1. Human Rights and Humanitarian Intervention

2. Magna Carta (1215)
Provisions of Oxford (1258)
US Constitution (1787)
French Declaration of the Rights (1789)
US Bill of Rights (1791)

3. Cyrus The Great 6th Century BC Persia
Developed an ancient concept of human rights

4. Human rights
Rights to which people are entitled by virtue of being human: Freedom from violence, arbitrary detention, destruction of property.
Natural rights: God-given rights that are fundamental to human beings and are therefore inalienable
Humanitarianism: A concern about the wellbeing of humanity as a whole, typically expressed through acts of compassion, charity or philanthropy

5. Typology of Human Rights
1st Generation: Civil and political rights, freedom of speech, religion, press, association
2nd Generation: Economic, cultural and social
3rd Generation: Solidarity and peoples rights such as environmental protection and development

6. Universalism
The belief that it is possible to uncover certain values and principles that are applicable to all people and all societies, regardless of historical, cultural and other differences

7. Negative rights: enjoyed because of inactivity of others, particularly government; ‘freedoms from’
Civil liberties: define a ‘private’ sphere of existence that belongs to the citizen, not the state
Positive rights: can only be enjoyed through positive intervention on the part of government; ‘freedom to’.

8. Approaches to Human Rights
Realists: Ethical considerations and concerns over human rights are secondary to national interests.

9. Liberal view: Human rights are of great importance and contribute to the legitimacy of states and institutions. Emphasis on the protection of civil and political rights.

10. Critical approaches: either revise or recast the traditional, liberal view or have been openly hostile to the idea itself.
economic and social rights as the basis of calls for a redistribution of power and resources
Human rights as a doctrine of global social justice, grounded in moral cosmopolitanism

11. Democracy as a human right?

13. Relativism
ideas and values are valid only in relation to particular social cultural and historical conditions, implying that there are no universal truths
Eurocentrism: application of values and theories drawn from European culture to other groups or peoples, implying a biased or distorted viewpoint

15. HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION
Intervention: Forcible action taken by one state against another state, without the latter’s consent.
Humanitarian intervention is military intervention that is carried out in pursuit of humanitarian rather than strategic objectives. However, the term is controversial.
Liberal interventionism: liberal values and institutions are universally applicable and should be promoted by intervention in the affairs of other states

16. Conditions for humanitarian intervention
violates the established international norm of non-intervention, based on the ‘inviolability of borders
goes beyond the just war idea that self-defence is the key justification for the use of force.
doctrine of human rights provides standards of conduct that can be applied to all governments and all peoples
may allow the ‘last resort’ principle, basic to most versions of a just war, to be downgraded

17. Humanitarian intervention and the ‘war on terror’
Pariah state: A state whose behavioural norms place it outside the international community, leading to diplomatic isolation and attracting widespread condemnation

18. Genocide
the attempt to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

19. R2P Responsibility to Protect Doctrine
Responsible sovereignty: state sovereignty is conditional upon how a state treats its citizens
Large-scale loss of life which is the product either of deliberate state action, or state neglect or inability to act, or a failed state situation
Large-scale ethnic cleansing whether carried out by killing, forcible expulsion, acts of terrorism or rape.

20. Does humanitarian intervention work?