HUMAN RIGHTS
A Human Rights Revolution?
• Post WWII the international community sought a definition
of universal human rights and a re-definition of the
international community’s role in protecting human rights.
• The resulting declarations, resolutions, and treaties on
human rights that have emerged since WWII, challenge
traditional conceptions of sovereignty.
• Some consider the international community’s new
willingness to intervene on behalf of universally
recognized human rights norms a revolution –as the new
human rights norms overthrow traditional conceptions of
state sovereignty and non-intervention.
Human Rights Declarations and Treaties
• Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948)
• International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR)—went into force in 1976
• Covenant on Economic and Social Rights (CESR)-
went into force in 1976 (U.S. has not ratified the CESR)
How is Human Rights Law Enforced?
• UN Peacekeeping Troops
• Economic Sanctions
• International Criminal Court
• Humanitarian Intervention
International Criminal Court
• Following the UN tribunals on Yugoslavia and Rwanda
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most of the world’s countries signed a treaty to create a
permanent International Criminal Court.
ICC opened in 2003 in The Hague
The ICC hears cases of genocide, war crimes, and crimes
against humanity
In 2009 the ICC indicted sitting Sudanese president for
crimes against humanity.
2011 the ICC indicted Libyan dictator, but he was killed
before facing prosecution
Note: The United States is not a signatory to the ICC
Humanitarian Intervention
• Use of military measures by the international community
to end human rights abuses in an otherwise sovereign
state.
• Based on the principle R2P
Global norm, recently endorsed by the UN, that
states have the responsibility to protect their citizens
from human rights abuses and that, when states fail
to do so, the international community has both a
right and a responsibility to intervene.
A Role for NGOs
• International NGOs such as Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch can use pressure and publicity to
get states to follow human rights laws
• Norm entrepreneurs functions of NGOs
• Advocacy—promote international norms
• Spot light abuses and disseminate information—monitoring/watch
dog function
• Shame countries into compliance with international norms
(“Naming and Shaming”)
• “Twenty years ago we would not have been fighting in
Kosovo. We would have turned our back on it….Noninterference has long been considered an important
principle of international order…..But the principle of noninterference must be qualified in important respects. Acts
of genocide can never be a purely internal matter.”
• Tony Blair, speaking on the humanitarian intervention in Kosovo
• The right of states to intervene to stop genocide and
human rights abuses is widely accepted. The bigger
challenge has been to get states see it as a responsibility.
And an even bigger challenge has been to get states to
respond effectively to genocides and human rights crises.
Frontline Film: Ghosts of Rwanda
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3DrvrrSgHI&list=PLX
_fe91XoKLmF8ibmaO1yrvHG_xCX9imQ
• This is not a required film. HOWEVER, if you are
interested in gaining a better understanding international
human rights issues and how the international community
might improve its response to humanitarian crises, I highly
recommend this film. Please be advised it contains
graphic images of the Rwandan genocide.