Human Rights

by Oleksandra Larina

What are human rights?

Human rightsThe rights you have simply because you are human. Applied universally and equally to

everyone everywhere.

What are human rights?• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights:1. We are all free and equal. 2. Don’t discriminate. 3. The right to life. 4. No slavery – past and present. 5. No Torture. 6. We all have the same right to use the law. 7. We are all protected by the law. 8. Fair treatment by fair courts. 9. No unfair detainment. 10. The right to trial. 11. Innocent until proven guilty. 12. The right to privacy. 13. Freedom to move. 14. The right to asylum.15. The right to a nationality.

16. Marriage and family. 17. Your own things. 18. Freedom of thought. 19. Free to say what you want. 20. Meet where you like. 21. The right to democracy. 22. The right to social security. 23. Workers’ rights. 24. The right to play. 25. A bed and some food. 26. The right to education. 27. Culture and copyright. 28. A free and fair world. 29. Our responsibilities. 30. Nobody can take away these rights and freedoms from us.

Human rights vs. Int’l human rightsAt the international level, human rights norms exist because of treaties that have turned them into international law. For example, the human right not to be held in slavery or servitude in Article 4 of the European Convention and in Article 8 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights exists because these treaties establish it.

At the national level, human rights norms exist because they have through legislative enactment, judicial decision, or custom become part of a country's law. For example, the right against slavery exists in the United States because the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits slavery and servitude.

* When rights are embedded in international law we speak of them as human rights; but when they are enacted in national law we more frequently describe them as civil or constitutional rights.

The International Covenants

ICCPR• Nations:• the right to self determination• the right to own, trade, and dispose of their pro

perty freely, and not be deprived of their means of subsistence

• Individuals:• the right to legal recourse when their rights hav

e been violated, even if the violator was acting in an official capacity

• the right to life• the right to liberty and freedom of movement• the right to equality before the law• the right to presumption of innocence til

proven guilty• the right to appeal a conviction• the right to be recognized as a person before th

e law• the right to privacy and

protection of that privacy by law• freedom of thought, conscience, and religion• freedom of opinion and expression• freedom of assembly and association

ICESCR• self-determination• wages sufficient to support a minimum

standard of living• equal pay for equal work• equal opportunity for advancement• form trade unions• strike• paid or otherwise compensated materni

ty leave• free primary education, and

accessible education at all levels• copyright, patent, and trademark protec

tion for intellectual property• forbids exploitation of children, and

requires all nations to cooperate to end world hunger.

Int’l human rights treaties & organizations

• The Genocide Convention (1948)• The Universal Declaration (1948)• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)• The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

(1966)• the Human Rights Committee (HRC) • the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial

Discrimination(1966), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984)

• the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) • the Human Rights Council of UN• the Security Council of UN

Regional mechanismsThe European System

The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights

the European Court of Human Rights the Council of Europe

Still sometimes weak in implementation: Case of Turkey

Regional mechanismsThe Inter-American System

The Organization of American States (OAS) the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and

the American Convention on Human Rights; and two main treaty bodies, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Approximately one third of OAS member states have not ratified the American Convention on Human Rights to accept the jurisdiction of the Court. Accordingly, not all citizens of the Americas are able to utilize the full range of IAHRS mechanisms as a way of protecting and promoting their human rights.

Recent rights’ issues – such as indigenous rights, abortion and gay rights – have brought the Court and Commission into opposition with several states and interest groups.

Regional mechanismsThe African System

• The African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights

• African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

• The African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights is now in operation in Arusha, Tanzania

frequently faces non-cooperation by governments, and has inadequate resources

HR promotion by states

• Establishing international human rights law by authoring and ratifying human rights treaties

• enforcement through law at the national level• the creation of national human rights commissions• Unilatteral or multilatteral actions, intended to

promote and protect human rights in other countries

• Humanitarian intervention is the use of force by one state to prevent or stop gross human rights violations and other humanitarian disasters in another state

NGOs

o Functions of int’l NGOs:investigating complaints, advocacy with governments and international governmental organizations, and policy making.

o Functions of Local NGOs:fundraising, lobbying, and general education

o Weakness:do not have the authority to implement or enforce international law

o Strength:benefit of access to local people and organizations and are often able to get direct and indirect access to critical information about current human rights violations

http://indicators.ohchr.orghttp://files.amnesty.org/air13/fnf_air_2013_en.pdf

Criticism

• How much human rights law has actually influenced the behaviour of governments?

• More than 150 countries have ratified the treaties, but they do not follow their requirements:

Saudi Arabia ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and yet by law subordinates women to men in all areas of life.

Child labour exists in countries that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Tanzania and India.

Child labour Child labour on gold mines in Tanzania On paper, Tanzania has strong laws

prohibiting child labor in mining, but the government has done far too little to enforce them (advice: sanctions for employers)

https://youtu.be/38hbwakHwKY

In India child labour is the largest in the world

Indian Gov’t laws and actions have little or even negative impact,

Major causes: poverty, sociocultural problems.

HR challenges in 2015• Scaling Up Efforts to Eradicate Forced Labour, Slavery and

Trafficking from Services, Manufacturing, and Global Supply Chains

• Strengthening Trade Union Movements in an Era of Growing Casualisation of Work

• Protecting the Right to Privacy and Ending Mass Surveillance of Digital Communications

• Ensuring Corporate Use or Acquisition of Land Does Not Undermine the Rights of Small Farmers and Local Communities

Source: Institute for Human Rights and Business

HR challenges in 2015 (cont.)

• Combating Sexual Violence in the Workplace

• Developing Policy and Regulatory Architecture to Tackle Human Rights Abuses Arising from Tax Avoidance and Illicit Financial Flows

• Overcoming Barriers Preventing Access to Effective Remedies for Corporate Related Human Rights Abuses