...World Politics” POLI 70492 Essay title: East meets West: Human Rights in Perspective. Lecturer: Dr James Pattison Essay Question: “Should Universal Human Rights Be Enforced regardless of Cultural differences?” ID Number: 8262033 Introduction: Even though human rights are of the major issues in our current day world, it has not been the case over the course of human history. Despite some early calls by the Greeks especially Aristotle for citizenship rights and participation in the political life, slavery was regarded as a normal feature back then and it was not until the 18th century that serious attempts to protect human rights and dignity took place: The two major events promoting these rights were without doubt the United States of America’s declaration of independence in 1776 and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789 both of which endorsed some basic rights and freedom which were a huge step forward at the time. As an example, the French declaration clearly enclosed the following article “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Following these two events, many Western writers and philosophers such as John Stuart Mill, Thomas Paine, and G.W.F. Hegel defended human civil rights and liberties in their writings which led to the first appearance and adoption of...
Words: 3640 - Pages: 15
...THE RELEVANCE OF THE UNITED NATIONS IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA: IRAQI INVASION AS A CASE STUDY BY ALADENIYI, EMMANUEL ABIODUN APRIL 2005 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND 1. The basic concepts and assumptions that led to the formation of the United Nations (UN) dates back to the beginning of statecraft and humanity’s first efforts to foster international cooperation. The treaty of the peace of Westphalia of 1648 is regarded at humanity’s first effort in statehood and fostering international cooperation. The formation of the UN is predicated on the evolution of diplomacy, alliances, conferences, rules of warfare, means of peaceful settlement of conflicts and the development of international law. The overriding purpose of the UN is war prevention. This purpose was earlier pursued by ancient Greek Philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, who wrote on the conditions necessary for peace.1 The church in the Middle Ages also enunciated a doctrine of “Just War” to limit violence and destruction by sanctioning only wars fought for justifiable courses. The pacifists and internationalists, like Desiderius Erasmus, condemned war in its entirety as “immoral and wasteful”. 2. The need to institute mechanics for peaceful settlement of disputes and prevent war encouraged the formation of various international organizations over time. These include the Congress of Vienna and Concert of Europe in 1815. The Hague System worked towards the codification...
Words: 11211 - Pages: 45
...Wilson was the president of the United States of America – USA from 1912 through the first world war – WW1. At the end of the war in 1918, he distinguished himself as the greatest political figure in the international arena with his vision for strong international peace body which he elaborated in his fourteen points speech. (UNOG, Online: 2009) The fourteenth point of his speech was the formation on League of Nations which will usher in justice, peace, freedom and concord. The major participants in the formation of the league of the nation were the Great Britain, France, and the United States of America to preserve the future global peace and forestall such conflicts like first world war. (University of Virginia, Online: 2009)The League was based on the covenant which was written into the Treaty of Versailles and other peace treaties and provided for an assembly, a council and a secretariat with each section vested with a task to help the league maintain peace (UNOG, Online: 2009) Franklin D. Roosevelt the President of the United States of America, Winston Churchill the Prime Minister of the Great Britain and other notable leaders reasoned that the destructive consequences of WW2 warranted the call to form an international organization which would play a vital role in achieving the global peace. (US Department of States, Online:2005 and National Archives, Online: 2009) Hence, the United Nations replaced the League of the Nations after the demise of the latter....
Words: 2062 - Pages: 9
...Country: Austria Topic: The Right of Indigenous People ------------------------------------------------- Committee: United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) The past decades have seen an increase in the awareness of human rights; one of the proofs of this is the formation of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. Among the problems that this council currently faces are the rights of indigenous people. Indigenous peoples are a community/group of people which was born in and inhabits a particular territory, with cultural or historical distinctiveness from other populations before being conquered by any colonial societies. They are also responsible for playing a role in protecting and conserving the territory they inhabit. In the past these people were vulnerable to exploitation and oppression from groups of colonists that form a nation state and politically dominant ethnic groups. It has been estimated that the total current population of indigenous peoples are 220 million to 350 million. With such a large population, these people deserve the rights to protect them from threats risen from western development such as the killing of animal species for economic interests, deforestation, mining, oil exploration, carbon emitting industries, persistent organic pollutants and the insatiable consumption patterns of western industries. Indigenous rights are rights that exist in recognition of the specific conditions of the indigenous peoples, which includes not only...
Words: 1121 - Pages: 5
...APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Definition of international law One unique feature with the International law is that unlike the other types of laws, it has no governing body or defined area. Instead, the international law brings together many and diverse customs, rules, and laws which deal with, impact, and govern the legal interactions and agreements between different businesses, organizations, nations, and their government. Apart from bringing together these different bodies, the international law also ensures that the responsibilities and rights of these bodies are considered in the interactions (Omalu, 1999) The great body making up the international law is made up of a piecemeal combination of international accords, treaties, agreements, customs, memoranda, tribunals, protocols, charters like the United Nations Charter, World Court’s or International Court of Justice’s legal precedents and more. The international Law can be said to be largely a voluntary endeavor since it does not have a unique governing or enforcing body. Instead, the power of enforcement can come into existence when parties agree to stick to and follow the agreement made (Klager, 2011) Because of the various applicable histories and diverse legal systems of different countries, the laws that address the international law encompass both the civil law and the common law. Common law in this case constitutes...
Words: 1312 - Pages: 6
...same; as they did not isolate themselves from the rest of high school life. However, there were also other kinds of groups which committed themselves to their group solely, isolating themselves from everyone else. Now, let’s take these cliques and groups and turn them into full-scale nations. The high school, in turn, becomes the world. The cliques that stayed isolated would be classified under the term, localization. The people that intertwined with others would be classified under the term, globalization. There are advantages and disadvantages to both globalization and localization. Globalization encourages going beyond territorial boundaries to discover new political, economic, and social aspects that would benefit the citizens and the nation. Politically, globalization supports developments that expand authority, policies, and interests beyond these boundaries. Governments now will look to foreign governments for assistance if they are facing a difficult situation. Governments will also incorporate foreign political ideas into their own government in order to solve an ongoing problem that they have, that the other does not. One example of globalization in the political sense is the formation of the European Union; this can be exhibited further through the European Union’s desire to create one common form of currency. Localization, on the other hand, focuses primarily on the aspects of the...
Words: 2676 - Pages: 11
...were, I found myself speechless. I did not know how to answer the question, which at the time sounded so easy. I forgot about the question that had me so puzzled, and just brushed it off, ironically six month later I get an assignment on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After reading this historic document, I realized how important human rights are. I believe most people take human rights for granted, we know they exist, but we don’t even know what they are and what they entail. This made me think a lot about the rights we all have, and how companies, schools and communities around the world incorporate most, if not all these rights into their policies. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948. This declaration is analyzed as a system of elaborated and coordinated rules and guidelines of the world community. It is actually a code of mutually acceptable, civilized behavior of different countries, nationalities, corporative formations and also given citizens. This document has a universal meaning as it reflects the consolidated will of more than two hundred states of the planet. The XX century has brought a lot of new changes into the life of the nations. These changes include not only the achievements in the sphere of the scientific and technical progress, but also ecological problems and new types and systems of weapon, capable of destroying the human civilization. These influences resulted...
Words: 821 - Pages: 4
...are rights unequivocally inherent to all human beings, whatever our basic nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, or any other status. We are all entitled to our human rights without discrimination. Government exposure of political crimes and human rights violations have been in the forefront of the media in the last half-century, and the United States has always assisted itself in its own interests. For the past decade the United States has been a global power and presence and most other countries are not. We are often called upon to engage in conflict situations like preventing violations of Human Rights and Genocide. It seems the United States only intervenes when our nations interests is concerned, and only brings negative reactions which severely undermines our effectiveness and especially our international credibility.“ American leadership must be commensurate with U.S. interests and the nature of the challenges facing the county. The United States should not take the lead on every issue or assume that every problem in the world demands a U.S. response. In the majority of cases, the United States should “lead from behind” or from the side, or sitting in front but rarely by itself”. (Foreign Affairs, Zenko & Cohen, Vol. 91 No. 2.) Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the legal forms of treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights...
Words: 1820 - Pages: 8
...INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ROLE OF GLOBAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS International financial institutions (IFIs) are financial institutions that have been established by more than one country, and hence are subjects of international laws. Their owners or shareholders are generally national governments, although other international institutions and other organizations occasionally figure as shareholders. The most prominent IFIs are creations of multiple nations, although some bilateral financial institutions exist and are technically IFIs. Many of these are multilateral development banks (MDB). WHAT ARE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (IFI’S)? World Bank Group (WBG): * International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) * International Development Association (IDA) * International Finance Corporation (IFC) * Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) * International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) International Monetary Fund (IMF) Regional development banks, such as: * African Development Bank (AFDB) * Asian Development Bank (ADB) * Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) * Bank of the South * European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Other regional financial institutions e.g. European Investment Bank (EIB) Export Credit Agencies of individual country governments, such as: 1. US Export Import Bank (EXIM) 2. Japan External Trade Organization Hermes Kreditversicherungs...
Words: 2751 - Pages: 12
...H. Res. 106: Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution 110th CONGRESS 1st Session Calling upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 30, 2007 Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. SHERMAN, and Mr. MCCOTTER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Calling upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide, and for other purposes. Resolved, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This resolution may be cited as the `Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution'. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. The House of Representatives finds the following: (1) The Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulting in the deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, 500,000 survivors were expelled from their homes,...
Words: 1901 - Pages: 8
...underlines the hypothesis of international conflict. Such states are characterized by chaos and revolutions, which are directly linked to vested national interests, distribution of power and conflict. a. Political realism The Iranian nuclear program has attracted much attention within the international arena due to the interest devoted by nation’s states on their foreign policies (Bowen & Brewer2011). In international relations, realists and idealists paradigms are important as they concern themselves with substantive issues affecting nations and states while making foreign policy decisions. Political realists argue that states struggle to secure conflicting national interests creating the main action on the globe (Rourke, 2007). Iranian nuclear activities open up the possibility of a secret relationship between her religion and the ongoing nuclear standoff that is mounting international pressure. The European Union (EU), United States and UN...
Words: 1772 - Pages: 8
...were, I found myself speechless. I did not know how to answer the question, which at the time sounded so easy. I forgot about the question that had me so puzzled, and just brushed it off, ironically six month later I get an assignment on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After reading this historic document, I realized how important human rights are. I believe most people take human rights for granted, we know they exist, but we don’t even know what they are and what they entail. This made me think a lot about the rights we all have, and how companies, schools and communities around the world incorporate most, if not all these rights into their policies. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948. This declaration is analyzed as a system of elaborated and coordinated rules and guidelines of the world community. It is actually a code of mutually acceptable, civilized behavior of different countries, nationalities, corporative formations and also given citizens. This document has a universal meaning as it reflects the consolidated will of more than two hundred states of the planet. The XX century has brought a lot of new changes into the life of the nations. These changes include not only the achievements in the sphere of the scientific and technical progress, but also ecological problems and new types and systems of weapon, capable of destroying the human civilization. These influences resulted...
Words: 336 - Pages: 2
...United nation has failed. Background: The United Nations, formed out of the horrors of the World War II with the overarching purpose of preventing this kind of total war from ever happening again. Its formation came after the failures of the League of Nations, an international organisation that had the same lofty goal of preventing war. The UN sought out to overcome the Leagues failures by through embedding itself into all aspects of the international community setting up organisations such as the General Assembly, Security Council, International Court of Justice, the World Bank, and later on the International Atomic Energy Agency and its Development Programme. Over the last 60 years, the UN has changed and developed, along the way it has permanently changed the environment of the international community, through its work in peacekeeping, creating and developing international law, the establishment of human rights, the list goes on. However, in all this change some negatives have arisen, the decision making process is often very slow and many institutions like the Security Council are reactionary, and very easily caught up in power politics, rendering them useless at critical moments. This raises the question that this debate is focused around- has the UN failed? Supportive argument: 1. Supportive point:The UN was set up with the express purpose of preventing global wars, yet it has done absolutely nothing to prevent them. Indeed, the UN has often served merely as a forum for...
Words: 886 - Pages: 4
...continue progress in its pursuit of knowledge. Each day brings the human race one step closer to a brighter, more vibrant future. In the past seventy years, the human race has made tremendous strides in a plethora of fields. Within this plethora of flourishing fields lies the field of human rights. Since 1945, the field of human rights has prospered so rapidly that present day human rights differ immensely from the human right laws of 1945. The definitions and institutions of human rights have evolved so greatly that a whole new world has opened up. Through decades of determination as well as struggle, these definitions and institutions of human rights have made vast advances towards the inclusion of basic human rights to all. Between the United Nations, nongovernmental organizations, and citizens of our world, the fight for equality has brought about a successful change. The concept that every person is entitled to certain, inalienable rights simply by the virtue of their humanity is relatively new. The year of 1945 marks not only the historical end of World War II, but it also indicates the propulsion of human rights into the universal scale. The combined extermination by Nazi Germany of over 11 million Jews, Gypsies, communists, Polish, homosexuals, and mentally and physically disabled stunned the world. In her essay Hunt notes, “ As the war ended, revelations about the scale of the horrors deliberately perpetrated by the Germans shocked the public,” (Hunt, p. 201). She continues...
Words: 1782 - Pages: 8
...Urges regional organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to work closely with the UNODC to reduce the trafficking in illicit drugs through strategies combining treatment, rehabilitation, education and enforcement in accordance with the values of participating sovereign Member States The Asian Development Bank, to increase development grants to Member States negatively affected by the Southeast Asian illicit drug trade for the purposes of allowing them to help local farmers transition from illicit drug crops to legal and sustainable forms of agriculture Member States to continue their partnerships with the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Youth Employment Programme as a means of combating illicit drug trafficking by providing alternative forms of employment for young persons who might otherwise be exploited by the illicit drug market; Recommends the expansion of the UNODC Alternative Development Programme to include regional education initiatives that will operate on a voluntary basis with full consent of Member States Member States should continue to funding these education initiatives through the use of Inter-Regional Banks and Non-Governmental and International Organizations; These UNODC-facilitated regional education initiatives focus on: Providing education to farmers regarding the benefits of growing licit crops, and sustainable growing practices, as well as the risks involved in engaging in growing illicit drug crop Member States...
Words: 723 - Pages: 3
