Globalization
& Human Rights
Impact of Globalization on HR
& Globalization of Human Rights
Globalization of Human Rights
► The
Historic Situation
 Sovereign immunity
► Originally,
protection of the King from being held responsible for
his oppression
► Later, sanctity of boundaries so that the state could do
whatever it wished within its own boundaries
► The
Human Rights Position
 All people share inherent rights simply because of our
common humanity
► No
one—individual, group, corporation or state—is beyond
responsibility for actions violating the rights of others
► Boundaries do not protect those who violate human rights
Universal Declaration
Of Human Rights
► Reaction
to the excesses of World War II,
particularly the Holocaust
► UN project headed by Eleanor Roosevelt
 Considerable debate
►Emphasis
on civil & political rights?
►Emphasis on economic, social & cultural rights?
► Adopted
by the UN 10 December 1948
 Most of the world’s people not represented
Subsequent HR Conventions
► 1966
Covenants
 Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights
 Covenant on Civil & Political Rights
► Documents
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Facing Particular Issues
Women’s Rights
Children’s Rights
Land Mine Treaty
International Criminal Court
Universal in What Sense?
► Need
for accepting international standards
rather than cultural exceptionalism
► Philosophically universal rather than that
everyone agrees
► Cultural struggles over human rights
 The list of rights is not fixed in stone
 People struggle over the specific lists of rights
HR Struggles within Cultures
► Cultures
vary in their views of what
constitutes a just society
► Cultures change in their views of what
constitutes a just society
► Consider change in this country
 Recognition of the inhumanity of slavery, Jim
Crow Laws, de jure discrimination
 Expansion of suffrage beyond white men of
property
HR Struggles between Cultures
► Cultures
or sub-cultures living together
struggle for pre-eminence or compromise
► Examples from this country
 Implementation of the separation of church &
state
 Struggles over who should be able to marry
► Examples
elsewhere
 Curbs on religious expression in China, France,
Canada, Saudi Arabia
Cultural Struggles Against the Global
Human Rights Movement
► Global
assertions of human rights violations
as a means for ending perceived oppression
► African, Asia or other appeals to exceptions
► Cultural justifications for oppression or
justifiable demands for balancing rights with
obligations?
HR Struggles Against the Oppressive
Consequences of Globalization
► Asking
for global capital to be responsible for
meeting human rights standards
► Asking for international institutions to be
responsible for meeting human rights standards
► Examples
 US students asking that universities not profit from
abusive practices
 Demands that globalization include HR guarantees along
with opening markets to global capital