Chapter Six © 2012 Pearson Education

The Human Rights Revolution: The Construction of International Norms Charles Krauthammer, 2003 “Foreign policy is not social work. Acting for purely humanitarian reasons is wanton and self-indulgent. You don’t send U.S. soldiers to die to assuage troubled consciences at home. Their lives should be risked only in defense of their country.” Jimmy Carter, 1977 “All the signatories of the U.N. Charter have pledged themselves to observe and to respect basic human rights.... no member can avoid its responsibilities to review and to speak when torture or unwarranted deprivation occurs in any part of the world.” © 2012 Pearson Education

The Human Rights Revolution Reasons for Hesitation Three concerns about pursuing a human rights agenda: 1.The international order argument – Could increase conflict as states intervene to protect citizens of other states 2.The national interest argument – A focus on rights could distract from other, more vital interests, including security and economic well-being. 3.The cultural relativism argument – Different cultures have different perspectives on human rights, challenging idea of universal human rights. – Asian values debate (Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew ) – Middle ground: acknowledge basic universal rights with some ground for cultural differences For realists, considerations of justice, morality, and human rights have no role in the international context. Constructivists and liberals argue that 1) this view is amoral and 2) realists cannot explain the recent human rights trend. Is this a revolution in our thinking about how the world works? © 2012 Pearson Education

First Steps: Establishing Human Rights Norms In spite of concerns, some human rights abuses are so egregious that they have earned near universal condemnation. Major factors in establishing human rights norms: – Nazi Holocaust: horror of the Holocaust helped drive push for human rights – Rise of transnational advocacy networks – UN Charter – conflicting elements Article 2.7 reaffirms state sovereignty over internal matters. But human rights are mentioned in Preamble and Article 1, and Article 68 calls for creation of a commission to promote human rights. – Debate over negative and positive rights (McKinnon, ) – Neg – Speech, Religion, Torture; Pos – Education, Health Care – International Bill of Human Rights Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) – Genocide Convention: first of many treaties to deal with specific area of rights – The number of human rights treaties and the number of states that have accepted them suggests human rights norms are placing limits on states. Realists point out that the norms are rarely, if ever, enforced against states which violate them. © 2012 Pearson Education

The Human Rights Revolution Successful completion of that revolution requires: 1.Effective human rights monitoring 2.Effective human rights enforcement 3.Effective prosecution of those who violate human rights standards © 2012 Pearson Education

Monitoring Human Rights UN Monitoring – Commission on Human Rights – 1503 procedure – Human Rights Council (HRC): replaced Commission on Human Rights – Human Rights Committee – UN General Assembly > Office of the High Commission for Human Rights NGO Monitoring – Amnesty International – Human Rights Watch National & Regional Monitoring – U.S. Dept of State – European Commission on Human Rights – Inter-American Commission on Human Rights – African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights We monitor human rights by gathering information about violations and violators so they can become known to those who can do something about them. In the world today, this monitoring function is carried out via UN-based bodies, NGOs, and national and regional reporting systems. © 2012 Pearson Education

Enforcing Human Rights Economic Sanctions – Involve the imposition of limitations or prohibitions on trade, investment, or aid in order to get a country to change its policies – Constructive engagement (an alternative) – (maintain EC/Pol relations to exert influence) – Human cost of sanctions Moral ambiguities – Smart sanctions (Targeting leaders and not civilians) Military Intervention – Humanitarian intervention Kosovo: ethnic cleansing Case, in contrast to the realist view, where justice trumped power and where state sovereignty took a back seat to human rights Responsibility to protect (R2P) The first and lowest-cost response of concerned states to reports of human rights abuses is noncoercive diplomacy. In many cases such diplomatic pressures succeed only if backed by the threat of measures that can cause the offending government real pain: Economic sanctions Military intervention © 2012 Pearson Education

Prosecuting Human Rights Violators Three paths to international prosecution 1.Universal jurisdiction Pinochet precedent Geneva convention 2.Ad hoc tribunals Nuremberg Tribunal Yugoslav and Rwanda Tribunal—created by UN Security Council 3.International Criminal Court Rome Statute – Establishing the ICC in 1998 Can hear cases in three primary areas – Genocide; war crimes; crimes against humanity – As of 2017, can start trying cases of aggression under limited conditions Jurisdiction over crimes: – Committed by citizens of a state party to the treaty – Committed on the territory of a state party – Referred by the Security Council; the Security Council can also halt proceedings Principle of complementarity (ICC will not hear a case unless domestic court is unwilling or unable to adjudicate the case in good faith.) © 2012 Pearson Education

Conclusion On one hand, evidence suggests that the idea of human rights has affected how the world works in important ways. But the human rights revolution is incomplete. Some human rights abusers still act with impunity. BUT, in pointing to the revolution’s successes, constructivists and human rights activists note the power of human rights to shape not only the way we think the world should work but also, in some cases, how it actually does work. © 2012 Pearson Education