Corpus Act involves the codification of constraints on government
British Bill of Rights(1689)
- Represent a contract between new monarchs and parliament.
- Places limits on monarchs, establishing a constitutional monarchy.
-Lays out what the monarchy can do (opposite of US Bill of Rights, which specifies what the government can’t do).
Civil Society
is any non-profit, voluntary citizens’ group like an NGO which is organized on a local, national, or international level.
civil society is a key player in creating the conditions for the realization of human rights. It promotes human rights discourse that validates rights norms, particularly by including devalued and invisible groups.
“Common Sense”(By Thomas Paine)
(1776) was a pamphlet widely read among rebels. Helped drive support for the Revolution in the US and in the UK.
He argued for two main points: (1) independence from England and (2) the creation of a democratic republic.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Sikkink says that this document was for the French government to protect the rights of their citizens.
This was a human rights document for the french revolution
The basic principle of the Declaration was that all “men are born and remain free and equal in rights”
First Generation Rights
Civil and political rights. UDHR contains both first and second-generation rights.’
ex: the right to life, equality before the law, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, property rights, the right to a fair trial, and voting rights.
The Peace of Westphalia
Created the framework for modern international relations.
The concepts of state sovereignty, mediation between nations, and diplomacy.
- National self-determination;
- Precedent for ending wars through diplomatic congresses;
- Peaceful coexistence among sovereign states as the norm;
- Maintained by a balance of power among sovereign states and acceptance of principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other sovereign states.
Sovereignty
- The authority of a state to govern itself.
- “Current norms of states sovereignty prohibit States from acting coercively abroad against virtually all violations of human rights genocide being the exception that proves the rule”(Donnelly, Ch.2).
-sovereignty is kind of a threat to human rights because when a state violates human rights it is difficult for other states to intervene without challenging the sovereignty of the state who is doing the violation. this is why enforcing human rights is so difficult.
Henri Dunant
Dunant published A Memory of Solferino in 1862,
He helped organize Geneva conferences in 1863 and 1864.
Awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.
A Memory of Soferino(1862)
by Henri Dunant
Main Appeals:
- Creation of relief societies to care for wounded
- Protection of volunteers through international agreement
Geneva Convention of 1864
The International Committee of the Red Cross in 1864, is the source of the “Geneva
Conventions” which are now universally accepted.
The original Convention inspired the impulsion in International Law towards increasing regulation and, eventually, the restriction and final prohibition – of war itself.
First Geneva Convention of 1949
This one was created to address human rights issues after WW2.
there was an urgent need for a Convention for the protection of civilians particularly during the war
The Geneva Conventions act as a precedent for human rights law
It is based on model of international treaties, so respects state sovereignty
It establishes a precedent of placing limits on what states can do through legally binding documents
it is focused on the treatment of individuals, not just states, which is a major development
It codify protections of human dignity
Second Geneva Convention of 1949
The focus of this convention was wars at sea.
respects state sovereignty
Establishes precedent of placing limits on what states can do through legally binding documents
Is focused on the treatment of individuals, not just states.
codify protections of human dignity
Third Geneva Convention of 1949
The focus of this convention was prisoners of war.
Respects state sovereignty
Establishes precedent of placing limits on what states can do through legally binding documents
Focused on treatment of individuals, not just states,
codify protections of human dignity
Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949
The focus of this convention was the protection of civilians during war time
Respects state sovereignty
Establishes precedent of placing limits on what states can do through legally binding documents
Focused on the treatment of individuals, not just states,
Codify protections of human dignity
Second Protocol to the Geneva Conventions
What is the focus of the Second Protocol?
- Civil Wars – Tries to apply Geneva principles to non-state actors.
The US has not signed on to this protocol.
Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions
During war:
- don’t attack non-combatants
- you must care for the wounded.
- taking hostages is prohibited
the red cross can offer its services to the parties in conflict.
article 3 is a mini-convention because it has so much in it.
Hague Conventions
A recommendation by the First Hague Conference in 1899 raised the question of revising the Geneva Convention.
1899 – Hague Convention added rules for wars at sea and prohibition of bombs from balloons
1907 – Hague Convention expands on naval wars
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross has, from the outset, been the sponsor of the Geneva Convention for the protection of wounded military personnel, and of the humanitarian Conventions which supplement it.
Nonintervention
Implementation and enforcement are much more national than international.
Although these are Universal rights, held equally by all human beings everywhere, states have near-exclusive responsibility to implement them for their own nationals(D&W, Ch.2).
The Four Freedoms
In State of the Union 1941, FDR articulates four freedoms the US believes in. Called “Four Freedoms Speech”:
1. Freedom of speech
2. Freedom of worship
3. Freedom from want
4. Freedom from fear
Atlantic Charter
Dedicated to the betterment and protection of nations and peoples, it paved the way for the United Nations we know today.
the major points: were a nation’s right to choose its own government, the easing of trade restrictions and a plea for postwar disarmament.
The San Francisco Conference(1945)
The UN was created at the conference.
At this conference, the Mexican government spoke in favor of a broader system of international protection of human rights.
Here the US was reluctant to include any human rights language in the UN Charter
(Sikkink).
this conference is the largest dimplomatic conference in history according to Sikkink.
Human rights in the United Nations Charter
The United Nations Charter sets forth the “inherent dignity” and the “equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.”
Upholding these human rights principles as “the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world” is fundamental to every undertaking of the United Nations.
the UN Charter is contradictory, it talks about being for fundamental human rights while at the same time saying that it is based on the sovereign equality of all its members.
American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
was the world’s first international human rights instrument of a general nature,
For example, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man was enumerated and approved by states in Latin America and the US before the UDHR
Hansa Mehta
she was a delegate from India.
According to Sikkink, she played a key role in the creation of the UN and embraced human rights norms.
According to Sikkink, Hansa Mehta of India played a key role in the history of human rights.
she made efforts to include women’s rights in the UDHR.
she was a strong advocate for India’s independence and women’s rights.
John Peters Humphrey
Commission on Human Rights designated to draft UDHR – Eleanor Roosevelt chair of Commission, Canadian John Peters Humphrey chief author
Bertha Lutz
According to Sikkink, Bertha Lutz of Brazil played key roles in the history of human rights. She took the lead in including women’s rights in the UN Charter.
Lutz hepled create the Pan-American feminist movement which goals included the right to vote and social rights for women.
Minerva Bernadino
Dominican diplomat
According to Sikkink, Minerva Bernardino of the Dominican Republic played key roles in the history of human rights. She took the lead in including women’s rights in the UN Charter.
she sponsored resolutions and amendments to promote women’s rights and human rights and prohibit discrimination more generally.
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
According to Sikkink, she played key role in the creation of the UN and embraced human rights norms.
she was an Indian diplomat.
she was the first woman to be elected president of the UN General Assembly
Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR)
It sets out fundamental human rights to be universally protected.
Contains both first and second generation rights.
Statement of ideas, so not legally binding.
“Overlapping consensus” has developed across the globe in support of principles expressed in UDHR.
ICCPR
Rights Protected:
- Non-discrimination and equal protection (3, 26-27)
- Basic freedoms: expression, belief, speech, association (17-24)
- Rights to political participation and representation (25)
In general, ICCPR is more specific and detailed compared to the UDHR.
Some differences in content:
ICCPR includes the right to self-determination (Art 1)
No second-generation rights in ICCPR
International Bill of Human Rights
It is made up of the UDHR, ICCPR, and ICESCR.
It has all 3 generations of rights because it is made up of these documents.
CERD
CERD works to take action against the injustice of racial discrimination, and the dangers it represents.
Inter-America Commission on Human Rights
its mission is to promote and protect human rights in the American hemisphere.
The US has not accepted the jurisdiction of the IACHR
Impact of Cold War on human rights
The 1960s-80s saw gradual development of human rights instruments, but real progress in implementation began after the end of the Cold War, in the 1990s(D&W).
Emphasis on human rights was undermined by opposition to and support of Communism
Colonial powers worried to protect their possessions, US and others worried about civil rights
Some progress continued:
- Refugee Convention 1951
- Racial Discrimination Convention 1965
- ICCPR and ICESCR 1966
- Apartheid Convention 1973
Convention Against Torture 1984/1987
Enforcement mechanisms?
Art 2 - 1. “Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.”
Art 4 – 1. “Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law.
Articles 5 – 7: Legal system must hold accountable those who commit torture.
Articles 8 & 9: States should cooperate in enforcement
Article 10 – States must train personnel in rules about torture and include it in all manuals of conduct.
Articles 17 – 24: Committee Against Torture
Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture
it is an international agreement aimed at preventing torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
International regime
their primary purpose is to hold governments accountable to their own citizens for purely domestic activities.
Primary role of the international regime is promotion – helping to build consensus around a set of rights(D&W).
Article 19
ICCPR – Article 19 2. – Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression;
This article was violated in Congo. “Journalists, activists, whistleblowers, and critics of government policies were intimidated and threatened, beaten, arrested, and in some cases prosecuted by the authorities and security forces.”
Equal Concern and Respect
The right to equal concern and respect is the fundamental right of all human beings. Governments which recognize individuals’ rights to life lib- erty and happiness must uphold and protect the right to equal concern and respect. s Affirmative action is a rule based on the right to equal concern and respect
The Unity of Human Rights
The idea is that human rights are universal and that human rights, are fundamental and necessary for human dignity.
Human rights duties
(D&W)
We can identify duties (1) to respect the right or not to deprive the right holder of the enjoyment of her right
(2) to protect against deprivation,
(3) to provide what is necessary to ensure that right holders are able to enjoy their rights, and
(4) to aid the deprived.
in the contemporary world, duties to protect, to provide, and to aid are assigned exclusively to states.
Statist model of human rights
it is up to the state to decide how it treats its own citizens.
There is no consensus of authority that is given to any group to try to change the behavior of the state
Cosmopolitan model of human rights
the state is not sovereign. Human rights are the rights of people.They are not given by the states, they are natural. Human rights norms cross borders
Internationalist model of human rights
Enforcement of human rights laws is dependent on states’ interests.
“Red Rubber Regime”
1877-1908 – Belgian King Leopold rules Congo Free State
Control largely turned over to concessionary companies
Brutality leads to an international humanitarian movement
Workers who refused to supply their labour were coerced with “constraint and repression”.
Dissenters were beaten or whipped with the chicotte.
Bula Matari
Congo: Colonial state is “Bula Matari,” a crusher of rocks.
Patrice Lumumba
Former PM of Congo. He was the first PM of Congo.
He advocated for independence and economy self-sufficiency.
He was arrested by Mobutu and then assassinated during the Congo Crisis of 1960-1965.
Mobutu Sese Sekou
Former Dictator of DR Congo/Zaire
Congo under Mobutu:
- Mobutu seizes power in coup
- Mobutu consolidated power – animation, authenticité, single party
He was president for over 30 years.
During his rule, he amassed a large personal fortune through economic exploitation and corruption, leading some to call his rule a “kleptocracy”. He presided over a period of widespread human rights violations
Joseph Kabila
Kabila was assassinated in 2001, succeeded by son Joseph who negotiated peace in 2003.
New Constitution led to election in 2006. Kabila elected but with balance of powers
Kabila gradually consolidates control. Violence continues in the East. Fairness of 2011 elections challenged
Kabila delayed the 2016 elections. Public pressure prevents Kabila from running. Congolese authorities had delayed elections repeatedly for over two years,
permitting President Joseph Kabila to remain in office beyond his constitutionally mandated two-term limit, which ended on December 19,
2016.
Kabila named Tshisekedi president after the December 2018 election The fairness of the election is widely rejected, but most appreciate Felix Tshisekedi as a good change.
The current situation in Congo is Kabila retained control over parliament, majority of cabinet, veto power over prime minister, provincial and local government
Felix Tshisekedi
Fairness of December 2018 election widely rejected, but most appreciate Felix Tshisekedi as good change
Felix Tshisekedi became president of Congo in January 2019
In 2020, Tshisekedi moved to seize greater control – creating a new coalition Union Sacré.
Yahya Jammeh(Gambia)
1994 – Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council takes over in coup under Yahya Jammeh. he spent 22 years in office.
2001 return to elections, but dominated by Jammeh’s party, the APRC (Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction)
APRC rule criticized for repression
Opposition leader Adama Barrow wins 2016 elections, but Jammeh refuses to leave office
January 2017, Jammeh agrees to step down and Barrow becomes president
he enriched himself and his family while draiining Gambias economy.
he was a brutal corrupt dictator.
ECOWAS
Supported the election results that state that Barrow won. so this helped the transition from Jammeh to Barrow, especially since Jammeh refused to leave office. the Economic Community of West African States came
out quickly and firmly in support of his victory. In January, the leaders of ECOWAS member
states went to Gambia in a series of attempts to convince Jammeh to back down.
The diplomatic pressure was effective largely because it was compounded by a credible military threat. A few hours after Barrow was sworn in as president at the Gambian embassy in Senegal on January 19, a coalition of forces from five ECOWAS countries entered Gambia, stopping short of the capital to allow a final diplomatic push for Jammeh’s exit.
This shows how regional action and transnational coalitions can have a positive effect in transitioning a country like in Gambia.
Adama Barrow
Opposition leader Adama Barrow wins 2016 elections, but Jammeh refuses to leave office.
a coalition of Gambia’s opposition politicians came together and chose Barrow as their candidate—the first time they had ever unified behind a single
contender for the presidency
He is having a hard time improving the country after all the corruption that Jammeh had done.
Vanguard Africa
a D.C.-based nonprofit organization that supports pro-democracy politicians in Africa.
Vanguard’s mission is to give Africa’s
political underdogs the same kind of public relations support often reserved for autocrats who can afford to pay international firms to burnish their images.
In the run-up to Gambia’s election, Vanguard provided campaign advice and public relations support to candidates daring to run against Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup and whose administration has been accused by rights groups of imprisoning and
torturing political opponents, journalists and LGBT people.
Smith reached out to international journalists to promote stories, circulated the candidates’ names on social media and regularly spoke to news outlets about the Gambian election.
Vanguard explicitly states that it will only help candidates and leaders who meet its pro-reform, pro-democracy criteria, which include a commitment to transparency and free elections.
So far, Vanguard has only officially worked with candidates in two elections–Gambia and Somalia.
Radical universalism
Human rights are absolute
People innately believe in human rights
culture is irrelevant to moral and human rights.
Post-modern relativism
Post-modern critique: Humans are not autonomous subjects but social constructs. There can be no foundations for rights.
“In postmodernity, the eternal becomes contingent; universalism, a delusion; metaphysics, a meaningless contrivance. The idea of foundations loses its grasp in politics, law, and ethics. Everything becomes relative, localized, and ephemeral.” - J A L Alves
rejects universal moral and spiritual values and accepts the relativity of all values in all areas. Therefore, no specific value preference exists. Everyone should order their own values, value preferences, and approaches
Anthropological relativism
a methodological stance, in which the researcher suspends (or brackets) his or her own cultural prejudice while trying to understand beliefs or behaviors in their contexts.
International legal universality
“Human rights are universal in the sense that they have been accepted by almost all states as establishing obligations that are binding in international law” (D&W, p. 40).
- In other words, Most states have signed onto the main treaties
- Human rights concerns are now major part of relations between states
- Human rights discourse is increasingly invoked in most countries in internal affairs
Universalism is inherent to our definition of human rights.
Overlapping consensus universality
Donnelly argues instead that different societies may have different reasons for believing in human rights, but they have come to consensus on need to protect the Universal Declaration list of rights through legal protections
Difficulty of constraining states and markets at purely national level necessitates international system like human rights
Functional universality
the function of human rights is the same all over the world
there are systemic threats to human dignity like the rise of the modern market and modern states
Human rights have become a useful tool for different countries across the globe to protect their people.
Colonialism and human rights
According to Kissi, colonialism was a major attack on human rights. human rights ideas were used as the framework of protest against colonialism and the organizing principles to promote social justice and racial equality, in the
early years of political independence in Africa.
colonialism caused a lot of the conditions that allow human rights violations to continue post-independence.
Kwame Nkrumah
Former president of Ghana.
Kwame Nkrumah advocated for self-government.
he spearheaded the gold-coast independent movement.
Kwame Nkrumahnhighlighted the promise and contradictions of postcolonial Africa’s perplexing embrace of human rights.
