ETVT sovereignty is the biggest barrier to the protection of HR

Question 1

sections

Answer 1

courts
interventions
law

Question 2

for. courts

Answer 2

Sovereignty undermines enforcement of court rulings.
ECHR: Russia ignored rulings on Chechnya and political prisoners; UK ignored prisoner voting rights (Hirst v UK, 2005).
ICC: Lacks power to enforce warrants without state cooperation — Omar al-Bashir avoided arrest despite indictment.
Realist view: states act in self-interest and reject court rulings when inconvenient.

Question 3

against- courts

Answer 3

Courts can apply moral/legal pressure without violating sovereignty.
ECHR: Goodwin v UK (2002) led to Gender Recognition Act.
ICJ: DRC v Uganda (2022) – Uganda paid $325m in reparations.
Liberal view: courts influence change through soft power.

Question 4

for- interventions

Answer 4

China and Russia use UNSC vetoes to block interventions (e.g., Syria).
Rwanda (1994): inaction due to sovereignty concerns → 800,000 killed.
Recent examples: inaction on the Rohingya and Sudan civil war.

Question 5

against- interventions

Answer 5

Sovereignty has been overridden to stop abuses.
Kosovo (1999) and East Timor (1999): interventions protected civilians.
Libya (2011) under R2P: NATO acted to prevent a massacre in Benghazi.

Question 6

for law

Answer 6

Sovereignty lets states opt out of international legal frameworks.
ICC: Not ratified by US, Russia, China → can’t investigate human rights abuses in those countries.
Philippines: withdrew in 2019 to avoid ICC investigation into Duterte’s war on drugs.

Question 7

against law

Answer 7

The real problem is the attitudes of world powers, especially US reluctance to lead.
Post-2000s: US shifted to isolationism — worsened under Trump’s “America First” and continued under Biden (e.g., Afghanistan withdrawal 2021).
Russia/China use sovereignty to justify repression and block UNSC action (e.g., Syria).