effectiveness of international responses

Question 1

when was the UN established. what does it consist of

Answer 1

The United Nations was established through the United Nations Charter in 1945. The UN has five principal organs under the Charter of the United Nations (1945) – all of these have some role to play in the promotion or protection of human rights.

Question 2

UN

what are the 5 principal organs of the UN

Answer 2

-the security council
-office of the high commissioner 4 HR
-General Assembly
-the HR council
-the universal periodic review

Question 3

UN

what is the security council and why is it relevant

Answer 3

A council of 15 member states which are the chief decision-making arm of the UN. Five of these members are permanent – (UK, France, USA, Russia and China) and the other 10 rotate every 2 years.

• They discuss ways to maintain international peace and security

Question 4

UN

whats a key example of the security council assisting in HR

Answer 4

their ability to make binding decisions 4 times referred to as (humanitarian interventions). the four times it occured

• Yugoslavia in 1991
• somalia in 1993
• rwanda 1994
• east timor 1999

To stop defined mass atrocities by force, by using international responsibility

Question 5

UN

what is the office of high comissioner for HR

Answer 5

Offers its support and expertise to the various human rights monitoring bodies and systems within the UN. The OHCHR oversees
-the Human Rights Council
-the Universal Periodic Review
-the eight human rights treaty bodies who monitor the implementation of major human rights treaties

Question 6

UN

what is the general assembly

Answer 6

Consists of representatives from all member states with equal voting power (in theory, yet veto powers), this is the main forum for international discussions, deliberations, declarations and recommendations.

Question 7

UN

what is the HR council

Answer 7

Chief purpose is to examine situations in which human rights violations are occurring and make recommendations for action back to the UN General Assembly.

• Established In 2006 as a subsidiary of the UN general assembly
• Consists of 47 member states

Question 8

UN

what is the universal periodic review

Answer 8

The Human Rights Council runs the Universal Periodic Review. This is a review of the human rights record of all 192 UN member states every four years.

Question 9

how is the effectiveness expressed in the UN

Answer 9

raises awareness

-accessability : expressed through the tonnen v aus case in which a homosexual man was able to argue that his right to his sexuality was breached in tasmania .

-better cross border protection

compliance : influences international covenants anf treaties, creating symbolic frameworks 4 implementation of HR into domestic law

SIGNATORIES MUST ratify treaties into domestic law

Question 10

ineffectiveness of UN

Answer 10

reliant on state willingness to promote and protect HR

Enforceability : No global enforceability body, results in countries being able to abuse rights. Trafficking & slavery present throughout Asia, especially concentrated in Thailand.

state sovereignty issue

Effectiveness is hindered because state representatives in UN may be working in their own political interest, thus failing to report human right breaches in their country.

The credibility of the UNHRC is eroded when it fails to address grave human rights violations for primarily politically reasons (veto powers)

Question 11

what are intergovernmental organisations

Answer 11

an international institution made up of member states. IGOs are created by agreement between states

-each has an international treaty that acts as a charter outlining the organisation’s purpose and operation

Question 12

name the characteristics of intergovernmental organisations

Answer 12

usually permanent, meet regularly and have international legal ‘personality’, which means they can enter into enforceable agreements and are subject to international law.

Question 13

how has IGOS developed overtime..

Answer 13

1909: 37 IGOS in world
1960: 154
presently : around 300

Question 14

examples of existing IGOS

Answer 14

main one : the un itself
-world trade organisation
-international monetary fund
-north atlantic treaty org
-african union
-european union

Question 15

intergovernmental

wat is the european union and wat does it oblige by

Answer 15

it promote peace, its values and the well-being of its citizens. they oblige by the charter of fundamental rights of european union.

-in article 5, trafficking of human beings is prohibited.

Question 16

how has the european union been effective in promoting HR

Answer 16

accessability: encourages countries to create domestic measures to reflect international treaties. evident through the council of europe convention on actions against trafficking.
-regional HR treaty of international law- prevents +combat formats of trafficking, protects victims.

responsiveness: 344265,76 EURO also funded as part of treaty to prevent further sexual trafficking in nigerian women

Question 17

how has the european union been ineffective in promoting HR

Answer 17

responsiveness : not all member states have ratified legal instruments. turkey has not ratified therefore arent responsive to HT.

state sovereignty: Russia have not signed or ratified COATHB which allows for abuse of HR in country. issues of enforabiity rise w this. EU can not force country to sign, only encourage

Question 18

what is the international criminal court

Answer 18

The permanent international court that hears cases relating to the most serious international crimes and human rights abuses, namely genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

• Established in 2002 under Rome statute

Question 19

whats a case where the ICC has been utilised

Answer 19

the case of thomas lubanga (2012)

was a warlord in Congo, and he was the first person ever to be arrested by the ICC.

• Convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 14 years in prison
• However, ^ this took 5 years.

Question 20

effectiveness of international criminal court

Answer 20

enforceability : has universal jurisdiction, can prosecute individuals from any state.

responsiveness: ICC responsive to issues where domestic courts or unwilling to exercise jurisdiction over world’s most wanted suspects

Question 21

ineffectiveness of international criminal court

Answer 21

non compliance: Human Trafficking (as of 2014) is the 3rd largest and profit-making business in the world only after drugs and arms trafficking.

difficult to enforce:Lack of effective cooperation and support from the states means a case cannot be developed. The ICC does not have executive powers and police of its own to investigate cases and thus it is fully dependent on the states

time consuming : thomas lubanga was only convicted after LITERALLY 5 YEARS LOL

costly : 100 million a year to run yet does not even prosecute alot of ppl- only 44 individuals have been indicted

Question 22

what is the AD HOC international tribunal

Answer 22

various tribunals (known as ad hoc tribunals) established for a particular purpose
(by the UN Security Council or the UN to deal with specific events involving serious international crimes. )

Question 23

what are the two AD HOC tribunals that have been created before

Answer 23

1 ) international criminal tribunal for the former yoguslavia (1993) - hears cases that breach geneva conventions (war crimes)

2)international criminal tribunal for rwanda (1994)
-hear cases of genocides commited in RWANDA

Question 24

what are independent statutory bodies and what is their roles

Answer 24

separate from government organisations to perform specialised functions without fear or favour. their role is to:

-States are required to report to these bodies about their treaty compliance
-considering individual complaints
-publishing general comments on treaties and organising discussion on their purposes and themes

Question 25

what are examples of independent statutory bodies

Answer 25

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Question 26

what are NGOS and what were they helpful in (history)

Answer 26

An organisation that works towards a certain cause and operates separately to any government.

Non-government organisations were instrumental in establishing the UN Charter and the International Bill of Rights, and many of them operate as observers with the UN and other specialised government agencies in the upholding of human rights around the world.

Question 27

highlight the development of NGOS

Answer 27

1914: there were 176
1970 : 2000
now : over 100,000

Question 28

NGOS

explain how international labour organisation contributed to HR

Answer 28

implement & report on workers rights worldwide & compaign specifically against forced labour

-assists gov to develop new laws & policies

-protects and recognises individual rights

-resource efficiency : using its resources in order to actively assist states

Question 29

explain how international committee of the red cross assists hr

Answer 29

With origins tracing back to 1863, the ICRC’s missions are strictly concerned with international humanitarian law – protecting the life and dignity of the victims of international and other armed conflicts; this work often overlaps with human rights abuses.

-since 1990 it has been allowed observer status at the UN General Assembly

Question 30

how does the media intertwine w HR

Answer 30

-“naming and shaming” of government and HR violators

• This is, however, largely the case only in the Western world, as many countries that inflict the greatest human rights abuses on their people do not allow freedom of the media – limiting internet access, for instance, severely restricts the information people can access, and so affects the decisions they can make about their government.
• Media can be biased and unreliable

Question 31

how can the media be effective in promoting hr

Answer 31

protects individual rights and informs/educates public about existence of human trafficking & slavery- need to protect abused rights

-accessability : can be accessed by general public thro social media

used by public to address issues instantly, no time delay

Question 32

example of effectiveness in media international basis

Answer 32

CNN Freedom project: ending modern day slavery. #flytofreedom universal hashtag can be used with a paper plane to raise awareness of issue of slavery. Major social media platforms e.g. Facebook, twitter and Instagram all took onboard the initiative to raise intense global awareness.

Question 33

how is the media ineffective

Answer 33

Enforceability: no legal power to enforce due to not being a mean of legal authority to govern, only recognise and promote HR violation and coerce the gov.

Accessibility: Censorship may limit a state’s ability to access international media and current events.

risks w sharing on internet

Question 34

example of media not being effective in promoting HR

Answer 34

A Chinese reporter who was sentenced to prison in 2005 to 2013 after Yahoo disclosed details of his email. Shi was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to prison the following year on charges of disclosing state secrets. He had sent details of a government memo about restrictions on news coverage of the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary to a human rights forum in the United States.