Some Issues in International Relations - Assignment Example

International Relations: Question Explain the primary responsibilities of the United NationsHigh Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organization in responding to the plight of refugees. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was conceived and inaugurated on the 14th of December 1950, through a consensus in the UN General Assembly. Its core responsibilities include “leading and coordinating international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide and to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees”. The UNHCR endeavors to make sure that all peoples of the world can safely find accommodation in another country, while also keeping their options open for returning home sometime in the future, integrate locally or to move to a third country. Ever since its inception, the UNHCR has involved itself in many situations of humanitarian crises and has brought normalcy to lives of nearly 50 million people. The UNHCR has offices in more than a hundred locations across the world and is backed by a strong staff contingent of 6,300 people. The World Health Organization (WHO) too comes in the fray of refugee relief, especially when emergency medical services are required during a humanitarian crisis. The Health Action in Crises program of the WHO is committed to working closely with affected “member states, international partners, and local institutions to help communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies, disasters and crises” (www.who.int/hac/about/en/). Further, the Health Action in Crises program is committed to providing the following services: Saving lives and reducing suffering in times of crises Building efficient partnerships for emergency management and ensuring these are properly coordinated Advocating for political support and consistent resources for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery Developing evidence based guidance for all phases of emergency work in the health sector Strengthening capacity and resilience of health systems and countries to mitigate and manage disasters Ensuring international capacity is available to support countries for emergency response through training and establishment of surge capacity. (www.who.int/hac/about/en/) Question 2: Describe in detail the impact of the Stockholm and Rio Conferences on international and national environmental policy. The Stockholm and Rio Conferences are historically significant in that the two often conflicting concepts of ‘economic development’ and ‘environmental protection’ were brought together in one platform. The Stockholm Conference was held in the year 1972; in response to acceleration in the degradation of environment and eco-systems. The conference came up with several constructive program initiatives and the participant member states enthusiastically endorsed these measures. But two decades later, the state of the environment had not seen any substantial improvement. Hence, the United Nations conducted the Rio Summit in 1992, as a follow-up to the Stockholm Conference and to reassess its programs. Now that another decade has passed since the Rio Conference, we can safely say that it has only had a marginal effect in global environmental conservation. The other area of focus of these conferences is ‘economic development’. With growing disparities between the rich and the poor across the world and a significant percentage of world population living below the poverty line, the economic agenda of these conferences can be said to have failed. To understand this failure, one has to look into the challenges confronted by the developing world, which is home to three-fourths of humanity. For instance, leaders of developing nations argued that widespread poverty is a more urgent problem than environmental protection; and without addressing this crucial problem general human wellbeing is not possible (www.findarticles.com). The Stockholm and Rio Conferences thus marked an emerging divide between the priorities of economic prosperity and environmental conservation, which has divided the elite and mass interests across and within nations. Until this inherent conflict in its agenda is not resolved, such conferences will remain ineffective: “This complex agenda, and the message of policy integration, have become widely accepted in the years since Rio, though integration remains a difficult concept to implement. Policy objectives in key areas can and do conflict and means of reconciling different interests, and achieving acceptable trade-offs remain under-developed. The challenge facing policy makers over the coming years will be to identify critical issues in domestic and international development and to prioritize measures according to the severity of the problem and the time required for policy to take effect” (Crozier, 1996). Question 3: Describe the Mexican Peso Crisis from both a realist and Marxist perspective. The Mexican Peso Crisis had generated much debate among economists and political analysts as to what caused it. Different theories have been put forward to explain this economic crisis. Broadly, the explanations can be divided into Marxist and Capitalist perspectives. From a Marxist point of view, the two instances in recent history when the Peso faced severe devaluation (first in 1982 and later in 1994) was due to external debt and short-term foreign exchange problems respectively. Under the Marxist interpretation, which is generally hostile to capitalist forms of economic organization, this crisis is attributable to the bigger Capitalist neighbors of Canada and the United States. The Marxists are unwilling to give credit to the U.S. government and the International Monitory Fund for acting expeditiously in resolving the crisis. As a matter of fact, keeping to its promises to the North American Free Trade Alliance (NAFTA), the American government had advanced economic aid packages in anticipation of the impending crisis. This realist view of the Peso Crisis and its subsequent resolution is contested by Marxists. The explanation offered by the realists is also more nuanced, as the following passage illustrates: “causes of the devaluation are quite different from the causes of the crisis, so different that the financial crisis was partly caused by the devaluation itself. The devaluation was caused—primarily—by the fiscal and monetary policies followed during 1994. If the governments primary concern was to maintain the existing exchange rate policy (i.e., avoid a discrete change in the exchange rate), both the fiscal and monetary policies were more expansionary than they should have been. But, why did the devaluation turn into a financial crisis? Contrary to what most analysts predicted, far from calming the markets the devaluation resulted in a financial crisis with significant spillover effects on other countries particularly in Latin America” (www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/mexico95.htm) The devaluation of the Peso and the inadequate response to it resulted in substantial losses to investors. In the realist school of thought, the lack of confidence shown by investors is a direct consequence of the inappropriate fiscal and monetary policies pursued by the then Mexican leadership. It is also pointed out that the “the replacement of almost the entire short-term government debt from peso-denominated to dollar-denominated instruments” was a significant factor leading to the crisis. The Marxists felt indignation from the way their government subjugated its national interests to elite interests. This feeling of unease manifested itself as a full blown rebellion when a Marxist activist from Mexico City conducted a revolt in the State of Chiapas. There is some legitimacy to the claims made by Marxist rebels, as the Chiapas region is indeed poverty shorn. But analysts are unsure about the implication of this isolated incident to Mexican government’s policy framework and its role in NAFTA. Question 4: Explain the major functions and responsibilities of the World Trade Organization. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only recognized international authority whose primary responsibility it is to “ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible” (www.wto.org). The organization aims to facilitate consumers and producers alike secure supplies, wider variety of finished goods, basic raw materials, services, etc. The WTO endeavors to create an atmosphere of security and reliability so that manufacturers and service providers can plan and operate in international markets. By adhering to democratic modes of functioning, the WTO makes sure that all resolutions passed by it are backed by strong consensus among participant member states. The result, accordingly, is a peaceful, prosperous and a completely transparent world economy. The WTO addresses disputes between trading nations in a just and fair way, by emphasizing on the laws of agreements and commitments to arrive at its settlements. By adopting this law-based and balanced approach, the WTO attempts to minimize political and military conflicts across the globe. Also, by encouraging all nations to participate in its processes, the WTO actively breaks down existing cultural, ethnic and political barriers within peoples of the world. At the core of the system adopted by the WTO, also referred to as multilateral trading system, “are the WTO’s agreements, negotiated and signed by a large majority of the world’s trading nations, and ratified in their parliaments. These agreements are the legal ground-rules for international commerce. Essentially, they are contracts, guaranteeing member countries important trade rights. They also bind governments to keep their trade policies within agreed limits to everybody’s benefit. The agreements were negotiated and signed by governments. But their purpose is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. The goal is to improve the welfare of the peoples of the member countries.” (www.wto.org) But, in spite of these lofty claims, the WTO has attracted criticism, especially from the Third World countries. Despite its proclamations of an inclusive agenda, the organization is criticized for pandering to elite business interests at the cost of neglecting common interests of humanity. The institution of conventions such as the World Social Forum is in response to the purely economic focus of the WTO and World Economic Forum. Question 5: Describe the role of NGOs in identifying and investigating human rights violations. What are the arguments for and against humanitarian interventions? Provide real world examples to support your conclusions. During times of humanitarian crisis, Non-Governmental Organizations are best placed to carry out relief operations, as they don’t have to consider political implications of their actions and focus exclusively on humanitarian aspects of the crisis. Also, the political leadership of nation-states doesn’t always have the necessary resources and expertise in dealing with crisis situations. In this case, the NGOs are best equipped both motivation wise and resource wise to take charge of the situation and help mitigate its consequences. Before NGOs attained its formal organization status, it was concerned citizens, lawyers, journalists, trade union activists and members of faith-based organizations, who have monitored, reported and acted upon cases of human rights violations. This spirit of compassion and caring for fellow human beings is what symbolizes NGOs. But, not all NGOs always adhere to these lofty standards. As a result of disillusionment with the efficacy of NGOs, we are witnessing in recent years the emergence of “open and self-professed human rights organizations, whose volunteers have taken on the task of monitoring abuse of human rights, educating the people about their rights under national and international law, and making recommendations to governments about how to improve their protection of human rights”. This implies that NGOs may not be the only solution, or for that matter the ideal solution, for humanitarian interventions. Sub Saharan Africa is the hotbed for humanitarian crises. And there is ample proof that NGOs have failed to cope with the changing polity in this region. While some countries are embracing democracy and a path of progress, others are regressing into total anarchy and chaos. For example, “At the other extreme are countries such as Rwanda and Angola, where nascent human rights organizations are unable to function in situations of total political breakdown and civil war. In Liberia and Mozambique, which are shakily emerging from civil wars involving gross human rights abuses, organizations still face enormous obstacles--not least the fear that, like Rwanda and Angola, these countries might slip back into uncontrolled violence. In other countries, such as Kenya and Senegal, where civil society has a stronger history, human rights groups are nevertheless firmly restricted from monitoring serious political violence and human rights abuses”.(www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/intro.htm) These observations suggest that humanitarian intervention headed by NGOs may not be the panacea for all civil rights violations. For successful handling of such crises, a cooperative effort from governmental, non-governmental and military units is required. Works Cited: Core References: Report of the Secretary-General on "Global change and sustainable development - critical trends", issued on 20 January 1997, Development and environment: from Stockholm to Rio - UN Chronicle,  Summer, 1997   http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1309/is_n2_v34/ai_19898028 http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/mexico95.htm http://www.wto.org The Status of Human Rights Organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa, , Human Rights Library, University of Minnesota, http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/intro.htm Additional References: "Environmentalism." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 2007. Crozier, Brian. "Post-Stockholm Euphoria." National Review 7 Nov. 1996: 24. Feller, Erika, Volker Turk, and Frances Nicholson, eds. Refugee Protection in International Law: UNHCRs Global Consultations on International Protection. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Grigg, William Norman. "The WTO Trap: The World Trade Organization, a Geneva-Based Body Composed of Foreign Bureaucrats, Will Control Our Nations Economic Destiny Unless We Get Out-Now!." The New American 10 Jan. 2005: 10+. Lake, George Byram. "Nothing Left to Steal." National Review 3 July 1987: 40+. . Press, Eyal. "Human Rights-The Next Step." The Nation 25 Dec. 2000: 13. Silverstein, Ken. "Busted Coverage." Washington Monthly Apr. 1995: 26+. Van Tuijl, Peter. "NGOs and Human Rights: Sources of Justice and Democracy." Journal of International Affairs 52.2 (1999): 493. "Wide Spectrum of Health Issues Addressed by Who at Fortieth Session." UN Chronicle Aug. 1987: 73. "The World Trade Organization." Presidents & Prime Ministers Mar. 1999: 2. Read More