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Human rights are like armour: they protect you; they are like rules, because they tell you how you can behave; and they are like judges, because you can appeal to them. They are abstract – like emotions; and like emotions, they belong to everyone and they exist no matter what happens. Question: How do you define human rights? How do you explain what they are? A right is a claim that we are justified in making. I have a right to the goods in my shopping basket if I have paid for them. Citizens have a right to elect a president, if the constitution of their country guarantees it, and a child has a right to be taken to the zoo, if her parents have promised that they will take her. These are all things that people can be entitled to expect, given the promises or guarantees that have been undertaken by another party. An acceptance of human rights means accepting that everyone is entitled to make these claims: I have these rights, no matter what you say or do, because I am a human being, just like you. Human rights are inherent to all human beings as a birthright. Why should that claim not need any particular behaviour to back it up? Why shouldn't we require human beings to deserve their rights? Question: Why is it wrong to infringe someone else's right to life? Key valuesTwo of the key values that lie at the core of the idea of human rights are human dignity and equality. Human rights can be understood as defining those basic standards which are necessary for a life of dignity; and their universality is derived from the fact that in this respect, at least, all humans are equal. We should not, and cannot, discriminate between them. Many other values can be derived from these two fundamental ones and can help to define more precisely how in practice people and societies should co-exist. For example: Characteristics of human rightsPhilosophers may continue to argue about the nature of human rights, but the international community started its astonishing commitment to human rights through the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Since then, the international community has established the UDHR's powerful concepts in numerous international, regional and domestic legal instruments. The UDHR was not intended to be legally binding, but the establishment of its norms in numerous subsequent binding treaties (otherwise known as ‘conventions' or ‘covenants') makes the legal standing of its norms unquestionable today. According to these principles: Human rights are inalienable. Human rights are indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Human rights are universal,. We should note that the universality of human rights does not in any way threaten the rich diversity of individuals or of different cultures. Universality is not synonymous with uniformity. Diversity requires a world where everyone is equal, and equally deserving of respect. Human rights serve as minimum standards applying to all human beings; each state and society is free to define and apply higher and more specific standards. For example, in the field of economic, social and cultural rights we find the obligation to undertake steps to achieve progressively the full realisation of these rights, but there is no stipulated position on raising taxes to facilitate this. It is up to each country and society to adopt such policies in the light of their own circumstances. A historical outlineThe idea that people have inherent rights has its roots in many cultures, and traditions. We can see from numerous examples of revered leaders and influential codes of practice that the values embodied in human rights are neither a "Western creation" nor a 20th-century invention. They are a response to universal human needs and for the search for justice. All human societies have had ideals and systems of ensuring justice, whether in their oral or written traditions, although not all of these traditions have survived. Ancient History
Question: Which figures (political, literary and religious) in your country's history have championed or fought for human rights values? 13th to 18th centuriesThe evolution of the idea of universal human rights drew from the foundations of notions of dignity and respect in civilisations around the world over centuries. However, the idea that this respect should be enshrined in law took many more generations to develop. We often draw this resolve for legalising the notion of rights from certain historical experiences. These are certainly not exhaustive. As our knowledge of the history of other cultures grows, no doubt we will discover the historical impetus for legislating rights in other cultures too.
Early international agreements: slavery and workIn the 19th and 20th centuries, a number of human rights issues came to the fore and began to be addressed at the international level, beginning with such issues as slavery, serfdom, brutal working conditions and child labour. It was at around this time that the first international treaties concerning human rights were adopted. Though offering useful protections, the basis of such agreements was mutual commitments between states. This is in sharp contrast with modern human rights agreements, where obligations are owed directly to individual rights holders.
Question: Why do you think that the need for international agreements arose, rather than individual countries simply drawing up their own standards? The 20th centuryThe idea of protecting the rights of human beings in law against the abuse of governmental authority had begun to receive ever wider acceptance in the 20th century, especially with the coming into being of the League of Nations and International Labour Oganisation and their work on the rights of minorities, on labour and other matters. The importance of codifying these rights in written form had already been recognised by states and, in this way, the documents described above became the early precursors to many of today's human rights treaties. However, it was the events of World War II that really propelled human rights onto the international stage. The terrible atrocities committed in this war – including the holocaust and massive war crimes - sparked the emergence of a further body of international law and, above all, the creation of human rights as we know them today. The Charter of the United Nations, signed on 26 June 1945, states that the fundamental objective of the United Nations is "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" and "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women". The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was drawn up by the UN Commission on Human Rights, one of the organs of the United Nations, and was adopted by the General Assembly on the 10 December 1948. The UDHR is undoubtedly ground breaking and continues to serve as the most important global human rights instrument. Although not setting out to be legally binding, the UDHR has served as the inspiration behind numerous commitments to human rights, whether at the national, regional or international level. Since then, a series of key instruments to safeguard its principles have also been drawn up and agreed by the international community. More information on some of these international treaties can be found further down in this chapter. Human rights around the worldFollowing the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, several regions of the world have established their own systems for protecting human rights, which exist alongside that of the UN. To date, there are regional human rights institutions in Europe, the Americas and Africa. Some steps are also underway in the Arab world and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) towards institutionalising regional human rights standards. However, most countries in this part of the world have also ratified the major UN treaties and conventions - thereby signifying their agreement with the general principles, and voluntarily becoming bound by international human rights law. In Europe, various human rights standards and mechanisms are upheld by the Council of Europe, the continent's human rights watchdog. Its role, notably through the European Convention and the European Court of Human Rights, will be further elaborated below. The European Union's commitment to human rights protection received a boost with the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009, giving full legal effect to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Containing civil, political, social and economic rights, the Charter requires that both member states and the European Union itself uphold these rights. The Court of Justice of the European Union will strike down EU legislation that contravenes the Charter and will review compliance with EU law of member states, although the day-to-day enforcement will be decided by domestic courts. The Charter outlines rights under the six ‘titles' or headings: dignity, liberty, equality, solidarity, citizens' rights and justice. The title ‘dignity' guarantees the right to life and prohibits torture, slavery and the death penalty; ‘liberty' includes rights to privacy, marriage, thought, expression, assembly, education, work, property and asylum; ‘equality' covers the rights of children and the elderly; ‘solidarity' protects social and workers' rights, the right to fair working conditions, protection against unjustified dismissal, and access to health care; ‘citizens' rights' includes the right to vote and free movement, and ‘justice' covers rights such as the right to an effective remedy, fair trial and the presumption of innocence. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) brings together 57 states from Europe, Central Asia and North America. Although not specifically dedicated to the protection of human rights, its comprehensive approach to security allows it to address a wide range of issues, including human rights, national minorities, democratisation, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities. The OSCE action in the field of human rights is carried through the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Based in Warsaw, the ODIHR is active throughout the OSCE area in the fields of election observation, democratic development, human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, and rule of law. Its activities targeted to young people include human rights education, fighting antisemitism and Islamophobia. In the Inter-American region, human rights standards and mechanisms stem from the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights. Specific instruments have also been adopted relating to refugees, the prevention and punishment of torture, the abolition of the death penalty, disappearances, violence against women, the environment and other matters. The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights came into force in October 1986 and by 2007 it had been ratified by 54 states. The Charter is interesting for a number of differences in emphasis between the treaties that have been adopted in other parts of the world:
Question: Why do you think that duties are referred to in a charter on human rights? Do you think they should be listed in all human rights documents? The regional Arab Commission on Human Rights has been in operation since 1968, but only with very selective and limited powers regarding the promotion of human rights. A revised Arab Charter on Human Rights was adopted by the League of Arab States in 2004 and came into force in 2008. This document includes social-economic rights as well as civil-political rights, and also makes reference to the "common civilisation" shared by Arab States. The coming into force of the Charter and its monitoring mechanisms – the Arab Human Rights Committee and the Arab Sub-Commission on Human Rights – have been welcomed as hopeful signs for the advancement of human rights in the region. However, it has also come under heavy criticism, for example, due to the lack of prohibition for cruel punishment, for guaranteeing economic and social rights only to citizens, for making some rights contingent on the Islamic Sharia, for allowing the imposition of the death penalty on children if the national law provides for this, and also for allowing limitations on freedom of thought, conscience and religion if so provided by law. The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) was established in 2009 as a consultative body of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The human rights commission exists to promote and protect human rights, and regional co-operation on human rights in the 10 member states of ASEAN. The Terms of Reference for this Commission mandate it with upholding "Respect for international human rights principles, including universality, indivisibility, interdependence and inter-relatedness of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as impartiality, objectivity, non-selectivity, non-discrimination, and avoidance of double standards and politicization". How can we use our rights?Human rights exist for us all. So how can we make use of them? It is clear that their mere existence is not enough to put an end to human rights violations, since we all know that these are committed every day, in every part of the globe. So can they really make a difference? How can we use them? Question: Do you know what to do if your human rights are violated? Recognising your rightsIn the next section we look at the different types of rights that are protected under international law. If we know which areas of human existence are relevant to human rights law and we are aware of the obligations of governments under this body of law, then we can begin to apply pressure in different ways. That section illustrates that almost every area of injustice is relevant to human rights: from small-scale poverty, through environmental damage, health, working conditions, political repression, voting rights, genetic engineering, minority issues, conflict, genocide ... and beyond. And the number of issues is increasing even today. Some of the issues concerning the application of human rights legislation are addressed directly in the section "Questions and Answers". These provide brief responses to some of the more common questions often asked about human rights. If you are concerned to find out how a particular issue – for example, the right to health, to education, or fair working conditions – can be better protected, you will find it helpful to look at the background information relevant to that issue. Using legal mechanismsWe shall look at the legal mechanisms that exist for protecting the different areas of people's interests. In Europe – but also in Africa and the Americas, there is a court to deal with complaints about violations – the European Court of Human Rights. Even where complaints do not fall under the jurisdiction of the European Court, we shall see that there are other mechanisms for holding states accountable for their actions and forcing them to comply with their obligations under human rights law. It helps that the law is there, even if there are not always legal means of enforcing compliance by states. Lobbying, campaigning and activismOne important role in exerting pressure on states is played by associations, non-governmental organisations, charities, and other civic initiative groups. This forms the subject matter of the section on activism and the role of NGOs. The role of such associations is particularly relevant to the average man and woman on the street, not only because such associations frequently take up individual cases, but also because they provide a means for the ordinary person to become involved in the protection of human rights of others. After all, such associations are made up of ordinary people! We shall also look at how they act to improve human rights and at some examples of successful action. Question: Have you ever been involved in any campaigning or human rights activism? Becoming involvedChapter 3, Taking Action, brings these types of actions down to an everyday level and offers a number of examples of action in which you could become involved. Youth groups have enormous potential for putting pressure on states or international bodies and ensuring that cases of human rights violations are either prevented or brought to the public eye. The examples in this section should provide you with concrete measures that could be undertaken by your or other groups and will also give a greater insight into the way that non-governmental organisations work at an everyday level Human Rights DilemmasRealising rights means facing a range of obstacles. Firstly, some governments, political parties or candidates, social and economic players and civil society actors use the language of human rights without a commitment to human rights objectives. At times this may be due to an impoverished understanding of what human rights standards call for. At other times this is due to willful abuse, of wanting to misrepresent themselves as respecting human rights in order to look good in the eyes of the world. Secondly, governments, political parties or candidates or civil society actors may criticise human rights violations by others but fail to uphold human rights standards themselves. This is often criticised as a double standard. Thirdly, there may be cases when human rights are restricted in the name of protecting the rights of others. These could, of course, be legitimate. Human rights are not boundless, and exerting your rights should not impinge on other's enjoyment of their rights. However, we need to be vigilant so that ‘protection of the human rights of others' is not just an empty excuse for imposing limitations. An active civil society and independent judiciary is important in monitoring such cases. Fourthly, there are instances when protecting the rights of one group of people may, in itself, involve restricting the rights of others. This should be distinguished from the above case of limiting rights. It is not always easy to judge such cases. Conflicts of rightsHowever, rights can also conflict. "‘Conflicts of rights' refers to clashes that may occur between different human rights or between the same human rights of different persons. One example can be when there are two patients who need a new heart in order to survive; however, there is only one available heart for transplantation. In this case, one patient's right to life conflicts with the same human right of another patient. Another example occurs in the case of euthanasia, when one's right to life may conflict with his/her own right to die or right to be free from degrading treatment. In this way, the different human rights of one person conflict. A third case concerns situations when different human rights of different people conflict. One example of this is reflected in the case taken to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in the Jewish community of Oslo et.al. v. Norway. In 2000, a group known as the ‘Bootboys' marched in honour of the Nazi leader Rudolf Hess. The participants wore ‘semi-military' uniforms and the leader of the march Mr Terje Sjolie made an antisemitic speech after which the crowd repeatedly made the Nazi salute and shouted, "Sieg Heil." The clash in this case was between Mr Sjolie's right to freedom of expression and the Jewish community's right not to be discriminated against. The UN Committee held that statements made by Mr. Sjolie contained ideas of racial superiority and hatred, and that therefore this kind of exceptionally offensive speech is not protected by the right to freedom of expression. Cultural traditionsTraditional cultural practices reflect values and beliefs held by members of a community for periods often spanning generations. Every social grouping in the world has specific traditional cultural practices and beliefs, some of which are beneficial to all members, while others are harmful to a specific group, such as women. These harmful traditional practices include the following: female genital mutilation (FGM); forced feeding of women; early marriage; the various taboos or practices which prevent women from controlling their own fertility; nutritional taboos and traditional birth practices; son preference and its implications for the status of the girl child; female infanticide; early pregnancy; and dowry price. Despite their harmful nature and their violation of international human rights laws, such practices persist because they are not questioned and take on an aura of morality in the eyes of those practising them. A range of practices that negatively impact on the health of women and children, and violate international human rights standards, are often referred to as "harmful traditional practices". This is not to imply that all traditional practices are harmful and violate human rights, but when they do, we need to be able to question and tackle them. Arranged marriages are common practice in many cultures, where young women – and also men – are expected and obliged to marry someone who has been chosen by their family, often at a very young age. (note that an arranged marriage is not the same as forced marriage.) Should such a practice be banned in order to protect the children and young people's rights? Or would that be failing to respect a cultural tradition? Other examples can be found in the continued practice of female genital mutilation in many countries. Thousands of people suffer the consequences of such practices and most people would certainly regard them as a serious violation of rights. Should female genital mutilation be considered a cultural specificity that should be 'tolerated' or a violation of the human right to bodily integrity and health? The protection of all human rights for all determines a refusal of harmful traditional practices. No-one can be denied their human rights and dignity on the grounds of tradition and culture, not least because traditions and cultures are not written in stone: they change and evolve; what was often true twenty years ago does not make sense to today's generation. Harmful traditional practices are also a reminder that the promotion of human rights relies on educational programmes and efforts. Many harmful traditional practices cannot be overcome by repression and condemnation alone: they require education and the engagement of all those concerned in order to be effective. Even if states as signatories of international human rights treaties have the ultimate responsibility, it is the actions of individuals, often supported by families and communities, which maintain those practices. Changing them cannot be imposed "from above" but requires regular educational work with the families and communities concerned, the only way through which the promotion of human rights can be reconciled with what may be perceived as specific cultural rights and practices. Question: Should cultural practices override the universality of human rights? In the name of a good causeSanctions are sometimes used by the international community to penalise regimes that are considered to be systematically violating human rights. Sanctions may forbid trade with the violator country, in order to put pressure on the government to modify their actions. These actions are sometimes decided unilaterally by one state and at other times they are adopted by the UN Security Council. Some countries have been completely isolated by the international community: South Africa was isolated for years because of its abhorrent system of apartheid, and over the decades sanctions have been imposed on Iraq, North Korea, Iran and others. There is no doubt that the effects of such sanctions may be felt by normal people, but they are felt particularly by the most vulnerable sectors of society. Is this an acceptable means for the international community to put an end to human rights violations by particular states?
With the benefit of hindsight, how do you think these precautions related to, for example, the international community's response to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, to Nato-led bombings in Kosovo in 1999 or to intervention in Afghanistan in 2001? Can such actions be justified in terms of their end results if they cause large numbers of casualties? Question: Can the defense of human rights be used to justify a military campaign? In April 2001, a resolution of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights rejected the notion that fighting terrorism could ever justify sacrificing human rights protections. Resolution 2001/24 condemned armed attacks related to the conflict in the Republic of Chechnya of the Russian Federation and breaches of humanitarian law perpetrated by Chechen fighters, as well as certain methods used by Russian federal forces in Chechnya. It called for the Russian Federation to establish an independent national commission of inquiry, in accordance with recognised international standards, to investigate the violations. Human Rights: Ever Changing, Ever EvolvingThe questions raised in the previous section do not all have clear-cut answers: they remain the subject of fierce debate, even today. Such debates are, to a certain extent, important. They are an indication both of the pluralistic approach that is fundamental to the notion of human rights and of the fact that human rights are not a science, not a fixed 'ideology', but are a developing area of moral and legal thought. We should not always expect black and white answers. These issues are complex and they can only be appropriately balanced on a case-by-case basis. However, that does not mean that there are no answers and no areas of agreement. There are many, and they increase almost daily. The issue of slavery is one which used to be debated, but where tolerance is no longer regarded as acceptable: the right to be free from slavery is now universally accepted as a fundamental human right. Female genital mutilation, although defended by some in the name of culture, is broadly condemned as a violation of human rights. And the death penalty is a similar issue – at least in Europe, where members of the Council of Europe have either abolished capital punishment or announced a moratorium on executions. In fact, abolition of the death penalty is nowadays a prerequisite for membership of the Council of Europe. According to Amnesty International, more than two-thirds of the countries of the world have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. While 58 countries retained the death penalty in 2009, most did not use it. So we should be confident that many of these questions will also reach their resolution. In the meantime, we can help the debate and make our own judgments on the more controversial issues by referring back to the two fundamental values: equality and human dignity. If any action treats any individual as lacking in human dignity, then it violates the spirit of human rights. Notes
1UN special rapporteur on traditional practices affecting the health of women and the girl child. |