Chapter 14: Human Rights and Dignity

PS130 World PoliticsMichael R. Baysdell

Saginaw Valley State University

2

The Nature of Human Rights• Proscriptive Rights/Negative Rights– Freedom from specific abuses, restrictions, or discrimination– Things that the government cannot do to groups, such as

discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, or other inherent demographic characteristics

• Prescriptive Rights/Positive Rights– Basic necessities that a society and its government are arguably

prescribed (obligated) to try diligently to assure; certain qualitative standards of life for everyone in the community

– Life, Liberty, Property in the United States for sure– Include adequate education, nutrition, housing, sanitation, health

care?– Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs more expansive– Galtung: don’t forget well-being needs (sleep, sex, other biological

wants) or identity needs (self-expression, establish and maintain emotional bonds with others, preserve cultural heritage)

– Galtung a bit questionable—Washington, DC annihilation

3

The Nature of Human Rights:Universal vs. Culturally Based RightsUniversalists• Human rights are derived

from sources external to society, God-given.

• Belief in a single prevailing set of standards that are immutable

• Sources include theological or ideological doctrine

• Slavery was ALWAYS wrong

Relativists• Positivist approach claiming

that rights are a product of a society’s contemporary values

• Belief that no single standard of human rights exists

• Rights are not timeless; they reflect changes in social norms

• Slavery OK in past, not now

4

Applying Universalism and Relativism

• EX: Universal Declaration of Human Rights– Non-Western position (cultural relativism)

criticizes the UDHR for promoting values, such as individualism and democracy, that are not a part of other cultures. Sees UDHR as cultural imperialism

– Disputes among countries of similar heritage and even within countries• Death penalty issues• Abortion

5

Human Rights: Problems and Progress

• Many countries are still highly oppressive, especially towards women or minorities

• Abuse in Iraq by U.S. forces shows even EDCs not immune

• Freedom House ratings the “gold standard”

Freedom House Ratings• 1-14, 1= free 14= oppressive (Political Rights, Civil Liberties)• 2= US, Canada, Britain, France (two 1s)• 3=Japan• 4=Mexico (Chiapas)• 5=India• 9=Nigeria (Ken Saro-Wiwa)• 10=Russia (Chechnya)• 11=Jordan• 13=China (Uighers)• 14=Cuba

Progress Made on Human Rights

– Globalization has increased concern for and application of principles of human rights

– United Nations has created OHCHR, UNCHR, ECOSOC

– UDHR: not binding treaty, but creates norms– Important work done by NGOs– The Global Program Against Trafficking of Human

Beings (GPAT)– Treaties: Convention Against Torture and Other

Cruel , Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

– Domestic courts

8

Barriers to Progress on Human Rights

• State claims to sovereignty• Varying cultural standards• Political selectivity• Concern for human rights a low priority for

most countries

9

Women’s Rights

• Women are an economic-political-social minority • Women are the largest of all minority groups• Women's issues becoming more prominent– Compared with men, there are disparities in jobs,

professional status, literacy, poverty rates• Abuses sanctioned by law or ignored (de facto slavery,

prostitution, genital mutilation)– Religious justifications in some Muslim societies (cultural

relativism)

10

Women: Political, Economic, and Social Discrimination

• Politically, women make up only about 16% of national legislatures

• Economically, women constitute approximately 70% of all those living below the poverty line in their respective countries

• Socially, women are less likely to be literate or to go on to secondary education

11

Women, Armed Conflict, and Abuse

• Women experience war much differently and sometimes more violently than do men

• Women’s bodies are often a battleground• Women and children make up a substantial

majority of refugees

12

Women, Society, and Abuse

• Prevalence of domestic violence in most societies• Sex-selective abortions and the neglect of infant girls• Female genital mutilation (FGM)• Sex slaves and trafficking; abuse of domestic servants• Pervasive economic, social, and political

discrimination

13

Women’s Rights: Progress

• High priority at UN• International Decade for Women 1975–1985• UN Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and Convention on

the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

• Fourth World Conference on Women (WCW), Beijing 1995, Beijing+5 meeting in 2000 in New York

• International Criminal Court charter: pledges to stop crimes against humanity and includes a number of women's issues

14

Children’s Rights

• No political or economic power• Suffer from a range of abuses (inadequate nutrition

and schooling, sexual exploitation)• 8.4 million children involved in “unconditional worst

forms of child labor”– Includes internationally trafficked children, forced and

bonded labor, armed conflict, prostitution and pornography, and illicit activities, such as drug sales

– Other child labor more relative (older children, sweatshops, working alongside parents)

15

Children’s Rights: Progress

• International efforts have only recently begun• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)• World Congress against Commercial Sexual

Exploitation of Children• Nationalism and parochialism impede international

efforts

16

Rights of Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Groups

• Oppression is pervasive– Examples: South Africa, Rwanda, former

Yugoslavia, Darfur– Ethnic and racial identification are the key

components of the tensions and conflict that make nationalism one of, in not the most, divisive elements of human politics• “We-they complex”• Racism, anti-Semitism

17

Group Rights: Progress

• Case of South Africa—elimination of apartheid• Series of international conferences– World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination,

Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance (WCAR), 2001• Specific international agreements– International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms

of Racial Discrimination – Rights are also included in major human rights documents

18

The Rights of Indigenous Peoples• Problems– The world’s 370 million indigenous people live in

socioeconomic circumstances that are below those of the nonnative population of their country (for example, Mayas in Mexico)

• Progress– 1993, International Year of the Indigenous Peoples – 1995–2004, International Decade of the Indigenous Peoples – UN Economic and Social Council established the UN

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)

19

Refugee and Migrant Workers’ Rights• Problems– Driven from home by war, famine economic deprivation, or

other disaster– 8.4 million refugees in 2006 according to UNHCR– Prejudice and anti-immigration sentiment

• Progress – Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951)

• Least widely ratified UN human rights treaty

– UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – International Organization for Migration (IOM)

20

Prescriptive Human Rights

• Often less recognized or enumerated in the legal structure of countries or in international law

• Involves preserving and enhancing human dignity by protecting and improving the physical condition of humans– Right to adequate nutrition– Right to a reasonable standard of health– Right to a basic education

21

Adequate Nutrition

• Thomas Malthus– World’s population will eventually outpace the

world’s agricultural carrying capacity

• Two basic food problems– Short-term food supply– Long-term adequacy of food supply• Crop yields (green revolution)

22

Causes of the Food Problem

• Population growth

• Maldistribution

• Inadequate nutritional content

• Political strife

23

International Response to the Food Problem

• Emergency food aid– UN's World Food Programme (WFP)

• Specific nutritional needs• Agricultural development– Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

• World food conferences– 1974 World Food Conference– 1996 World Food Summit

24

Adequate Health Standards

• Issues of inadequate medical care in LDCs and LLDCs– High rates of infant mortality and disease among

children• World Health Organization (WHO)• Successes of WHO (smallpox)– Problems and new threats: TB, Plague, SARs, West

Nile, avian and swine flu• The speed of global spread of disease—

accelerated by globalization

25

HIV/AIDS: Greatest Current Threat to Global Health

• Number of children and adults living with AIDS worldwide: 40 million (2005)

• Number of children and adults dying from AIDS worldwide: 3 million (2005)

• Number of people infected with HIV continues to grow each year. U.S.-fastest growing group: people OVER 50!

• ½ of Zambia’s copper miners HIV-positive• Global spending on AIDS approaches $8.5 million • Joint UN Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) $320 million budget

to slow new HIV infections

26

Basic Education

• Primarily a national responsibility• UNESCO programs• Gender gap in education• Children receiving only a few years of primary

school in developing countries

27

In the end, how do you feel about rights?

Think about the box: Is a Global Bill of Rights possible? Is it even desirable?

Chapter Objectives: ChecklistAfter reading this chapter, students should be able to: • 1. Discuss the basic idea of proscriptive and prescriptive human rights.• 2. Analyze the claims of universalists and relativists and discuss the concepts of individualism

and communitarianism.• 3. Understand the problems and progress of proscriptive human rights.• 4. Discuss the problems and progress of women’s rights.• 5. Discuss the problems and progress of children’s rights.• 6. Discuss the problems and progress of group rights.• 7. Discuss the problems and progress of the rights of indigenous peoples.• 8. Discuss the problems and progress of the rights of refugees and migrant workers.• 9. Examine adequate nutrition as a prescriptive right.• 10. Examine adequate health standards as a prescriptive right.• 11. Examine basic education as a prescriptive right.

28