In the run up to International Human Rights Day (December 10), our IB Diploma Global Politics students have been reflecting on some of the more significant issues at stake when it comes to human rights. Here's what they learned...

We began the week listening to Maria Resa finding out that she has won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, as she remains under house arrest in her home in the Philippines.

Human rights is anything but simple.

According to the human rights perspective, all human beings are born with a set of rights. These rights are inalienable, inherent & indivisible to each human being. These rights are not hierarchical; they are interdependent & equally valid.

We treat human rights therefore as a significant political good knowing that this was not always the case. The human rights perspective acknowledges that the state or government is a powerful institution which possess a “monopoly” on the use of force, even deadly force.

Due to this power imbalance, human rights exists to bring balance to the asymmetrical relationship between a government & its citizens, subjects or others under their care. As we’ve learned, according to human rights principles, governments must:

1.     Protect their citizens & others under their care;
2.     Guarantee & make possible the rights of their citizens & others under their care;
3.     Not harm their citizens & others under their care;
4.     Must intervene if a citizen or other under their care is threatened;
5.     Must provide redress & remedy if rights are violated.

These guidelines for governments are considered universal.

Our contemporary understanding of human rights is deeply rooted in the events of 1929 – 1945 (Great Depression, World War Two, the Holocaust, war crimes in Asia), colonization & the Cold War which led to the identification of six categories of human rights: Civil, Political, Economic, Social, Cultural & vulnerable groups, roughly divided into four “Generations” of human rights:

1.     Civil & Political;
2.     Economic, Social & Cultural;
3.     Group rights (vulnerable; marginalized; victimized; persecuted);
4.     Intergenerational justice (future generations; sustainable development; right to a livable environment).

These rights can be found in a series of international & regional human rights instruments (declarations, conventions, treaties, covenants):

International Bill of Human Rights:

1.     Charter of the United Nations (UNC-1945)
2.     Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR-1948)
3.     International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights (ICCPR-1966)
4.     International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (ICESCR-1966)

Additional Instruments (Conventions):

1.     Genocide Convention (UNGC-1948)
2.     Refugee Convention (UNRC-1951)
3.     Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD-1965)
4.     Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW-1979)
5.     Against Torture (CAT-1984)
6.     Rights of the Child (CRC-1989)
7.     Protection of Migrant Workers & Families (CPMWF-1990)
8.     Persons with Disabilities (CPD-2006)
9.     Protection from Enforced Disappearance (CPPED-2006)

All of the above are enforceable and legally binding on UN member states except the UDHR which nonetheless stands as an important set of guiding principles. Human rights law is different from the “common sense” idea of human rights as it includes a very specific set of standards. According to these standards, non-State actors/individuals cannot commit human rights abuses – it is the individual acting on behalf of the State. Laws are binding if they are agreed upon by States & find their way into domestic law. Laws can be enforced if there is a court behind them where you can take a State if there is a violation. Courts must have the power to sanction in order to be effective.

We also know that human rights remain contested due to a number of factors including interpretation and application. The “universality” approach or interpretation argues that human rights are universal, equally applicable, interconnected, non-hierarchical and relevant to all & everywhere. This interpretation is somewhat challenged by the “relativist” argument that certain human rights are more relevant in some cultures and less in others. This is linked to the “regionalist” argument which states that certain regions, due to their common historical experiences have developed a set of human rights values which are more applicable in their region and less so in others.

We ended the week today, International Human Rights Day, with a discussion about the recent decision by some states to diplomatically boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics while other organisations call for a full boycott.

Human rights are anything but simple which makes them all the more important to understand.

Happy Human Rights Day everyone!