HUMAN RIGHTS
I. 2 models
A. Realist: Sovereignty = prin. of world system.
Human rts = matter of sovereign ntl. jurisdiction.
Note: democratic values have no place in this model
B. Cosmopolitan humanist: human rather than ntl. interest
Human rts. = primary issue area for forging global community;
NGOs & some IOs are reps. of emerging global community.
Q: How do the two people in this film fit into these models?
Q: Is there any way of merging the 2 models, or are they mutually exclusive?
II. Philosophical issues
A. Pro
1. Natural law
Declaration of Indep. & Constitution: inalienable rights
2. Kant: duty to treat people as ends, never as means.
Human rts = a pol. specification of what it means to treat
ppl. as ends.
B. Con
1. Utilitarianism
Morality = happiness of greatest number
>> OK to abuse some ppls' rights if it helps most.
2. Cultural Relativism
Muslim fundamentalist states say rts can be gender-based
Practice of female "circumcision" in Mid-East & Africa a
violation of human rights or trad. cultural practice?
3. National exceptionalism
Ancient Greeks viewed non-Greeks as barbarians.
American notion of manifest destiny & British colonial
ideology of white man's burden justified barbaric treatment
of nonwhite peoples.
Nazism is most extreme example.
III. 2 Categories of rights
A. Economic & social
Food, shelter, health care, educ.; emph'd by socialist sts.
Russia: many ppl. resent losing these with "democratizatn"
B. Civil & political rights
Due process, equal protection of the laws, free speech, right to
vote (democracy).
Emphasized by capitalist democracies
U.S. Constitutn. guarantees these, but not econ. rts.
* Social democracies try to observe both A & B
IV. Evolution of human rights norms
A. Pre-WWII: slavery, workers
Until turn of century, slavery was treated as an internal matter.
Treaty abolished it in 1926.
Some intl. labor standards.
B. Post-WWII
*Q: Why were human rts. on intl. agenda after 1945?
A: Nazism was catalyst
Nuremberg War Crimes Trials (1945-46): new notion of crimes
against humanity.
U.N.: quickly elaborated strong intl. human rts. stds.
12/10/48: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (anniversary
celebrated in most countries).
-- soft law (nonbinding), but becoming norm
Utopian document, yet very compelling (read some).
Cold War: human rights became arena for superpower struggle
-- U.N. Human Rights Commission controlled by West, so emphasized
freedom of information but completely ignored all econ. & soc. rts.
-- 1966: Intl. Bill of Human Rights put econ. rts. & pol. rts. into
separate treaties bec. of Cold War rivalry
"3 worlds" of human rts. during Cold War:
1st world emphasizes civil & pol. rights;
2nd = econ. & social rts.;
3rd = self-determinatn. & econ. devt.
U.S. exceptionalism: supported "friendly" anti-communist
regimes that violated human rights, even overthrowing
democratic govts. in Guatemala, Chile, Iran.
C. Monitoring: NGOs
States only agreed that they ought to follow intl. human
rts. stds, not to let UN investigate their compliance.
NGOs emerged in 1970s -- Over 200 in U.S.
AI rec'd Nobel Peace Prize in 1977
AI founded in 1961, had intl. membership over 1 million
by 1990.
*Q: Anybody a member? Can say how it works?
A: Best known for letter-writing campaigns
-- took on cases of 42,000 individual prisoners since 1961.
NGOs instrumental in strong human rights foreign policies in
Canada, Norway, Netherlands, & to a lesser extent US.
>> Since 1975, U.S. Congress has made foreign aid contingent
upon human rights practices (at least theoretically)
D. New treaties in 1980s
1. Eliminating discrimination against women
2. Elimination of torture
3. Rights of the child
U.S. signed last year (not ratified)
Adopted unanimously by UNGA in 1989 & ratified by 170 sts.,
but opposed by U.S. conservatives who fear that it will
infringe on the authority of parents & thus erode family
values.
Q: Do you believe that human rights are becoming an intl. std.?