Human Rights Enter the International Politics - Assignment Example

?How and why did Human Rights enter the international political process since WWII? What has changed about the character of international relations? What kind of actor is best suited to pursue international human rights: individuals, NGOs, states or intergovernmental organizations? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Introduction The last century has seen two of the most horrendous wars in form of world wars. While the first laid foundation for the consideration towards peace, the second one established the resolve for further protection of the mankind. The Second World War was unique in its own way and presented number of challenges. It had brought about destruction and catastrophe in a form never seen before (Ishay, 2008, p.179). It saw the usage of atomic bomb. A bomb that was strong enough to bring down entire cities. A single bomb resulted in life loss of over 46 thousand in Japan. The war had left millions dead, and those who managed to survive did not count themselves lucky just because of the troubles they faced. The problems at the end of the Second World War were multifold, ranging from economic and politic to social and humanitarian. All sought immediate solution. For this purpose, a realisation developed to create an entity that would protect the rights of people and provide them with shelter in form of human rights protection acts and resolutions. This entity came into existence in the name of United Nations. It was right in the last phases of the Second World War, where the resolve was shown for establishing such an entity that would protect the people. The first causality of war is always humanity. Regardless of the size of war, be it a local war, local dispute between tribes, a bilateral war or a war that spreads across the continent and across the ocean, all eye human life and human rights. The resolve against human depravity and exploitation was shown, and the aims included protection of the human rights and ensuring that no other war takes place in history again. So far, the United Nations has succeeded to a certain extent in ensuring that the war is not fought on an international level. What has changed about the character of international relations? As a result of United Nations existence, the nations’ outlook and approach to international peace and regional stability has changed in a totally dynamic manner. Each nation is more concerned with the regional peace than they might had been in past. Under the charter of the United Nations, each of the country has the responsibility to ensure peace in their respective regions and also on international platform. They should denounce any oppression and any tyranny being performed in the name of governance over people. They should raise their voice for equality of the masses. They should denounce the actions of belligerents; for example, the case of the United States of America, which believed in international isolation prior to the Second World War and prior to the creation of the United Nations. It has changed its approach and has become an active member in the pursuit of global peace and protection of human rights ever since the end of the Second World War. This is the prime example of how the country’s mood has changed towards a more global community, where peace of one is peace of all. The United States stood totally indifferent to European conflicts in the First World War. And the prime example comes in form of the League of Nations and Woodrow Wilson Fourteen points that were not endorsed by the local bodies. However, seeing the importance of international peace and stability, they changed their approach at the end of the Second World War. What kind of actor is best suited to pursue international human rights: individuals, NGOs, states or intergovernmental organizations? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Each of the members is an international entity in modern international law, and each has an onus of responsibility. Each works in their own domain towards achieving the goal of equal human rights and fraternity amongst the masses regardless of any discrimination. The NGOs work on behalf of international organisations, and often various nations’ activities are being spread into different parts of the world for the sake of human rights propagation. The intergovernmental organisations work directly under the umbrella of governmental pillars and ensure human rights protection inside the country. The strengths of an NGO are its independence from respective governments while the shortcoming can be the targeting of one area and reliance on limited area and domain. The advantage availed by intergovernmental organisations is that of presence of governmental machinery with them and ability to work on large scale. The shortcoming comes in form of dictation from government and subjectivity to funds allocation and approval by the governmental structure. 2. What are the sources of the UN mandate on human rights? What UN organs and machinery exist to protect and promote human rights? How important of a role has the UN played in the evolution of human rights? Introduction The United Nations has a pre-defined system of mandates for various functions. These functions entail international peace, economic equality, social justice and, most importantly, human rights protection. The mandate is well thought-out where one takes into account all the basic requirements that must be observed. The mandate is a very dynamic one and is not limited to certain mindset, certain kind of violations and exploitation or certain society; rather, it provides guidelines that are universally applicable for human rights protection. Organs of United Nations United Nations has a vast structure and is sufficient enough to take into account all the elements necessary for protection of the causes and factors that arise with time. It has a scope broad enough to entail all the prevailing situations. While the Security Council is strictly in line with the peace processes and ensures that no major war breaks out between the states, the general assembly is devised and integrated in such a manner that it allows looking into the social factors such as human rights, gender equality, minorities’ protection, religious freedom, elimination of all kinds of exploitation. These are broadly divided and contained into the following entities, which are as follows: United Nations High Commission for Refugees United Nations International Children Education Fund United Nations Human Rights Council United Nations Declaration of Human Rights Each of these has a well-structured outlook and has its effective chain present in all parts of the world, most notably the underprivileged societies and states where the anarchic tendencies are evident and people are being ill-treated (Mertus, 2009). United Nations food program is another step towards ensuring equal rights and human equality. With food scarcity all over and large number of people in the underdeveloped states being short of food, the United Nations has a challenge at hand and must live up to the expectations by allowing equal distribution of food and supply to masses and especially those who are devoid of the basic human rights. Human rights entity also entails the human trafficking, which is still present in many parts of the world; especially, children and women suffer from it and are being exploited and used for various reasons, which falls in direct contrast and conflict with the protection of human rights. The United Nations Charter clearly specifies the conditions for equal participation and equal rights of all people. Role played by United Nations: The United Nations has a mixed result and performance in terms of fighting against human rights violation. While on many occasions it has lived up to the expectations and has provided the necessary aid and support, in many other instances it has left people wishing its true aim had been performed better. History can be traced where the United Nations has come up as the lone messiah and provided the support needed. For example, the cases of human rights violations in Africa, Darfur, and Kosovo (Keller and Iacopino, 1999) have been prime examples. The United Nations War crime entity in the form of the International Court of Justice is a strong body which is especially dedicated to the purpose of ensuring protection and mitigation of any form of human rights violations in the war process. The entity (International Court of Justice) has brought a number of culprits to justice and book through its actions. However, many violations do look unmanageable to the United Nations. The violations come in form of wars being imposed on nations, and the civilians are faced with the direct actions and consequences of it. For example, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have led to large-scale human rights violation. The usage of chemical weapons towards the civilians has been noticed and recorded in the past, which comes as a direct violation of the Human Rights Charter, and for this purpose and in this regard the United Nations’ work and effectiveness can be said to have left much to be desired. The stress over human rights was laid more heavily due to the fact that the Second World War saw a more horrifying form of human rights violation, with people and especially civilians being butchered in every possible way imaginable. For this purpose, the United Nations puts more stress on human rights protection, and as a result, the General Assembly is easily the largest entity of the entire United Nations body for the mere reason that human rights violations are graver and need a faster response and solution. The violation of human rights is a soft and unannounced war and is more lethal than the armed wars, for armed wars are open and declared while the human rights violations are undeclared, more deeply rooted and more eroding. Conclusion The United Nations is an international organisation, and it has enabled keeping the nations on single page regardless of their differences. With the mandates and entities for the protection of human rights, these bodies ensure international peace, yet much more is still needed to make the world a free place where only justice, equality and liberty prevail. References Keller, A., and Iacopino, V., 1999. War crimes in Kosovo: a population-based assessment of human rights violations against Kosovar Albanians. [pdf] Physicians for Human Rights. Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/PHR_Reports/kosovo-war-crimes-1999.pdf [Accessed: 23 March 2013]. Ishay, M., 2008. The History of Human Rights: From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era. USA: University of California Press. Mertus, J., 2009. The United Nations and Human Rights: A guide for a new era. London: Routledge. Read More