Chapter 10: Human Rights - Review §

1. What actors are important in global human rights?

   In defining standards to human rights, monitoring adherence to human rights, promoting human rights, and enforcing human rights, The United Nations, various Non-Governmental Organizations, and Regional Organizations take a variety of different roles in maintaining human rights

2. Challenges to human rights?

   • Actors Using human rights for other purpose than human rights
     • Human rights could be used as excuse to interfere in domestic issues of another state.
     • Used to improve their face in international level
   • Enforcement actions are not easily or accurately done
     • Economic sanctions: to effect an individual or elites, will only disadvantage the working class
     • Smart Sanctions are difficult to utilize

   What are the solutions to these problems?

3. What are the mechanisms?

   • NGO: worked alone or with IGOs on international human rights regime

     • educating the public
     • providing information and expertise in drafting human rights conventions
     • monitoring violations
     • naming and shaming violators
     • implementing human rights norms
     • mobilizing public support and publicity campaigns within countries for changes in national policies
     • Relief aid to human rights abuse victims

     They also organize transnational campaigns

     • Using new communication tools

   • LoN: created the

     • Mandates Commission: protect minorities and dependent peoples in colonies held by the defeated powers of WWI
     • Minority Treaty: protection of peoples inside Peaceful settlement countries and defeated countries.

   • UN: created standards of human rights for its members and created many commissions for human and minority rights.

IGO & NGO create norms, institutions, mechanism, and activities to push that certain rights are universal

Human rights NGOs and individuals persuaded governments to adopt human rights norms

4. What is the process of human rights governance? For UN, NGOs, Regional Organizations

5. Set human rights standards and norms: separate ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ for enforcement.

   • Through treatymaking

6. Monitor Human Rights: keep states committed to maintaining national human rights. UN’s ILO, NGOs research, report on states’ human rights violations.

7. Promoting Human Rights: provide educations, training, to public and centralize responsibilities and international spokesperson for human rights

8. Enforcing Human Rights:

   • States’ national courts deal with individual case of human rights violations
   • UN deal with states human rights violations (Economic sanctions, use of force, humanitarian interventions)

9. Cultural restrictions on human rights, can IGOs & NGOs do anything about that, does it need permission?

Women, children, minorities, rights to education, social ranking, treatment might be different for different cultures, making the

States will have sovereignty whether to allow IGOs and NGOs intervention in their cultural practice.

6. What is universalism and cultural relativism arguments on human rights?

Universalism: there are no difference in definition of human rights from different religions and cultures

However, “detailed and credible knowledge of local culture is essential for effective promotion and protection of human rights in any society”

Cultural Relativism: human rights varies according to traditional practices, values, and historical background.

You cannot use western definition of human rights or liberal systems to apply to other culturally different states