International Organisations and Human Rights

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Dr. David Galbreath Lecturer in Politics and
International Relations d.galbreath_at_abdn.ac.uk Off
ice F36 Edward Wright Building Hours Tuesday
10-12
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International Organisations and Human Rights

• PI1008 Issues in International Relations

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What examples come to mind when we think about
  IOs and Human rights?

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• Sudan, Darfur Region

• Circumstances-
• recent drought, dwindling resources
• historic ethnic competition between the
  Masalit/Fur and Arabs
• 1999 clashes which saw Arabs killed

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• Rwanda/Burundi (1994/1996-)

• Circumstances-
• Historic tensions between Tutsi 14 and Hutu 85
  (Rwanda)
• Assassination of presidents in crash
• Radical army exiled in Uganda

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• Kosovo (1999-)

• Circumstances-
• 10 years of conflict in former Yugoslavia
• Serbian ultra-nationalist in power
• ethnically cleansing Kosovo by Yugoslav troops

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• East Timor (1975-1999?)

• Circumstances-
• 1975 Indonesian invasion after Portugal leave
• Super Power politics
• Ethnic violence on eve of independence

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• However, what we think of as human rights is more
  than just ethnic violence. Discrimination most
  often happens without violence.

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• So, how do we define human rights? Is there one
  definition?

The idea of a 'human right' is one that can be
dated back to the early modern period. References
to 'natural rights' can be found in the work of
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, both theorists of
the early modern state. Locke Reason . . .
teaches all Mankind, who would but consult it,
that being all equal and independent, no one
ought to harm another in his Life, Health,
Liberty, or Possessions.
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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What do we mean by human rights?
• How do we define rights?

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• Is there one definition?
• The definition has changed overtime

• Eighteenth Century
• Nineteenth Century
• Twentieth Century
• Twenty-First Century?

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• So, how do we define human rights? Is there one
  definition?

Even today we cannot agree on a definition. Group
rights vs. individual rights Western vs. Eastern
ideas of rights British vs. Scandinavian ideas of
rights
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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What do we mean by International Organisations
  and what place do they play in world politics?

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• When we think of international organisations in
  relation to human rights, of which do we think?

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What has been the historical relationship between
  the United Nations and Human Rights?

• Post-1945 world order
• Nuremberg Trials (1945/46)

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What has been the historical relationship between
  the United Nations and Human Rights?

• Post-1945 world order
• Charter of the United Nations Preamble
• to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,
  in the dignity and worth of the human person, in
  the equal rights of men and women and of nations
  large and small

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What has been the historical relationship between
  the United Nations and Human Rights?

• Post-1945 world order
• Charter of the United Nations Article 55
• With a view to the creation of conditions of
  stability and well-being which are necessary for
  peaceful and friendly relations among nations
  based on respect for the principle of equal
  rights and self-determination of peoples, the
  United Nations shall promote

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What has been the historical relationship between
  the United Nations and Human Rights?

• Post-1945 world order
• Charter of the United Nations Article 55
• a. higher standards of living, full employment,
  and conditions of economic and social progress
  and development

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What has been the historical relationship between
  the United Nations and Human Rights?

• Post-1945 world order
• Charter of the United Nations Article 55
• b. solutions of international economic, social,
  health, and related problems and international
  cultural and educational cooperation and

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What has been the historical relationship between
  the United Nations and Human Rights?

• Post-1945 world order
• Charter of the United Nations Article 55
• c. universal respect for, and observance of,
  human rights and fundamental freedoms for all
  without distinction as to race, sex, language, or
  religion.

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What has been the historical relationship between
  the United Nations and Human Rights?

• Post-1945 world order
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• A document created by the UN General Assembly in
  1948, with its provisions for civil and political
  rights on the one hand and economic, social and
  cultural rights on the other.

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What has been the historical relationship between
  the United Nations and Human Rights?

• Post-1945 world order
• In addition to the Universal Declaration there
  have been a number of more specific declarations.

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What has been the historical relationship between
  the United Nations and Human Rights?

For example International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment Convention on the Rights of the Child
International Convention on the Protection of
the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of
Their Families
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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What about enforcing international human rights
  law?

• International human rights law is inserted in to
  the global power structure that is, with
  sovereign states at the centre. Thus, in the Cold
  War, Human Rights was part of the competing
  rhetoric.
• Who in the UN makes the decision to intervene?
  Member-states, the Secretary General, the
  Security Council, the General Assembly, the Human
  Rights Commission?

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What about enforcing international human rights
  law?

• Only the Security Council can enforce
  international law. (i.e. Blue Helmets)
• How does the Security Council work?

• Five permanent members are important. (UK,
  France, Russia, China and US)
• Secretary General can submit resolutions and
  instigate topics of discussion (eg. Darfur)

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• What about enforcing international human rights
  law?

Unfortunately, the UN has been known more for its
efforts after gross human rights abuses.

• However, the UN is also known for its role in
  promoting other concepts of human rights such as
  the rights of children through UNICEF.

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• Contradictions in the UN Charter
• Human Rights vs. State Rights
• What happens if states behave as gangsters
  towards their own people, treating sovereignty as
  a licence to kill?

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• The case for intervention

• Should international organisations get involved
  with domestic affairs of member-states?
• What is humanitarian intervention?
• Is intervention of any kind legal?
• Restrictionists vs. counter-restrictionists

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• The case for intervention

• Can humanitarian intervention be purely
  humanitarian in nature?
• Humanitarian intervention as foreign policy (Iraq
  anyone?)

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• The case for intervention

• Can the international system establish a routine
  of humanitarian intervention that would not be
  based on the powerful?

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• Intervention in the Cold War
• What was the status of human rights in the Cold
  War?

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• Intervention in the Cold War
• Has the status of human rights changed since the
  end of the Cold War?

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International Organisations and Human Rights

• In conclusion
• Has little changed?
• Has the War on Terror changed the importance of
  human rights again?
• How do international organisations become better
  at protecting human rights?