Title: International Organisations and Human Rights
1Dr. David Galbreath Lecturer in Politics and
International Relations d.galbreath_at_abdn.ac.uk Off
ice F36 Edward Wright Building Hours Tuesday
10-12
2International Organisations and Human Rights
- PI1008 Issues in International Relations
3International Organisations and Human Rights
- What examples come to mind when we think about
IOs and Human rights?
4International Organisations and Human Rights
- Circumstances-
- recent drought, dwindling resources
- historic ethnic competition between the
Masalit/Fur and Arabs - 1999 clashes which saw Arabs killed
5International 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
6International Organisations and Human Rights
- Circumstances-
- 10 years of conflict in former Yugoslavia
- Serbian ultra-nationalist in power
- ethnically cleansing Kosovo by Yugoslav troops
7International Organisations and Human Rights
- Circumstances-
- 1975 Indonesian invasion after Portugal leave
- Super Power politics
- Ethnic violence on eve of independence
8International Organisations and Human Rights
- However, what we think of as human rights is more
than just ethnic violence. Discrimination most
often happens without violence.
9International 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.
10International Organisations and Human Rights
- What do we mean by human rights?
- How do we define rights?
11International Organisations and Human Rights
- Is there one definition?
- The definition has changed overtime
- Eighteenth Century
- Nineteenth Century
- Twentieth Century
- Twenty-First Century?
12International 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
13International Organisations and Human Rights
- What do we mean by International Organisations
and what place do they play in world politics?
14International Organisations and Human Rights
- When we think of international organisations in
relation to human rights, of which do we think?
15International 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)
16International 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
17International 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
18International 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
19International 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
20International 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.
21International 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.
22International 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.
23International 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
24International 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?
25International 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)
26International 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.
27International 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?
28International 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
29International Organisations and Human Rights
- The case for intervention
- Can humanitarian intervention be purely
humanitarian in nature? - Humanitarian intervention as foreign policy (Iraq
anyone?)
30International 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?
31International Organisations and Human Rights
- Intervention in the Cold War
- What was the status of human rights in the Cold
War?
32International Organisations and Human Rights
- Intervention in the Cold War
- Has the status of human rights changed since the
end of the Cold War?
33International 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?