The Role of International Law and Human Rights During the Cold War - Essay Example

Introduction From the 1940s to 1990s, the world experienced a cold war between the two nations that were considered to be superpowers; the USA and the USSR. Cold war is said to be the tension and the competitive nature that was built between the two superpowers. They competed through development of technology; mostly it was who could reach and discover what was in space, the use and innovation of weapons, the number of militaries coming together, use of propaganda against each other and advancing in the industrial sector. International law can be defined as restrictions that are used to govern the relationships that exist among nations. Countries sign agreements that bind them to follow certain regulations and standards that they set. It is divided in to public and private or conflict international laws. The public international laws entail things like the maritime laws, United Nations and Geneva conferences. The private international law simply tries to come up with where and how a case can be handled. On the other hand, human rights are said to be freedom that every individual has a right to experience. Examples of rights are: right to life, education, culture, work, freedom of expression and civil rights. Every nation has its own rights clearly set and understood by its people. International human rights are practiced in all the nations (David, pp. 3-20). Role of international law and human rights International law and human rights are very vital tools that have played a major role in protecting individuals from subjection to torture and abuse. Very many countries have joined in the practice of international law and human rights but some remain stubborn. During the cold war and post cold war era, individuals are seen to believe that the two fields will become better. Implementation of the laws has not been easy either and to reach to perfection is expected to take time. During the cold war era, the human rights and international laws were not given very much attention. This was so because human right laws were considered as a forceful intervention. During the era, citizens of various countries were experiencing suffering due to lack of human rights to protect them. The constant subjection to suffering led to the formation of institutions that work internationally like the United Nations. Further more, the Geneva conferences led to the formation of the international laws. To date, many nations have become members of the United Nation and its main agenda is to protect individuals internationally from torture that comes from civil war and poor governance (David, pp. 3-20). For example, the United Nations was involved in helping Kenya to make a suggestion regarding its presidential elections in 2007. It saw Koffi Annan, the former United Nations chairman helping the rival political parties to form a coalition government. This was to avoid the genocide that was going on due the political indifference among the Kenyan citizens. The international laws and human rights were expected to intervene whenever citizens of a particular nation were experiencing any kind of violation. This idea was not welcomed by very many countries as it was seen to violate the sovereign rights a nation holds. The main idea was for other states to intervene in the affairs of other nations that were violating human rights. International laws and human rights are state and not individual guided. They require the state to show how it treats its citizens. Under this, specific individuals from a country could be held responsible for violations of human rights. There is an international criminal court that came up in the mid 1990’s by the UN Security Council which deals with people who violate laws of war, crime and genocide. Moreover, the Europeans have an international court that tries those who break the international laws (Javaid, pp. 200-300). For example, other states had to meet and discuss about the Rwanda genocide war and investigate the individuals who were behind it. After the war had ended, the United Nation was able to arrest some individuals, Jean-Baptist, Augustine and many others, for contributing to genocide that is against the international laws and human right to life. As the cold war accelerated, the USA and USSR increased their intervention in many countries claiming that they were trying to enhance human rights in the respective countries. The two made it very difficult to come up with international laws and human rights at that time. Each gave a moral reason for the intervention. In 1965, the USA invaded the Dominican Republic claiming that it was protecting its citizens’ right to life but later on it is discovered that it feared the continuity of communism. Communism was seen as a practice that violated human rights and the USA was ready to fight any nation that was practicing it. The Soviet Union on the other hand invaded Hungary, in 1956 imposing its policies to increase the human rights levels. Moreover, Vietnam invaded Cambodia to put an end to the killings that were in the hands of Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot. The Cambodian government was practicing communism which was seen by America as a government way to take away human rights from the people. America immediately supported Vietnam and offered relief services for refugees from Cambodia at that time (Javaid, pp. 200-300). During the post cold war era, the media is seen as a tool against human rights and the international law. The media has been blamed for incitation of people to engage in acts of killing during conflicts in war affected countries (Nihal, pp. 450-500). The international law conference wants to put an end to this by coming up with evidence that media has contributed to war acceleration in countries such as Iraq. The media has been accused of initiating hatred between the groups that are at war in Iraq. Moreover, the international war conference wants to show that it is responsible for increased levels of war in Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia and Kosovo. In Rwanda for example, media propaganda is blamed for the genocide that occurred in 1994 which left 800,000 Tutsis dead. The radio and the print media are put to blame for encouraging the killings. On the other hand, the international media is blamed for keeping the genocide pictures under cover. The media put up speeches against the Tutsis encouraging the anti-Tutsis to kill. The Kangura news paper had articles commenting against the Tutsis in 1990 and in 1992 it gave out leaflets that were suggesting murder. There were two radio genocide guiding stations; Radio Television libre des Mille Collines and Radio Rwanda. Since the September terrorist attack in USA, terrorism and fight against it has become a fundamental concern internationally. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation came together to form international laws that will lead to protection of human rights against. The ODIHR especially has come up with ways to strengthen the laws to ensure that terrorists do not win in this war. The ODIHR has taken some of the laws form the OSCE countries to aid in implementing some of the laws. The OSCE has particular rules and regulations that are seen to threaten some rights and individual freedom like religion, association and privacy. They fully follow the human rights and international law rights. The ODHIR is also responsible for strengthening laws that will prevent the support of terrorists in their work. It ensures that democratic countries are strong in respecting human rights and the multi-culture system (Nihal, pp. 450-500). International law and human rights plays a vital role in the global economy. It ensures that respective countries have labor laws that respect and promote human rights. It also ensures that there is practice of democracy under the labor laws. These are to help workers against abuse at work. The laws see to the right to work, workers to have a good and safe environment to work and on the contrary, they are highly against child labor. The law also protects the immigrant workers. Immigrants can be subjected to torture especially if they are refugees. There have been cases where immigrants are used for prostitution and some are given very hard labor with little or no pay. The international law and human rights institutions are responsible to avoid such cases (Anne, pp. 110-200). The laws are used to protect the natural environment. Over the years, the depletion of non-renewable resources was not put in to so much consideration but today, it has become of great concern for all nations to prevent the outcomes of global warming (Anne, pp. 110-200). The renewable resources are also becoming extinct because of over use. The laws are now regulating the extraction rates of such resources to give them time to regenerate. The need to meet future demands of energy has become of importance. This is so because energy is very important for human survival and not having it will be a violation to the right of life. The demands of energy have increased over the years and it is important to know the alternative ways of having energy and preserving it. The main aim of the international laws on environmental issues is to ensure that there is sustainable development now and for the generation to come. It also protects countries from environmental violations from other countries. For instance it issues property rights against violation of the environment; pollution. This is so because a country can be producing a certain product that pollutes another country’s environment. For this reason, the laws are able to protect the polluted country by asking it to stop its production, regulating its production rate or asking it to use the necessary technology to avoid pollution. There is need to protect the culture and rights of the so called indigenous societies. This is so because these societies are vulnerable to being colonized in the sense that they can lose their ownership (Anne, pp. 110-200). More so, such societies can be forced to take up another culture. There is great risk of human right violations of that society. An example is the apartheid in South Africa. Where the country was ruled by the whites who put very many laws to segregate and exploit the Africans. The laws did not allow the Africans to use some resources in the country saying that they only belonged to the whites. For example it was a violation to visit restaurants that white people could go to. There has been a formation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an international financial institution that has the responsibility of ensuring that the developing countries have appropriate labor standards and human rights. The IMF gives grants and loans to developing countries to help them in their way towards development. Funding is a way to ensure that the majority of the people all over the world have access to the same living conditions. It has become a global concern for certain objectives to be considered and this is evident through the Millennium Development Goals. Human rights have become very extensive. It also involves the socio-cultural rights like right to health, education, housing, work and food. The rights are highly considered by the international law and a violation of them can lead to human suffering which is a criminal act. Recently, there has been a great campaign to enhance these rights globally. Every individual, according to the international law must have access to all these rights. There has been great emphasis on the developing countries to ensure fair and equal distribution of these resources to its citizens (Francisco, pp. 550-700). Conclusion The subject of human rights and international laws is very wide and needs a lot of intervention for it to become better in the years to come. It has played a major role of ensuring that many people are protected from violations and thus needs more support to make it better. There is need for countries that do not embrace this idea to join in. the works of these two fields need to be transparent and educated to the people at the grassroots level to ensure that there is clear understanding of them. In addition, it will add the number of people who will promote and support the idea. Things that are seen to be a limitation to the advancement of these two subjects should be dealt away with. Reference Anne, O., 2003. Human Rights and the use of force: Humanitarian Intervention. Pp. 110-200. David, W., 2007. An Introduction to Human Rights: International Human Rights Laws. Pp. 3-20. Francisco, F., & Stephen J., 2006. Rights International. International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Pp. 550-700. Javaid, R., 2003. International Bill of Rights: International Human Rights Law. Pp. 200-300. Nihal J., 2002. International Human Rights Regime: Application of Human Rights Law. Pp. 450-500. Read More