Human Rights

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CIVPOL & ECOSOC

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1) Civil and Political Rights: first gen; codified in Intl Covenant on CIVPOL; rights and freedoms related to the state and state power
Economic and Social Rights: certain basic goods that should be equally available to all; positive rights; codified in Intl Covt on ECOSOC
2) CIVPOL EGs: freedom of speech, freedom of religon, due process, etc.
ECOSOC EGs: levels of education, work, housing, and healthcare.
3) Significance: context - applies to various HR issues (women's rights, rights of the child, GCS, ecdev, etc.)
-- especially Cold War - they were used against each other on opposite sides of iron curtain
-- Full Belly Thesis: e.g. of how people have tried to discuss CIVPOL in relation to ECOSOC (i.e. prioritization); normative basis for human rights.

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UDHR

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1) Universal Declaration of Human Rights: declaration adopted by UN in 1948; normative basis of Int'l Human Rights Regime; rooted in LoN, 1941 Atlantic Charter, Nuremberg Trial, and WWII in general.
2) SIG: basis of all human rights treaties (e.g. Covenants on ECOSOC And CIVPOL);
-- rights are a concept --> this has implications on cultural relativism
-- normatively universal: it is expected the UDHR appeals to every human being
-- things like economic globalization challenge UDHR because their policies stray away from the declaration --> Corporate Social Responsibility attempts to fix this.
-- challenges: past the codification, what happens? how is the declaration REALIZED?
-- represents liberal democratic ideals.

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Human Development Index (HDI)

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1) traditionally seen as a measure of ecdev. 3 indicators: SLL . In relation, shows approach to Human Development - process of wideninng the oprtions of indvls, giving them ^ opportunities for health care, income, empoyment, etc. Published annually as a score.
2) Examples: Countries with higher HDI scores are generally seen as "more developed"; however, a critique of this measure is that is is biased towards social democracies and welfare states who have more of a social safety net than other types of systems.
3) SIG: connected to ecosoc --> HDI measures how well people are provided with these rights.
Donnelly critiques dev and HR connection - trade off bw the two.

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Millenium Development Goals (MDGs)

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1) Millenium Summit, 2000; countries established 8 goals (18 associated targets, 48 progress indicators for development) to be achieved by 2015 in pursuit of development: PEGCMHEP
2) Relates to ECOSOC rights and their relation to development; can talk about Donnelly and HR/Development trade-off here (these are trying to go against his thesis)
-- Critiques to MDGs: important omissions, don't go far enough, partnership goal doesn't work, too technocratic/top-down, global setting disempowers indvl's

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Transitional Justice (TJ)

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1) a process of helping societies deal w/ difficult questions of justice that arises from a society that moves from war --> peace or from authoritarian --> democratic rule. Focus is particularly on social, economic and political institutions and addressing past wrongs and on roles of former combatants
-- 3 types: retributive (tribunals, ICC), restorative (truth commissions, Guatemala), reparative (apologies, residential schools)
2) SIG: helps bring HR violations to light
-- national involvement - means that govot's must acknowledge/deal with their citizens' HR
-- combo of above 3 types are most effective

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Global Civil Society (CGS)

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1) sphere of ideas, institutions, organizations, networks, and indvls operating beyond the confines of natl states, polities, and economies; intl analogue of 'civil society'
-- normative connotations of belonging to an IMAGINED community; not all groups operate under these conditions!
2) E.G. NGOs are examplse of the power of CGS to bring about change and ideas
3) SIG: Paradigm shifters( ECOSOC), Human Rights Monitors (1991 East Timor and Media), Lawmakers (ICC was idea of GCS)

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Universal Jurisdiction

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1) some crimes are so bad that all/any states (no borders) should be able to deal with them as they please;
2) e.g. acts of torture, genocide, war crimes --> HR Violations for the most part (e.g. Desire Munyaneza for his Rwanda war crimes)
3) SIG:abides by universality principles -- moves beyond codification and onto enforcement; removes obstacle of state sovereignty (this can be bad!) --> on the good side, states cannot hide behind their borders under this term.

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"Thin Morality"

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- Michael Walzer
- has two types; thick and thin. thin is minimal and universal; negative; against things --> targets rights violators and aggressors; is a CHECK on thick morality (which differs by situation
b) SIG: question of universality vs. cultural relativism -- EVERYONE endorses thin morality, even though their actions fall short.

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FGM

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1) Female Genital Mutilitation; occurs in certain cultures;intentionally alter female genetilia for non-medical reasons;