1. How did the multilateral (United Nations) institutions for addressing human rights come about, and why (136)? What are the strengths and limitations of these global organizations in bringing about improvements in human rights? (speak generally, you do not have to name committees – we are looking here at lack of enforcement potential and the importance of public opinion. See pp. 129, 132-138).
2. Compare how human rights issues are dealt with at the regional level at multilateral institutions in Europe, The Americas, and Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Why is Europe so successful in promoting human rights? What are the limitations of the regional human rights regime in the Americas? In Africa, Asia, and the Middle East? Use explicit examples (138-145)
3. In what way could the failure to insist on universal norms for human rights be seen as a kind of racism or elitism? (159. Hint: why should we think that only people in richer countries need or want human rights?)
4. What means do states have to push for human rights to be honored abroad (164)? What constraints are they likely to feel in doing so (166)? What, overall, are the effects and limitations of multilateral and bilateral action in bringing about human rights? (NB: be sure to consider the “unintended” consequences of foreign policy in harming human rights, such as U.S. anti-communism).
5. Donnelly makes little comment on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private advocacy groups in bringing about improvements in human rights. In light of his analysis of the global human rights regimes, how do you think these groups work to bring about improvements? Does this fit with what you have seen on one of the most important of those advocacy groups, Human Rights Watch? What about the role of such groups in promoting human rights within a country? (e.g. immigrant rights).
6. “A government that respects human rights is almost always the legacy of persistent national political struggles against human rights violations.” (180). Explain, using examples. What does this imply for the importance of international human rights action? [that it is limited! Local and national action are central]. Apply this to the case of human rights issues within the United States [HRW on US. Overview of HR in US at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/usdom12292.htm].
7. Analyze the following cases as examples of effective action for ending violations of human rights (a) Guatemala’s civil war, (b) your project case.
8. Write a paragraph describing the human rights being violated and the remedy to the situations portrayed in each of the following: “Yesterday,” “The Education of Shelby Knox,” and “Closets are for Clothes.” What do you see as the role of the arts in promoting or undermining human rights? [you can think about music as well here].
9. Describe (or draw!) a map which exaggerates and one which understates a human rights issue, such as child labor or arbitrary arrest [this is an example of data manipulation – think about colors or icons as Dr. Schroeder represented on casualties in Iraq].
10. What are some important distinctions between what we generally consider environmentalism and the goals and principles of the environmental justice movement? What are the implications of human rights for analyzing environmental degradation? [it has effects on peoples’ health, potential for making a living, etc.]. How might approaches to environmental justice affect thinking on human rights in the future? [future generations have human rights too!].
11. “The enjoyment of all human rights is both a means and an end of development.” Explain what this means for the definition of development [can it be defined only in economic terms, of having more stuff?], an understanding of how development does and should happen [if more people are educated, how does that influence political participation, health, and economic productivity? What goals should be targeted to bring development about? HR are “indivisible, interrelated, and inter-dependent”], and what the role of poor people is in this process [“shifts the focus from the fact that poor people have needs to the fact that poor people have human rights” and therefore empowers them to demand those rights). [All of these are implications of thinking about development in terms of human rights, as opposed to how it was thought of before. See “Human Rights Based Approaches,” http://www.ihrnetwork.org/hr-based-approaches.htm
12. Why does Donnelly prefer to discuss the human rights of “sexual minorities,” rather than the rights of GLBT people? How does he define these minorities? [p. 229]. In your opinion, are there currently any “sexual minorities” besides GLBT folks who are systematically denied their rights on the basis of their sexuality or sexual practices? [Some would argue that anyone who does not practice monogamy in the context of heterosexual marriage is subject to discrimination in some form in the US, e.g. promiscuous people (or even those accused of promiscuity) losing child custody battles on the grounds of their sexual practices. Please note that Donnelly is not arguing that any sexual practice is ok and should never be constrained; child abusers are committing a crime and violating the rights of children…though this still leaves open the legitimate possibility for discussing the appropriate age of consent for sexual activity, which is 16 in Great Britain, for example]. What rights of sexual minorities are currently being violated around the world?
13. Recalling Donnelly’s argument that the history of the “international consensus” on the list of universal human rights, describe the rise of discussion of the rights of sexual minorities in the international human rights regime. [Look at the “Anatomy of a Backlash” article, which discusses the 1994 World Conference on Population and Development declaration that having a satisfying sex life was essential to health (p. 1). The political rise of feminism and then the GLBT movement were also important here.]
14. “[R]ights activists must see defending sexual rights not as a distraction from their traditional preoccupation, but as a necessary and logical development. Human rights are the possessions of embodied human beings, whose dignity is bound up with the capacity to inhabit and experience their bodies as their own” (Long 3). Discuss. [later in the essay, Long suggests that it is the move “beyond consciences to bodies” that is one of the major reasons for the backlash against LGBT rights, especially when those rights are being advocated from a human rights perspective. You might think about other ways in which people’s bodies are not thought of as theirs to use as they will (e.g. suicide in the case of terminal illness).]
15. How have the attacks on LGBT rights in the “backlash” described by Long been perceived by human rights activists as “aimed at all of their work and at the core values of human rights themselves” (7). Explain, using examples. [core issue is that entitlement thing – if “freedom is a gift, not a given” (6), it can be taken away, from anyone, and if minorities’ rights are not secure, then no one’s is].
16. Long argues that “Rights work…does not promise the dissolution of cultures or the annihilation of traditions. It helps to ensure that they remain responsive to the human beings they contain” (17). What does he mean? Is there an appropriate limit on behavior or speech which should be set by “community morality,” and which is consistent with a human rights perspective in your view? Explain, using examples, including one or more from “The Education of Shelby Knox” and/or “Closets are for Clothes.” [See Long 11-12 for more on this. What constitutes “the community”? Are all claims about “community perspectives” accurate. Is the will of the majority an appropriate decision-making measure, even when accurately represented? Doesn’t that mean that truly dissenting perspectives will always be shut down? Be careful about saying that people can do what they want in private as long as they don’t talk about it – the compulsion to silence or invisibility is experienced as the defining aspect of their oppression by many minorities.]
17. What human rights are being violated in the case of immigrant workers in the US meat and poultry industry? How could this be rectified? What means will be necessary for this to occur in the US? [think about the rights issue in terms of their status as workers – all workers have certain rights as workers (see Donnelly p. 24 for a review) and as immigrants – differential treatment because they are immigrants is discrimination]. Doesn’t the fact that some immigrant workers are not here legally matter for analyzing their work situation in terms of human rights?
18. Humanitarian intervention by states to prevent mass killings or other atrocities has not been the norm in the past (or even now). What is the impediment to intervention in international law and practice? Even for those who believe that humanitarian intervention should be the norm, why would they hesitate to assert the right or obligation for any state to intervene for humanitarian purposes? [248] Current efforts to establish grounds for humanitarian intervention are based on what principles, which are aimed at addressing the fears above? [explicit rules for intervention, decided through international negotiation, and intervention not legal unless decided by multilateral bodies authorized to do so]. Has or will this approach worked in the case of Darfur? Why or why not?
19. Donnelly argues that “[t]he interdependence of all human rights, and the underlying idea that human rights are about a life of dignity and not mere life, makes acting only against genocide highly problematic. We place ourselves in the morally paradoxical position of failing to respond to comparable or even greater suffering as long as it remains geographically or temporally” (252). Do you agree? Are their human rights violations besides mass killings over a short period of time that you think justify intervention? Explain, using examples. [Think about that “short period of time” caveat, for example – people killed over 20 years are just as dead as people killed in 100 days. Why is intervention not seen as an obligation in former case but not in the latter? Is this right? Why or why not?]
20. Do we have the human right to loving, supportive parents? Explain, taking into account Donnelly’s arguments (10-11), Hochschild’s, essay, and Article 9 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child referred to there (see below). [open-ended. Think about what it means for a child to live a life of human dignity. You might argue that it isn’t parents per se, but loving caretakers. But then what about Hochschild’s article?] Is care and love something that is denigrated or ignored in the discussion of human rights generally? Does this matter for our understanding of human rights?
Article 9 Convention on the Rights of the Child
1. States Parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. Such determination may be necessary in a particular case such as one involving abuse or neglect of the child by the parents, or one where the parents are living separately and a decision must be made as to the child's place of residence.
2. In any proceedings pursuant to paragraph 1 of the present article, all interested parties shall be given an opportunity to participate in the proceedings and make their views known.
3. States Parties shall respect the right of the child who is separated from one or both parents to maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, except if it is contrary to the child's best interests.
4. Where such separation results from any action initiated by a State Party, such as the detention, imprisonment, exile, deportation or death (including death arising from any cause while the person is in the custody of the State) of one or both parents or of the child, that State Party shall, upon request, provide the parents, the child or, if appropriate, another member of the family with the essential information concerning the whereabouts of the absent member(s) of the family unless the provision of the information would be detrimental to the well-being of the child. States Parties shall further ensure that the submission of such a request shall of itself entail no adverse consequences for the person(s) concerned.
CONVENTION ON PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND CO-OPERATION IN RESPECT OF INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION
(Concluded 29 May 1993)
(Entered into force 1 May 1995)
[this is the preamble]
The States signatory to the present Convention,
Recognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding,
Recalling that each State should take, as a matter of priority, appropriate measures to enable the child to remain in the care of his or her family of origin...
