Human Rights What Are Human Rights of a particular country o Rights that you possess by virtue of being a human rather than by being a citizen By their nature they were intended to be universal Human rights are a contested subject not everyone agrees on which ones are and aren t They were originally considered norms o International Bill of Rights 1 Universal Declaration of Human Rights Not hard law o ie Life liberty and the security of person 2 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Equal protection under the law Physical integrity law 3 International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights You can sign a treaty but still only interpret it in the way you choose or decipher it as you see fit o Other Human Rights Treaties 1 Convention on Genocide Has been signed by virtually every UN country Obligates almost every country to ban genocide and to intervene should it occur Genocide An attempt at elimination of a population based on race religion culture and or genocide holocaust It doesn t need to be successful merely an attempt Even if no one is actually killed no one dies but the intention is there then it is still genocide 2 CEDAW signed but not ratified 3 CAT Convention Against Torture Treaty essentially saying that torture is bad 4 CRC Children ought to be protected and have the rights to grow to be just like everyone else 5 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Protects against discrimination for people with distribution Provide them with enough resources in order to be fully functioning members of society o Many countries that do sign and ratify treaties are often the worst at following through with behavior 1 There is no correlation between signing and acting on that signature 2 The US doesn t sign a bunch of treaties because we have a higher international standard enforcement When we sign we have to follow every part of the treaty Say though if North Korea signs they don t have to follow because they aren t expected to Why do countries violate human rights o Not everyone agrees that they are universal or that men and women are equal o Will often follow culture because they disagree with the right o Democracies tend to respect human rights more often than non democracies Why Do Countries Sign Human Rights Treaties o Moral and Philosophical Motivations o Self Interest If you don t sign the treaties you ll be viewed negatively by the countries 1 2 Another form of self interest is signaling to your own citizens o Do human rights treaties change behavior 1 Signatories might torture more than non signatures Those that sign the treaty against torture there may be worse behavior performance but there may also be others that behave perform better 2 Expressive vs material affects of signing 3 Behavior of democracies and non democracies 4 Constraining vs screening Countries would often violate treaties but they do or don t based on the country So they may have a constraining effect binding by contract or merely a screening effect which countries actually behave comply better than others 5 Human rights provisions o TANs and Humans rights advocacy Over the past 20 30 years we ve seen a stronger enforcement of international rights often as a result of TANs o Problems with reporting is not that organizations like Amnesty International are biased but rather that there is bias against them and or that information in general is hard to come by Individual petition o Citizens themselves can complain about legislation to the government or governmental organizations o The ability for individuals to seek redress for problems at the international level is increasing o Universal Jurisdiction o War Crime Tribunals o International Criminal Court Rules apply to you everywhere the treaty is applied Essentially involves countries in legal disputes across borders o Trade sanctions and FTAs Free Trade Agreements Often regarding human rights and environment protection Human rights are increasing in overall attention and progress to bring about better human rights results
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