POLITICS OF HUMAN RIGHT

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Second Completely Revised Edition 2002

By

MERIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO

Ryan Cloyd Q. Villanueva

BA-Political Science 4

The concept of human rights is a challenge to the

concept of state sovereignty, like environmental

degradation. Individual also have rights, which

they ought to be able to claim against their own

governments.

(promulgated by the U.N. Gen.

Assembly of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights,

1948)

SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS REGIME

1990s

As the Cold War ended in 1989 the adherence of the West to human

rights has been continually placed to the test, raising new issues. A new

issue on the question of legal remedies for human rights violations.

International war crimes tribunals was created to deal with offenses

committed during the wars of former Yugoslavia and the genocide in

Rwanda.

1999

Establishment of the International Criminal Court through a signing of

treaty. However, U.S. opposes because on the ground that U.S. armed

forces will be the subject of politically motivated prosecutions.

The treaty is expected to take effect in 2003 thus, the power of the court

are limited.

Prosecutions are controlled by the U.N. Security Council.

The very concept of the international criminal court is already a

genuine departure from the past.

1999-2000

Occurred during the Pinochet case in Britain. Pinochet was put into

extradition trial by the British House of Lords.

The trial failed and allowed Pinochet to return to Chile on health

grounds However, issuing the important ruling that former heads of

state could not claim sovereign immunity in respect of acts such as

torture. This ruling by the House of Lords is another challenge to the

old concept of sovereignty.

DOCTRINE OF HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION

According to Brown, the Doctrine of Humanitarian Intervention, as the

embryonic doctrine, is the most significant legal change in the concept of

sovereignty posed by human rights doctrine.

As defined, it is “the intervention (perhaps forcibly) of one state, or group of

states, in the internal affairs of another, conducted mainly, or substantially, in

the interest of the inhabitants of the latter”.

The doctrine goes to the heart of the issue in the international protection of

human rights. It is a direct challenge to the U.N. Charter which explicitly

forbids intervention in the domestic jurisdiction of states.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION IN THE 1990S

Gulf War of 1990-91

Establishment of a “Safe Area” for the Kurdish population of Iraq,

where Iraq forces were not allowed to penetrate.

Similarly during the conflict in Bosnia, NATO and the U.N. established

safe areas.

Kosovo 1999

NATO actions in Kosovo. An external group of states intervened militarily to

prevent Yugoslavia from exercising its sovereign rights over territories that

were legally part of that country. When Yugoslavia refused to accept such

observers, a military protectorate was established by force.

East Timor 1999

The U.N. force had never accepted that Indonesia had a right to the territory,

and U.N. force led by Australia was sent there.

MASS MOVEMENTS ACROSS NATIONAL BORDERS

One human rights issue that challenges the concept of state sovereignty is the mass movements

of people across national borders, exemplified by migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

The emergence of a global economy, and a global market for labor in a world characterized by

extreme international economic inequality, have all made mobility the buzzword of our time.

Push Factor Pull Factor

Migrant workers are not only attracted by higher wages in other countries, but also by societies

that are democratic than the government regimes they leave behind.

POVERTYLABOR

SHORTAGES

MIGRANT

WORKER

S

Political Refugee – According to Brown, “an important and unprecedented

issue in international politics”, the reasons responsible for the large-scale

movement of peoples.

“The combination of a mobile world population and an active state

has shaped the international and national politics of border

controls”

- Brown

“IMMIGRANTS”

NATIONALISTS

SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

LIBERALS

REVOLUTIONAY SOCIALISTS

The two phenomena of mass movements across borders, and of environmental politics,

indicate that the current political institutions are inadequate to deal with such realities.

However, the two phenomena have one significant difference. Environmental degradation

affects everyone, and therefore everyone must adapt. By contrast, population movements

are limited to those countries which are forced to receive the migrants, whom they can

send away.

How to solve immigration?

1. Organizations (i.eg., European Union) must help the countries of origin

solve their problems, and thus reduced the pressures which created forced

immigrations.

2. Organizations must strengthen border controls, which would lead to the

development of a “Fortress” mentality.

Reasons for the advanced industrial world to unable isolate itself from immigrants:

1. There is a strong demand for cheap labor.

2. It may be too late, because most major cities in the advanced industrial

world already have substantial populations of former migrants, legal or

illegal.

MORAL SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDERS

Redefine political community. This calls for a renegotiation of the

boundaries between “insiders” and “outsiders”, and perhaps even for a

global conception of democracy.

Emphasize international protection of human rights. Mass migrants

breaks the link between the people and their state, one effective remedy

should be the growth of an international human rights regime.

UNIVERSALISM OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Human Rights should include

WOMEN

Human Rights should include

ASIAN VALUES

Human Rights should include

MULTICULTURALISM