Introduction Flashcards
Core principles and ideas
First major manifestation of international human rights?
Universal Declaration on Human Rights 1948 (UDHR)
Why did the UDHR 1948 come about?
Response to atrocities of WWII, particularly in light of the fact that after WWI nothing happened because it was assumed it would never happen again
What are international human rights on the most basic level?
- > Provision of explicit legal protection for fundamental rights of all humans
- > Rights that are held by the simple virtue of being a human
HOFFMAN QUOTE
Human rights are the ‘doxa of our time’
Who said human rights are the ‘doxa of our time’
HOFFMAN
HENKIN QUOTE
‘Human rights are the idea of our time, the only political-moral idea that has received universal acceptance’
Who said: ‘Human rights are the idea of our time, the only political-moral idea that has received universal acceptance’
HENKIN
SEN QUOTE
‘Rhetoric of human rights is omnipresent in the contemporary time’
Who said: ‘rhetoric of human rights is omnipresent in the contemporary time’
SEN
How did RAZ describe the basic idea of human rights?
- > As ‘natural’ rights
- > From either a deity or reason
- > Held by the very fact of being human
How did HOFFMAN and DEMBOUR describe the basic idea of human rights?
Historically contingent and transient rules that a given community agrees to be bound to
How did BAXI and MUTA more cynically describe the basic idea of human rights?
An apologia for Western imperialism and global capitalism
The two parts to understanding human rights according to PERRY?
1) Every human being is sacred
2) Because of this, there are certain things that ought not to be done to human beings and certain things that ought to be done to human beings
Where else is PERRY’s view mirrored?
The preamble to the UDHR 1948
Preamble to UDHR 1948
- Recognition of the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all humans is foundation of freedom, justice and peace
- Contempt for human rights has resulted in barbarous acts that outraged conscience of mankind
- Advent of a world in which all shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration
What is the basis for the modern human rights regime?
UDHR
-> Not legally binding
How did the UDHR 1948 signal a shift in international law?
- > Previously it was treaties etc. between individual countries that determined relationships
- > UDHR gave rights directly to citizens to enforce against anyone, including their own state = autonomy of the individual
One of the key tensions in modern human rights law?
Trying to square the primacy of the universal rights of the individual VS the sovereignty of a nation state
General rule in relation to rights vs sovereignty?
State sovereignty will be respected
When will state sovereignty be ignored?
- > Generally on a cynical basis
- > Advancement of geopolitical interests rather than genuine human rights concerns
- > Iraq, Afghanistan etc
How was UDHR translated into legally binding treaties?
ICCPR
ICECSR both 1966
Another fundamental tension the was highlighted by introduction of ICCPR and ICECSR 1966?
- > Divide between civil and political rights VS economic, cultural and social rights
- > Negative v Positive
Why is there a divide between civil/political and socio-economic rights?
- > Long standing philosophical differences cemented by the cold war
- > Although both sets are considered binding and indivisible, reality is very different
How does the divide between socio-economic rights and civil political rights relate to cultural relativism?
Are human rights simply a continuation of colonisation by other means, a way of imposing Euro-centric morality on an infinitely complex world?
What is the arguably biggest challenge facing human rights today?
Chasm of promise vs reality
What does TEEPLE say about the gulf between what human rights promises and what actually happens?
‘In the world today, the principles of most human rights appear to be increasingly transgressed, subordinated, or usurped. In general human rights seem to be more in decline than ascendant’
Who said that there is little reason to believe human rights are any more secure now than they were in 1945?
PERRY
‘By failing to interrogate and wrestle with economic and political philosophies and systems, the human rights movement indirectly sanctions capitalism and free markets’.
MUTA
How can the human rights movement be said to indirectly sanction capitalism and free markets?
Fails to examine or challenge economic or political philosophies, particularly Western ones
