Midterm Paper INR
Pe0512
WEEK1JANHUMANRIGHTS.pptxINR 4075: Human Rights Protection
Lecture 1
Professor Maslanik
Spring 2019
Basic Tenets of Human Rights
Inherent rights to all human beings, regardless of nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status.
These Rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the form of treaties and customary international law.
International Human rights law expresses obligations for Government to act or refrain from acting in certain ways, with the intention of protecting certain individuals.
The League of Nations—Paris Peace Conference Jan 10 1920
Prevent war through collective security, but lacked its own force.
United States never formally joined and the USSR was only apart of it for a brief period.
Constitution with no general provisions dealing with human rights. International protection for human rights had not yet gained acceptance.
Protection of minorities—came about from redrawing of territories, creating pockets of ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities.
Article 22 & 23 did lay some of the ground work for the development of human rights law.
22: Mandate system applied only to the former colonies of States that lost the First World War.
The League were to administer ”that the well-being and development of [the native] peoples form a sacred trust of civilization.
23: Dealt with the question relating to “fair and humane conditions of labor for men, women, and children.”
International Labor Organization (ILO) was created to promote this objective.
Beyond LON: United Nations 1945
Founded 24 October 1945
Primary aim to prevent war—international peace and security.
Other goals include, promoting human rights, economic and social development, environmental protection, and humanitarian assistance and intervention during natural disasters and armed conflict.
Founding originally had 51 members, it now has 193.
Main offices are in New York, Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna.
Six Organs: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and UN Trusteeship Council.
Cold War: Membership grew with the spread of decolonization in the 1960s.
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights 10 December 1948, Paris
“Freedom, Justice, & Peace in the World.”
30 Articles establishing individual rights
First step in the Creation of the International Bill of Rights (1966)
UN Constitution—non-binding e.g., not in and of itself a part of domestic law.
However, the Declaration has brought about other international agreements: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which are legally binding for states that ratify the agreements.
Elenore Roosevelt “May well become the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere.”
United Nations Cont’d
Cold War: Peacekeeping was its primary mission. Though, the United States and the USSR typically halted the UN from doing so.
Though, the UN Participated in some missions in the 1950s (authorizing a US-led coalition to combat North Korea’s invasion of the South, approved the partition of Palestine, and established the first peacekeeping force to end the Suez Crisis (1956).
In the 1960s, the UN led peacekeeping missions in the Congo.
However, largely in part of its inability to mediate conflicts in the Middle East, Vietnam, and Kashmir, the UN shifted to working on more secondary goals of economic and cultural diplomacy.
Despite some of its successes (El Salvador, Namibia, Cambodia and South Africa), its peacekeepers are often regarded as bystanders (Bosnian crisis, Rwanda, and Somalia).
International Human Rights Protection Institutions
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
International Labor Organization (ILO)
UN high Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)—1950
Create in the aftermath of WWII to help millions throughout Europe who lost their home.
International Criminal Court (ICC)—2002
Intergovernmental organization and tribunal in The Hague that has jurisdiction to persecute individuals for international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
UN Security Council Chapter VII of UN Charter
Since the end of the Cold War, the UN Security Council has become more engaged in responding to large-scale human rights violations.
Security Council Permanent Members: Russia, UK, France, China, & United States
Chapter VII of the Charter applies to situations involving a “threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression.”
Examples of this adoptions are: Former Yugoslavia, Haiti, Sierra Leone, East Timor, and the Darfur region of the Sudan.
Ad hoc International Tribunals: International Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda and the mixed war crimes tribunals for Sierra Leone and Cambodia, to punish those responsible for crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes-–is seen as a modern form of collective humanitarian intervention.
Results?
