Human security and human rights Margon Diego Shan shubin

Table of Contents 1. What is Human Security 2. Debates about Human Security 3. Common Ground 4. Dimensions & Trends of Human Security 5. How to Make Places Safer 6. Questions

What is Human Security? Human Security vs Safety i. Economic ii. Food iii. Health iv. Environmental v. Personal vi. Community vii.Political

Debates about Human Security a. To broad a scope b. Unattainable and moralistic What about the role of the state?

Common Ground a. Individual as 'referent' or individual experience b. Globalization c. Changing nature of armed conflict d. Key objective: safety from violence Rethinking state-sovereignty, not the only source of protection

Dimensions of Human Security Trends: i. Child soldiers ii. Land mines iii. Civilian victims iv. Environmental degradation as a cause v. Disease

How do you make places safer? Increased involvement in preventative diplomacy/peacemaking Increased involvement in preventative diplomacy/peacemaking i. 10 Stage of Genocide: 1) Classification 2) Symbolization 3) Discrimination 4) Dehumanization 5) Organization 6) Polarization 7) Preparation 8) Persecution 9) Extermination 10) Denial b. Rethinking regions and states:

Questions a. What makes you feel safe? b. Do you feel more or less safe both day-to-day and globally? c. What do you think is the biggest threat to human security for yourself and your country? i. What is the origin? d. If you could whisper in the Presidents ear, what would be the one thing to increase human security? Either broadest scope or greatest impact.

introduction The evolution of human rights. International human rights norms Multilateral implementation mechanisms Bilateral foreign policy NGOs and HRs HRs and IR theory Questions

The evolution of human rights No human rights Cyrus the great declared that all slaves have freedom and people have the power to choose religion. Nature law Nature rights and The Declaration of Independence The universal declaration of human rights

International human rights First dimension: civil and political rights Provide legal protections against abuse by the state and seek to ensure political participation for all citizens. Second dimension: economic, social, and culture rights Guarantee individuals access to essential goods and services, and seek to ensure equal social and cultural participation. Third dimension:collective rights Racial equality rights, national self-determination right, right to development, peaceful rights, etc

Rights recognized in the International Bill of Human Rights

Multilateral implementation mechanisms The basic system of multilateral mechanisms: After the entry into force of international human rights treaties, the contracting parties shall submit their reports to the treaty bodies regularly to indicate their compliance with the treaty. The reports will be publicly reviewed in a session, and the treaty bodies will make some comments and advices to the contracting states.

Multilateral implementation mechanisms International human rights institution: human rights council Regional human rights institution : i. European commission on human rights and Court of Human Rights ii. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and court of human rights iii. African Commission on Human and People Rights iv. Arab Commission on Human Rights

Evaluating multilateral mechanisms Multilateral implementation mechanisms facilitate national compliance, mainly through mobilizing public scrutiny that reminds states of their obligations. Argument of legality often increase the chances of pushing reluctant states back into the confines of rights-protective practices. The international human rights treaties do not have the force of law

Bilateral foreign policy: other mechanism of HRs Powerfull states possess more material resources than multilateral Hrs organizations: they can effect significant changes During Cold war: HRs sidelined or instrumentalized by Blocks Détente: prompted the emergence of Hrs in US foreign policy 1977: Hrs Commity (supervising ICCPR) began operations Amnesty international won Novel price Collapse of the URSS: “golden age” of Hrs diplomacy: international response to Tiananmen; international actiona against genocide 2001 9/11: most progress has been sustained (In spite of “war on terror” Hrs still remain an important feature of foreign policy )

NGOs and HRs Transnational and national actions of civil society 3º major type of actor in international HRs Important role in getting the HR into UN Charter Spreading awareness about HR Norms and publicizing violations Amnesty International (2 millon members), HR Watch, Federacion de los Derechos del Hombre (155 HR NGOs), and Oxfam, Médicos sin frontereas, etc. Principal resources: info and mobilizing civil society (strategies of “name and shame”) Embarrass offending governments and TNCs, mobilize citizens of different countries Lobbing: based on production of information and amounts of membership

NGOs and HRs If state has good HR records and democratic accountability: national and international action can have significant impact Some are not very effective (because they lack the power of states and IGOs), but have no other interest than HR advocacy so they can try to control state tendency towards defending national interest more than HR

HRs and IR theory Liberalism and HR: as rooted in individual rights, democracy, property and market economy, liberal were central to introduce economic and social rights that later conformed the Universal Declaration However international HR represent a critique to liberal enfasis on market and property, in favor of a combination of market and state mechanisms to provide economic and social rights (liberal democratic welfare state) Liberals alongside with socialists have been major HR advocates

HRs and IR theory Realism and HR: stress that states foreign policy is principally concerned with national interests (specifically survival and power), and for that end advise against any moral and legal principles, so HR can never be something subordinated to national interest However for many countries, HR has become a real interest, devoting resources to HR of foreigners in other countries, so can be compared with economic and militar interest in equal terms, the debate then it is about the ways in which a country balance its diverse interests

HRs and IR theory Constructionism and HR: the idea that states identity and interests are constructed (socially, historically and arbitrarily) goes perfectly with the introduction of HR as a national interest It make possible to question in which other ways contemporary international HR could be configurated (for example in different relations with sovereignty, and other categories such as genocide, war crimes and) and to focus on the constructive rol that particular institutions, like the Univ. Declaration, have of the relation between states, and between citizens and governments.

HRs and IR theory Critical perspectives on HR: by who and for whom HR have been constructed? HR are a product of Western culture, so claiming its universality can be equated as a form of pos-colonial imposition (from Western-above and not a voluntary demand from Africans, Asians and Latin Americans). A form of Western Hegemony (domination based on ideas but also in force), that can convey market ideology. However, grassroot people when they have the choise, they have choosen HR and have stand for them. HR can be used very differently: the content of the social practices related to HR are different when HR are the discourse of grass root movements or discourse of governments

Question Comparing multilateral mechanisms, bilateral politics and non-governmental politics of human rights, which one do you think is more effective for human rights?