international responses which promote and enforce human rights

1. Promoting and Enforcing Human Rights

2. Evaluate the effectiveness of international responses in promoting and
enforcing Human Rights

4. UN General
Assembly
Main forum for international discussions, deliberations, declarations and
recommendations. Made up of all UN member states (193).
UN Security
Council
Responsible for maintenance of international peace and security.
Has the power to intervene in the most serious Human Rights abuses by states.
Economic &
Social
Council
Multiple committees which act as a forum to discuss international issues re:
economic, social, environmental and humanitarian concerns.
Secretariat
Provides information, studies, tasks and facilities needed by the UN.
Comprised of UN Departments and offices. Main administrative body of the UN.
International
Court of
Justice
Principal judicial organ; has jurisdiction to deal with international conflicts brought
to them by member states and to advise on issues in International Law.

5. Generally speaking, IGOs create
Human Rights Instruments, which
often create Courts, Tribunals and
Independent Statutory Authorities

6. Court, Tribunal or Independent Statutory Authority
Instrument
IGO United
Nations
UN
Charter
General
Assembly
Human
Rights
Council
ICJ
Security
Council
ICCPR
Human
Rights
Committee
ICESCR
Committee on
Economic,
Social and
Cultural Rights
Rome
Statute
ICC

7.  Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein – current High
Commissioner
 OHCHR is part of the UN Secretariat,
based in Geneva
 Established in 1993
 Aims to:
 Promote universal ratification and
implementation of UDHR
 Promote universal enjoyment of human
rights and international cooperation
 Provide support and information for
other UN human rights bodies

8.  Established in 2006
 Responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around
the globe
 Also aims to address situations of human rights violations and make
recommendations on them
 Works closely with OHCHR
 Established to replace the Commission on Human Rights – which was generally
agreed to be ineffective
 UNHRC has gained the backing of the US, which has strengthened its influence
 HOWEVER, some have criticised the UNHRC for being too easily influenced by China
and Russia

9. International Courts and Tribunals are
created by International Instruments
The lines between international
courts, tribunals and independent
statutory authorities are kind of
blurred…

10. International courts
and tribunals with
a role in protecting
human rights
International Court
of Justice (ICJ)
International
Criminal Court
(ICC)
International
Criminal Tribunals
(ICTR & ICTY)

11.  Can hear cases and deliver advisory opinions
 ICJ plays a role in protecting and enforcing human rights because it can defend and
interpret Conventions
 ICJ cannot hear cases raised by individuals
 Example case: Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro (Case No. 91, ICJ
Reports 2007)
 Result of Serbia’s alleged attempt to eliminate Bosnian Muslim population in Srebrenica
during the Bosnian War
 ICJ upheld the ICTY statement that the Srebrenica Massacre was genocide
 Serbia was found to have failed to protect the human rights of the Bosnian Serbs.

12.  Established in response for calls for a
permanent court after genocides in
Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
 It has jurisdiction over:
 Persons accused of genocide
 Crimes against humanity, and
 War Crimes

13.  Before the ICC, Tribunals were set up
on an ad hoc basis to deal with serious
widespread breaches of international
criminal law.
 ICTY and ICTR were the two ad hoc
tribunals established.
 Tribunals are not permanent; they are
to exist only until all charges in the
conflict have been heard.

14. * Technically, there are no authorities
than can create statues at an
international level – only treaties…
Similar, but different.

15.  Committees monitoring human rights report to the UN Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC), which then reports to the General Assembly
 Committees include:
 Human Rights Committee
 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
 Committee Against Torture
 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

17.  Separate & independent from government.
 May take the role of observers at the UN, but others are completely separate
 No authority to enforce Human Rights
 They do often promote - can push & influence people with authority.
 In the 1990s, the number & strength of NGOs grew significantly.

18. Direct action
 letters etc, that go directly to people
who are able to stop the abuse
 Eg:
Indirect action
 naming and shaming, eg: reports and
press releases
 Eg:

19.  Criticism by NGOs has been found to
be more effective than criticism from
IGOs (in Latin America - shame on you
2008)
 Different NGOs have different
strategies which in turn have different
levels of influence.
 Eg: if China were to criticise Australia,
our government woulld be unlikely to
listen because Ti An An Men Square...
BUT NGOs are generally not involved
in Human Rights Abuses, so
governments are more likely to listen
to them.
“Human rights criticism does lead
governments to reduce repression of
subsequent challenges in cases where
there are relatively strong economic ties
to other countries. However, the duration
of this impact is relatively short - less
than 6 months. Examination of the
source of human rights criticism shows
that criticism by NGOs, religious groups,
and foreign governments was more
effective than criticism from inter-
governmental organizations.”
Shame on You: The Impact of Human
Rights Criticism on Political
Repression in Latin America 2008

20. Amnesty International
 Established in 1961
 Over 7 million members
 Mainly direct action
 Released 17,000 reports
 Helped 3341 missions
 Demanded 44,000 actions from
governments
 Main issues it fights for:
 Political prisoners & “disappearances”
 Death Penalty
 Torture
Human Rights Watch
 Established in 1978
 Mainly indirect action
 Over 100 reports on the status of human
rights in 90 countries
 Research and promote a wide range of
human rights

21. Failures
 targets larger nations
 indirect action has had limited effect
 less successful with disappearances &
death penalty
 target countries according to "donor
interest"... Prioritised based on what
people care about, not what's actually
worst
Successes
 admits this (says it focuses on nations
where it can make a difference)
 direct action has resulted in changes
("urgent action campaigns")
 more successful with torture, prisoners
of conscience, arbitrary arrest

23.  Role - to report human rights abuses to the public by making them part of the news.
Human rights are considered "important" when they're "newsworthy“
 May act as a deterrent to the government – a government may act (or refuse to act)
for fear of making the news.
 Media may be a conscience trigger. Result in people acting after reading a story and
then lobby the government of join an NGO etc.
 Supposed to be independent & to report facts. BUT, a media source may be
government owned or influenced, or published and influenced by NGOs.

27. Although it is getting increasingly
difficult for the ABC to report without
fear of reprisals from our government

28.  Some places won't let journalists
publish freely. Eg: North Korea.
 Some news channels don't want to
report negative stories. “Dumbing
down of news.”
 Proper journalism is harder to find than
it used to be.
 Some people aren't allowed to access
international news (eg: Burma; great
firewall of China)

29. Online Journalism
 Fast
 Free (or at least cheap)
 Provides access to international
stories.
 However, it can still be controlled by
the government…

30. Social Media
 Instant and global.
 Has been largely successful
 However, it can still be limited –
eg: Syria pulled the plug on net