Globalization & Human Rights

Globalization & Human Rights Impact of Globalization on HR & Globalization of Human Rights

Globalization of Human Rights ► The

Historic Situation

 Sovereign immunity ► Originally,

protection of the King from being held responsible for his oppression ► Later, sanctity of boundaries so that the state could do whatever it wished within its own boundaries

► The

Human Rights Position

 All people share inherent rights simply because of our common humanity ► No

one—individual, group, corporation or state—is beyond responsibility for actions violating the rights of others ► Boundaries do not protect those who violate human rights

Universal Declaration Of Human Rights ► Reaction

to the excesses of World War II, particularly the Holocaust ► UN project headed by Eleanor Roosevelt  Considerable debate ►Emphasis

on civil & political rights? ►Emphasis on economic, social & cultural rights?

► Adopted

by the UN 10 December 1948

 Most of the world’s people not represented

Subsequent HR Conventions ► 1966

Covenants

 Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights  Covenant on Civil & Political Rights ► Documents

   

Facing Particular Issues

Women’s Rights Children’s Rights Land Mine Treaty International Criminal Court

Universal in What Sense? ► Need

for accepting international standards rather than cultural exceptionalism ► Philosophically universal rather than that everyone agrees ► Cultural struggles over human rights  The list of rights is not fixed in stone  People struggle over the specific lists of rights

HR Struggles within Cultures ► Cultures

vary in their views of what constitutes a just society ► Cultures change in their views of what constitutes a just society ► Consider change in this country  Recognition of the inhumanity of slavery, Jim Crow Laws, de jure discrimination  Expansion of suffrage beyond white men of property

HR Struggles between Cultures ► Cultures

or sub-cultures living together struggle for pre-eminence or compromise ► Examples from this country  Implementation of the separation of church & state  Struggles over who should be able to marry ► Examples

elsewhere

 Curbs on religious expression in China, France, Canada, Saudi Arabia

Cultural Struggles Against the Global Human Rights Movement ► Global

assertions of human rights violations as a means for ending perceived oppression ► African, Asia or other appeals to exceptions ► Cultural justifications for oppression or justifiable demands for balancing rights with obligations?

HR Struggles Against the Oppressive Consequences of Globalization ► Asking

for global capital to be responsible for meeting human rights standards ► Asking for international institutions to be responsible for meeting human rights standards ► Examples  US students asking that universities not profit from abusive practices  Demands that globalization include HR guarantees along with opening markets to global capital