HUMAN RIGHTS - AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GLOBAL REVOLUTION

"...Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…"
(From the introduction of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations, 10 December 1948)

Nearly 60 years ago these words began a revolution.A juridical revolution - the first time in history that the rights of the individual received recognition under international law and the foundation of a multicultural, pan-religious movement for global social justice. A revolution which is far from complete, but one which only increases in both its intensity and necessity.

The absence of respect for human rights is endured through horrific realities by peoples worldwide; the current oppression of innocent civilians in Darfur by the Sudanese government and its supporting militia, the Janjaweed, is a perfectly chilling example. With the proliferation of global communicative media (like the internet), the reality of human rights’ abuses and the concepts of social justice are brought directly into our living rooms; but, as it is such a broad and complex topic, perhaps an introduction to these ideas is a vitally forgotten step... in this section of the website, we will begin to explore some of the issues surrounding human rights: their purpose, origins, legitimacy and relevance. Further resources for information and action will also be offered at the end of the text.

So… what are human rights?

Essentially, “human rights” are a set of minimal subsistence standards under which a human being can live in an acceptable state of freedom and dignity. Such minimal standards, for example, include the right to shelter, access to clean drinking water and the political right of recognition before the law (meaning that you may not be held in imprisonment without charge or the opportunity to present before a Court). Human rights also provide us, as individuals, standards to exist within larger groups (be they religious, cultural, tribal or societal).

This set of minimal standards is formed into a collection of “rights”, rights which belong to every member of the human race regardless of colour or creed. The international legal recognition of these rights is what forms agreements such as the Universal Declaration and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. These international agreements provide security for an individual to belong to such groups without fear of oppression or subjection to cruel and degrading treatment, such as the practice of female genital mutilation carried out in some tribal cultures or the use of citizens as forced labour in Myanmar / Burma.The method in which these agreements provide security is via a legal process through which the individual can:

1. Oppose or resist unjust state laws or oppressive customary practices through legal or political means within their own community, state or nation;

2. Appeal to other peoples, nations and international organisations for assistance in defending those rights; and, in the most extreme of cases;

3. Allow a framework under which international action can be justified to protect groups of individuals that risk serious right’s abuses.

So… where did they come from?

The historic origins of human rights is a much debated topic with roots in both ancient philosophy and theology and is the subject of many academic works. For our purposes however, we will focus on the modern conception and adoption of human rights as international law.

The origins of human rights as law began during the European period of the Enlightenment and found one of its first articulations in the French revolutionary document “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen”. However, it wasn’t until 1948 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the rights and freedoms of individuals were set in such detail.

So… why were they articulated?

The horrors human beings inflicted upon each other during World War II was the main catalyst for the drafting of the Universal Declaration. It was as if the world was saying “never again”; recognising that the protection of the individual within a larger community or state was crucial to prevent such atrocities from occurring. Critics of the modern form of human rights argue that because the Universal Declaration was created as a response to largely European injustices then it purports a Euro-centric or “Western” worldview. However, when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration it did so with the representation of many cultures ranging from Chinese communist to Hindu, Muslim, Middle Eastern Christian and Latin American. For further information on the history of the human rights movement, please refer to www.hrweb.org/history.html.

A juridical revolution…“covenants without swords are but words”

On 10 December 1948 the Universal Declaration was adopted (with eight abstentions) and since then it has become the foundation of international human rights law and the most cited human rights document in the world. Other international agreements that are essential in the defence of human rights are the:

• UN Charter
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• International Convention on Asylum
• Revision of Geneva Convention
• Genocide Convention

But, as is painfully clear, the fight for global justice and the universal application of human rights is far from over and as famously stated by Thomas Hobbes: “covenants without swords are but words”.

So… what are the swords used in the fight for social justice?

Activism

“An activists proper role is not to make choices for the person in question, but to enlarge their sense of what the choices entail” Michael Ignatieff.

Firstly, there are the activists. People who give up their time, energy, money, expertise and even their lives in the defence and promotion of human rights. Some of the most notable activism for social justice is found in the movement for women’s rights in the late 1800s, for black civil rights during the 1950s in America and in Mahatma Ghandi’s leadership of India’s struggle for freedom from Britain from 1916 - 1945. Today there are many non-governmental, non-profit activist organisations throughout the world, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch being only the most famous. These organisations act as global watch dogs created and funded by individual members all over the world to monitor and report on human right’s violations, pressuring governments to take action when injustices occur and publicising abuses where private media organisations will not focus because of their own corporate interests. Human rights activism has become a hugely powerful tool in the defence of social justice as the power to mobilise the public and pressure governments to act showed, for example, with the abolition of apartheid in South Africa during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The United Nations / International Community

Secondly, there are international governmental organisations like the United Nations (UN). The UN is a global body created in 1945 to act as a form of neutral ‘world government’. The UN has three tools it can use when human rights abuses occur in a country. Firstly, it can publicly criticise the nation, attempting to “shame” it into addressing the situation; when this proves ineffective the UN can then pass a resolution for international sanctions against the country, thereby damaging it economically by restricting trade and blocking financial assistance. Thirdly, in the most extreme of cases, there is the step of intervention, carried out by the highly contentious wing of the UN, the Security Council.

Intervention is a complex and controversial tool of human rights defence. When abuses in a country are so grave that they effect the peace and security of neighbouring states, the Security Council may agree to allow physical military intervention. This intervention is usually in the form of an international peacekeeping force. The presence of trained and armed “peacekeepers” is sometimes sufficient to protect civilians and deter any groups seeking to oppress or abuse another. A gut-wrenching example of the ineffectiveness of intervention can be found in the 1994 Rwandan genocide: Rwanda is a central African country that was torn in two during an internal conflict between two ethic groups, the Tutsi and the Hutus. Tensions erupted between the two and resulted in two Hutu militia groups massacring over a million innocent Tutsi civilians (and moderate Hutus) in some of the most blood soaked weeks that the modern world has ever encountered. The UN had delegated a peacekeeping force to the region, but the inaction of this group had horrifically fatal consequences. This example, and unfortunately also many others, has hugely discredited the purpose of human rights law and the organisations created to protect it.

Intervention has also been seen as a tool manipulated by the countries wielding power in the Security Council and as a racially partial and economically influenced action. The Green Party’s policy on intervention is cautionary and minimalist, recognising the dangers of such and supporting more sustainable and peaceful measures. The full policy can be viewed at http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/mfss/peacedef.html.

Education / Support

Education surrounding rights issues and the support of peoples wishing to defend their human rights is both an effective and sustainable tool in the rights movement. Non-profit, non-governmental organisations have formed to facilitate this; for example Karen Human Rights Group and the Karen Women’s Organisation who are based on the Thailand / Myanmar border, supporting and educating the oppressed people of Myanmar and enabling them to fight injustice from within their own country and build foundations through their own values for the future of their people. There are many more organisations who work like this throughout the world, running only through the support of their members and dedicated volunteers with virtually no funding. These organisations are some of the most critical components in the struggle for social justice.

International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a fairly recently formed international juridical body, entering into force on 01 July 2002. The ICC was founded through the action of the “Coalition for an International Criminal Court”, an organisation made up of over 2000 NGOs who campaigned for its creation since 1993. The ICC now has a seat at The Hague and is ratified by 100 different countries. The formation and ratification of the ICC is seen as a major step forward in the struggle for international justice and is designed to be used as a truly neutral Court to prosecute people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Although many countries have now ratified the ICC (including the United Kingdom) the United States still refuses to do so. This puts it in the ranks of countries such as China, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Qatar and Israel. For more information on the US’s hostility to and opposition of the ICC please refer to http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/icc/us.htm. For more information on the ICC, please refer to http://www.web.amnesty.org/web.nsf/ and http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/icc.

So… why is the defence of human rights relevant to us?

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children”. Dwight D Eisenhower.

Human rights issues surround us every day. Throw a stone and you will find someone who has had their life affected by social injustice. The starving African child you see on the television is being denied their human rights, as are the Latin American family living on less than £1 per day whose plight never makes the evening news. In Indonesia, the military occupies and persecutes small countries, using their resources and oppressing their people. In China, India and many other developing nations, workers are grossly exploited, being forced to work in sweat shops and factories in dangerous conditions and for long hours on minute wages to produce cheap goods for consumption in ‘Western’ markets.

Human rights abuses occur in many different forms across the world daily; sometimes we in ‘Westernised’ countries feel much removed from these abuses, but whether or not we realise, the abuse of human rights also occurs in our own backyard. In Australia, asylum seekers are held in cramped conditions in remote detention centres where they are grossly mistreated for periods of up to four years; young children being released from these “centres” suffering from psychological problems like mutism, withdrawal, bedwetting, self harm and attempts of suicide. Here in the United Kingdom, the improvisation of anti-terror legislation has resulted in the detention of people without trial, deportation and the risk of torture. The right to free speech and peaceful protest has been savagely attacked with the recent implementation of anti-terror laws and the recent restrictions around protest outside parliament buildings. Across Europe the trafficking of children and sex workers is prolific, as are economic rights issues and women’s rights issues. Further blatant examples can be found in the repressive and inhumane treatment of Kurdish, Chechnynan and Roma minorities in parts of Europe such as Turkey, Russia and Bulgaria (among others). If we cross the Atlantic to the shores of the United States, we find yet another liturgy of infringements on some of the most fundamental aspects of human rights; for example, the continued detention without charge of international “terror” suspects in Guantanamo Bay and the recent announcement of the amendment to the definition of “torture” in order to aide the process of military interrogation of people suspected of involvement with “terrorist” organisations.

As Young Greens we believe that the politicising of social justice is critical to ensuring a more just world in the future. The Young Greens are currently focusing on the following campaigns:

• Anti-Xenophobia
• The formation of an International Arms Trade Treaty
• Refugee / Asylum Seekers / Immigration Rights
• Anti Nuclear / Faslane