Human Rights

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- 1948- The adoption of this declaration by the UN General Assembly in Paris marked the beginning of the development of international human rights laws.- Article 1: All Human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."- The language is important, especially as it took a long time to understand what "all Human beings" is.

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- 1945- The UN Charter represents a fundamental shift in international law.- Article 1: "promote and encourage respect for Human Rights."- Reaffirm faith and fundamental human rights.- Shifts the definition of humans from a subject to an object.- Issues: The Human Rights language is very general. It affirms the power of state over human rights.

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- 1966- State clauses: Article 4 says that a state that has ratified the treaty can derogate their obligations under the treaty in case of emergencies (right to life, torture, slavery). This derogation must be consistent with other international laws and must not be based on discrimination.- Non-derogable rights: some rights, under no conditions, could be suspended.- Utilitarian approach: the ends justify the means (bombing of Hiroshima and Nagazaki.- Case - Freedom of Movement: it illustrates the paradox of sovereignty and Human Rights. You have a human right to leave your country, but you don't have a right to go to any other country. The exception is the refugee law, when people have a fear of persecution.

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- 1966- Article 2 says that all states should apply the rules to the best of their ability, as they don't have the same resources.
- Article 4 says that a state can limit the rights only to the extent that such limitations are compatible with these rights and that they promote the general welfare. - In order to measure whether a state is meeting its obligation, we should investigate the stability of the economy and politic in a country, and see how much the state can meet the ICESCR.- It is weak because states are still the ultimate enforcers. States are not mandated to actively provide.

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- 1948- It took from 1948 to 1966 to put the genocide issue in the UN Charter. It took so long because of the Cold War politics.- Raphael Limpkin came with the term "genocide."- Prohibited acts: killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, the infliction of conditions intended to bring about the physical destruction of a group in whole or in part, measures intended to prevent births and the forcible transfer of children.- States who commit genocide are tried by either a competent tribunal in the state where the crime was committed or by an international tribunal whose jurisdiction has been accepted by parties to the treaty.- There is no real language on how to intervene to prevent genocide.

- "The Ethics of International Human Rights" - Amstutz- Moral values are determined by religion, history and culture. Morals are culturally and historically specific.- Two points: empirical and normative- Empirically, the claim of total moral diversity is untenable.- Normatively, the claim of cultural relativism is untenable because the fact of cultural relativity is not an ethical argument at all.- Reconcile cultural relativism with human rights: universalism and relativism are different ends of a continuum. - Both realities of cultural pluralism and the imperative of rights claims need to be recognized. It's not a choice between radical universalism (culture plays no role in defining morality), and radical cultural relativism (culture is the only role of morality).

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- John Locke: human beings in a "state of nature" lived in absolute freedom. - When they came together to form social and political institutions, they agreed to give up some freedom in order to gain the security of community. - Natural rights theory remains a predominant influence in contemporary debates over the concept of human rights.

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- It is a legal doctrine that assumes that all the authority stems from what the state and its officials have prescribed. - There is no moral or divine law that transcends the authority of the state. - Hence, human beings have only the rights that are provided by the legal system of the state to which they are subject. - As long as we stick to legal documents, we are fine. However, if we just limit ourselves to that, there can be violation of human rights (Nazi). It freezes the rights.

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- After World War II- Set up to try Nazi and Japanese war criminals. - Inflicted with three types of crimes: crime against peace (most important), war crimes, and crimes against humanity. - Critics of the Nuremberg Tribunal: - Judges did not fulfill liberal requirements of due process by relying on an ex post facto application of the law and by blurring the lines between individual and collective guilt: the Japanese tried to apply the "doctrine" conspiracy to defend themselves, but the Tribunal limited its application. - The trials represent an illegitimate form of "victor's justice" in which similar crimes by the Allies were ignored (victims of Japan's sex-slave system in Asia were ignored).

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- Passed in 1948, entered into force in 1954- Passed by the General Assembly.
- A refugee is a person who is being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social or political group. - In 1967, the language changed: the convention applies to refugees across the globe (not only from World War II).- State sovereignty: the state who signs the Convention has to accept refugees, but they can define who are refugees and who are not.

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- International human rights law: refers to the international legal norms claiming fundamental rights for all persons regardless of their race, sex, religion, nationality, or other status.- International Humanitarian Law: refers to the legal rules that call for the humane conduct of war. It does not call for fundamental human rights for all persons. It is defined by the Geneva Convention.

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- 1864- Laws about the treatment of protected persons, including detainees, the sick and wounded, and civilians. - First convention: treatment of sick and wounded armed forces in the field (1864).- Second convention: requirements for the humane treatment of sick and wounded combatants at sea (1929).- Third convention: regulations for the humane treatment of prisoners of war (1929).- Fourth convention: regulates the protection of civilians during wartime (1949).

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- It involves the cutting and/or removal of part or all of the external female genital organs and has been practiced for thousands of years in a variety of countries and cultural contexts. - Reasons: rite of passage, marriage (in a society in which women depend on men)- Critics: physical pain, human rights abuse.

- "The Global Struggle for Human Rights" - DeLeat- 1990
- Human development shares a common vision with human rights: human freedom.- This freedom enables capabilities and realizing rights. - Human development and human rights are mutually reinforcing, helping to secure the well-being and dignity of all people. - The UNDP created the Human Development Index (HDI) to measure human development.- The HDI shows that many human beings are suffering, which violates the basic idea of universal economic and social human rights and the civil and political rights.- Poverty patterns show a broader issue of discrimination against specific groups. - Despite the general improvements in human development, human death, deprivation, and suffering due to poverty are still widespread.

- "A Force More Powerful" - Duvall- Hindu. Indian lawyer. As he failed professionally in India, he went to South Africa.- He used non-violence, marches (such as the Salt March), and salt boycotts in order to fight racial injustice.- His core value was ahimsa or "nonviolence." It was a form of direct moral action.- Nonviolent action is like violent combat in at least two ways: it does not succeed automatically, and it does not operate mysteriously. It is hard to stay non-violent, you need strong leaders.- His concept of action is satyagraha, which means "true force".- He practiced swaraj, which means repudiating Western ways, and reforming Indian ways. - This movement succeeded because although India is still divided by faith, class, and caste, it is also still free and democratic.