What it Means to Violate Human Rights
"The 'disappearances' of detainees in the custody of Russian federal forces in Chechnya is a major human rights crisis that the Russian government and the international community must address."
"While combat between federal forces and Chechen rebels has for the most part ceased, the 'disappearance,' torture, and summary execution of detainees continues, marking the transition from a classical internal conflict into a 'dirty war,' where human rights violations and not the conquest or defense of territory are the hallmarks." -- Human Rights Watch, click here for web page.
|
There is now near-universal consensus that all individuals are entitled to certain basic rights under any circumstances. These include certain civil liberties and political rights, the most fundamental of which is the right to life and physical safety. Human rights are the articulation of the need for justice, tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity in all of our activity.[1] Speaking of rights allows us to express the idea that all individuals are part of the scope of morality and justice.
To protect human rights is to ensure that people receive some degree of decent, humane treatment. To violate the most basic human rights, on the other hand, is to deny individuals their fundamental moral entitlements. It is, in a sense, to treat them as if they are less than human and undeserving of respect and dignity. Examples are acts typically deemed "crimes against humanity," including genocide, torture, slavery, rape, enforced sterilization or medical experimentation, and deliberate starvation. Because these policies are sometimes implemented by governments, limiting the unrestrained power of the state is an important part of international law. Underlying laws that prohibit the various "crimes against humanity" is the principle of nondiscrimination and the notion that certain basic rights apply universally.[2]
The Various Types of Violations
The number of deaths related to combat and the collateral damage caused by warfare are only a small part of the tremendous amount of suffering and devastation caused by conflicts. Over the course of protracted conflict, assaults on political rights and the fundamental right to life are typically widespread. Some of the gravest violations of the right to life are massacres, the starvation of entire populations, and genocide. Genocide is commonly understood as the intentional extermination of a single ethnic, racial, or religious group. Killing group members, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing measures to prevent birth, or forcibly transferring children are all ways to bring about the destruction of a group. Genocide is often regarded as the most offensive crime against humanity.
The term "war crime" refers to a violation of the rules of jus in bello (justice in war) by any individual, whether military or civilian.[3] The laws of armed conflict prohibit attacks on civilians and the use of weapons that cause unnecessary suffering or long-term environmental damage.[4] Other war crimes include taking hostages, firing on localities that are undefended and without military significance, such as hospitals or schools, inhuman treatment of prisoners, including biological experiments, and the pillage or purposeless destruction of property.[5] Although clearly outlawed by international law, such war crimes are common. According to Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, it is increasingly true that "the main aim...[of conflicts]... is the destruction not of armies but of civilians and entire ethnic groups."[6]
Women and girls are often raped by soldiers or forced into prostitution. For a long time, the international community has failed to address the problem of sexual violence during armed conflict.[7] However, sexual assaults, which often involve sexual mutilation, sexual humiliation, and forced pregnancy, are quite common. Such crimes are motivated in part by the long-held view that women are the "spoils" of war to which soldiers are entitled. Trafficking in women is a form of sexual slavery in which women are transported across national borders and marketed for prostitution. These so-called "comfort women" are another example of institutionalized sexual violence against women during wartime. Sexual violence is sometimes viewed as a way to destroy male and community pride or humiliate men who cannot "protect" their women. It is also used to silence women who are politically active, or simply inflict terror upon the population at large.[8] Mass rapes may also form part of a genocidal strategy, designed to impose conditions that lead to the destruction of an entire group of people. For example, during the 1990s, the media reported that "rape and other sexual atrocities were a deliberate and systematic part of the Bosnian Serb campaign for victory in the war" in the former Yugoslavia.[9]
Rather than simply killing off whole populations, government forces may carry out programs of torture. Torture can be either physical or psychological, and aims at the "humiliation or annihilation of the dignity of the person."[10] Physical torture might include mutilation, beatings, and electric shocks to lips, gums, and genitals.[11] In psychological torture, detainees are sometimes deprived of food and water for long periods, kept standing upright for hours, deprived of sleep, or tormented by high-level noise.
Torture is used in some cases as a way to carry out interrogations and extract confessions or information. Today, it is increasingly used as a means of suppressing political and ideological dissent, or for punishing political opponents who do not share the ideology of the ruling group.[12]
In addition to torture, tens of thousands of people detained in connection with conflicts "disappear" each year, and are usually killed and buried in secret.[13] Government forces "take people into custody, hold them in secret, and then refuse to acknowledge responsibility for their whereabouts or fate."[14] This abduction of persons is typically intended to secure information and spread terror. In most cases, interrogations involve threats and torture, and those who are arrested are subsequently killed.[15] Corpses are buried in unmarked graves or left at dumpsites in an attempt to conceal acts of torture and summary execution of those in custody.[16] Because people disappear without any trace, families do not know whether their loved ones are alive or dead.
Various lesser forms of political oppression are often enacted as well. Individuals who pose a threat to those in power or do not share their political views may be arbitrarily imprisoned, and either never brought to trial or subject to grossly unfair trial procedures. Mass groups of people may be denied the right to vote or excluded from all forms of political participation. Or, measures restricting people's freedom of movement may be enforced. These include forcible relocations, mass expulsions, and denials of the right to seek asylum or return to one's home.[17]
Political oppression may also take the form of discrimination. When this occurs, basic rights may be denied on the basis of religion, ethnicity, race, or gender. Apartheid, which denies political rights on the basis of race, is perhaps one of the most severe forms of discrimination. The system of apartheid in South Africa institutionalized extreme racial segregation that involved laws against interracial marriage or sexual relations and requirements for the races to live in different territorial areas. Certain individuals were held to be inferior by definition, and not regarded as full human beings under the law.[18] The laws established under this system aimed at social control, and brought about a society divided along racial lines and characterized by a systematic disregard for human rights.
In addition, women are uniquely vulnerable to certain types of human rights abuses -- in addition to the sexual abuse mentioned above, entrenched discrimination against women is prevalent in many parts of the world and leads to various forms of political and social oppression. This includes strict dress codes and harsh punishments for sexual "transgressions," which impose severe limitations on women's basic liberties. In addition, women in some regions (Africa , for example) suffer greater poverty than men and are denied political influence, education, and job training.[19]
Human Rights Violations and Intractable Conflict
Helen Chauncey likens their work in acheiving coexistence to the early human-rights era.
|
Many have noted the strong interdependence between human rights violations and intractable conflict. Abuse of human rights often leads to conflict, and conflict typically results in human rights violations. It is not surprising, then, that human rights abuses are often at the center of wars and that protection of human rights is central to conflict resolution.[20]
Violations of political and economic rights are the root causes of many crises. When rights to adequate food, housing, employment, and cultural life are denied, and large groups of people are excluded from the society's decision-making processes, there is likely to be great social unrest. Such conditions often give rise to justice conflicts, in which parties demand that their basic needs be met.
Indeed, many conflicts are sparked or spread by violations of human rights. For example, massacres or torture may inflame hatred and strengthen an adversary's determination to continue fighting. Violations may also lead to further violence from the other side and can contribute to a conflict's spiraling out of control.
On the flip side, armed conflict often leads to the breakdown of infrastructure and civic institutions, which in turn undermines a broad range of rights. When hospitals and schools are closed, rights to adequate health and education are threatened. The collapse of economic infrastructure often results in pollution, food shortages, and overall poverty.[21] These various forms of economic breakdown and oppression violate rights to self-determination and often contribute to further human tragedy in the form of sickness, starvation, and lack of basic shelter. The breakdown of government institutions results in denials of civil rights, including the rights to privacy, fair trial, and freedom of movement. In many cases, the government is increasingly militarized, and police and judicial systems are corrupted. Abductions, arbitrary arrests, detentions without trial, political executions, assassinations, and torture often follow.
In cases where extreme violations of human rights have occurred, reconciliation and peacebuilding become much more difficult. Unresolved human rights issues can serve as obstacles to peace negotiations.[22] This is because it is difficult for parties to move toward conflict transformation and forgiveness when memories of severe violence and atrocity are still primary in their minds.
What Can Be Done?
Helen Chauncey explains why the human rights movement is very inspirational for their work on coexistence.
|
International humanitarian law has been enacted to preserve humanity in all circumstances, even during conflicts. Such law "creates areas of peace in the midst of conflict, imposes the principle of a common humanity, and calls for dialogue."[23] It rules out unlimited force or total war and seeks to limit the use of violence in the hopes of maintaining the necessary conditions for a return to peace. Various international committees are in place to monitor compliance with human rights standards and report any violations. When breaches do occur, they are brought to the attention of international tribunals or tried in an international court or war crimes tribunal.
But conflicts sometimes progress beyond the state at which international law can help. As the number of victims grows and more individuals are taken prisoner, tortured, or executed, it becomes more difficult to resort to the legal path.[24]
In addition, it is often difficult to "reconcile the safeguarding of human rights with conflict resolution."[25] Many peacekeeping and conflict-prevention initiatives have failed both to protect human rights and help the parties towards conflict resolution. In part this is due to the fact that while wars between states have diminished, wars within states have escalated. Many internal conflicts involve a surge in organized violence. Genocide, crimes against humanity, and aggression against civilians have become a central part of warfare in these "internal" conflicts. Such violence often arises out of identity issues -- in-group/out-group dynamics -- and attempts of one ethnic or religious group to gain and maintain political control and to exclude other groups.[26] Such conflicts are often not fought over principles or ideas, but rather focus on differences. The "outsiders" are dehumanized, making human rights violations such as severe discrimination or ethnic cleansing all the more psychologically feasible. Thus, attacks on human rights are often at the very heart of these internal conflicts.[27]
In response, public authorities must regain control of organized violence. This means a re-establishment of the rule of law and a rebuilding of trust in public authorities. In addition, more inclusive, democratic values are needed to defuse exclusivist ideals.[28] In the face of such violations, leaders must champion international legal norms and human rights. These human rights norms are central to the maintenance of civil society, and necessary for grounding attitudes of tolerance and mutual respect within communities.
Serious difficulties arise, however, when those in power are responsible for human rights violations. In this case, outside intervention is necessary to stop the abuse.
The Question of Humanitarian Intervention
There is much disagreement about when and to what extent outside countries can engage in humanitarian intervention. More specifically, there is debate about the efficacy of using military force to protect the human rights of individuals in other nations. This sort of debate stems largely from a tension between state sovereignty and the rights of individuals.
Some defend the principles of state sovereignty and nonintervention, and argue that other states must be permitted to determine their own course. It is thought that states have diverse conceptions of justice, and international coexistence depends on a pluralist ethic whereby each state can uphold its own conception of the good. Among many, there is "a profound skepticism about the possibilities of realizing notions of universal justice."[29] States that presume to judge what counts as a violation of human rights in another nation interfere with that nation's right to self-determination. In addition, requiring some country to respect human rights is liable to cause friction and can lead to far-reaching disagreements.[30] Thus, acts of intervention may disrupt interstate order and lead to further conflict.[31]
Others think, "Only the vigilant eye of the international community can ensure the proper observance of international standards, in the interest not of one state or another but of the individuals themselves."[32] They maintain that massive violations of human rights, such as genocide and crimes against humanity, warrant intervention, even if it causes some tension or disagreement. Certain rights are inalienable and universal, and "taking basic rights seriously means taking responsibility for their protection everywhere."[33] If, through its atrocious actions, a state destroys the lives and rights of its citizens, it temporarily forfeits its claims to legitimacy and sovereignty.[34] Outside governments then have a positive duty to take steps to protect human rights and preserve life. In addition, it is thought that political systems that protect human rights reduce the threat of world conflict.[35] Thus, intervention might also be justified on the ground of preserving international security.
Nevertheless, governments are often reluctant to commit military forces and resources to defend human rights in other states.[36] In addition, the use of violence to end human rights violations poses a moral dilemma insofar as such interventions may lead to further loss of innocent lives.[37] It is imperative that the least amount of force necessary to achieve humanitarian objectives be used, and that intervention not do more harm than good. Lastly, there is a need to ensure that intervention is legitimate, and motivated by genuine humanitarian concerns. The purposes of intervention must be apolitical and disinterested. However, if risks and costs of intervention are high, it is unlikely that states will intervene unless their direct interests are involved.[38]
Many note that in order to truly address human rights violations, we must strive to understand the underlying causes of these breaches. These causes have to do with underdevelopment, economic pressures, various social problems, and international conditions.[39] Indeed, the roots of repression, discrimination, and other denials of human rights stem from deeper and more complex political, social, and economic problems. It is only by understanding and ameliorating these root causes and strengthening civil society that we can truly protect human rights.
[1] Helena Kennedy. "Conflict Resolution and Human Rights: Contradictory or Complementary?" INCORE, 1.
[2] Don Hubert and Thomas G. Weiss et al. The Responsibility to Protect: Supplementary Volume to the Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. (Canada: International Development Research Centre, 2001), 144.
[3] Jordan J.Paust et al. Human Rights Module: On Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide, Other Crimes Against Human Rights, and War Crimes, (Carolina Academic Press.2001), 130.
[4] Hubert and Weiss, et al., 144.
[5] Paust, et al., 131.
[6] United Nations Press Release SG/SM/6524 SC/6503 "Secretary-General Says Proposals in his Report on Africa Require New Ways of Thinking, of Acting" (16 April 1998, accessed 30 January 2003). Available at http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/sgreport/pressrel.htm; Internet.
[7] "Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict: United Nations Response." United Nations. Available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/cover.htm; Internet.
[8] "Sexual Violence." Available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/cover.htm; Internet.
[9] "Sexual Violence." Available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/cover.htm; Internet.
[10] Antonio Cassese, Human Rights in a Changing World. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990), 90.
[11] Cassese, 123.
[12] Cassese, 90.
[13] "Human Rights Today: A United Nations Priority," The United Nations, (2000), available at: http://www.un.org/rights/HRToday/; Internet.
[14] " 'Dirty War' in Chechnya: Forced Disappearances, Torture, and Summary Executions." Human Rights Watch, March 2001. Vol. 13, no. 1, 4. Available at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chechnya/RSCH0301.PDF; Internet.
[15] Cassese, 122.
[16] " 'Dirty War' in Chechnya," 31.
[17] "Human Rights Today: A United Nations Priority"
[18] Cassese, 108.
[19] Matthews, "Women's Rights are Human Rights"
[20] Kennedy, 1.
[21] "Human Rights Today"
[22] Michel Veuthey, "International Humanitarian Law and the Restoration and Maintenance of Peace." African Security Review, Vol. 7, No. 5, Institute for Security Studies, 1998. Available at: http://www.iss.co.za/Pubs/ASR/7No5/InternationalHumanitarian.html; Internet.
[23] Veuthey, "International Humanitarian Law and the Restoration and Maintenance of Peace."
[24] Veuthey, "International Humanitarian Law and the Restoration and Maintenance of Peace."
[25] Kennedy, 6.
[26] Kennedy, 8.
[27] Kennedy, 9.
[28] Kennedy, 9.
[29] Hubert and Weiss, et al., 133.
[30] Cassese, 58.
[31] Hubert and Weiss, et al., 133.
[32] Cassese, 55-6.
[33] Hubert and Weiss, et al., 135.
[34] Hubert and Weiss, et al., 136.
[35] Cassese, 58.
[36] Hubert and Weiss, et al., 136.
[37] Hubert and Weiss, et al., 137.
[38] Hubert and Weiss, et al., 141.
[39] Cassese, 59.
Use the following to cite this article:
Maiese, Michelle. "Human Rights Violations." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: July 2003 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/human_rights_violations/>.
Sources of Additional, In-depth Information on this Topic
Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. ABC, Teaching Human Rights.
Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu6/2/abc.htm.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has teaching materials for primary and secondary school students on human rights. There are booklets and activities for learning.
Brahm, Eric. "Confronting Past Human Rights Violations: Justice vs. Peace in Times of Transition -- Summary." Conflict Research Consortium.
Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/booksummary/10029/.
This is a summary of Chandra Lekha Sriram's "Confronting Past Human Rights Violations: Justice vs. Peace in Times of Transition"
Human Rights Education Associates Electronic Resource Centre for Human Rights Education.
Available at: http://www.hrea.org/erc/Library/index.php.
an excellent collection of materials for a range of audiences from school children, armed forces to community leaders on human rights education.
Kennedy, Helena. "Conflict Resolution and Human Rights - Contradictory or Complementary?." , May 23, 2001
Available at: http://www.arrc-hre.com/publications/hrepack1/5_01.html.
This article discusses the close and complex relationship between human rights and conflict resolution, and what steps toward resolution should be taken in light of continuing human rights violations. Cultural differences, as they relate to human rights, are also discussed.
"Human Rights Today: A United Nations Priority." , 2000
Available at: http://www.un.org/rights/HRToday/.
This is an abridged online paper detailing the role of the United Nations in the international human rights arena. Site provides chapters on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as on human rights actions, conflicts, and monitoring mechanisms. While the full text is not available, there is bibliographic and ordering information provided.
Veuthey, Michel. "International Humanitarian Law and the Restoration and Maintenance of Peace." African Security Review, Vol. 7, No. 5 , 1998
Available at: http://www.iss.co.za/Pubs/ASR/7No5/InternationalHumanitarian.html.
This article argues that humanitarian law should form part of a culture of conflict prevention for the 21st century. International humanitarian law is an important component in maintaining peace and making it possible to return to peaceful relations after a conflict has subsided. Humanitarian law prohibits unlimited force or total war, "creates areas of peace in the midst of conflict, imposes the principle of a common humanity, and calls for dialogue."
"Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict: United Nations Response." , April 1, 1998
Available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/cover.htm.
This article discusses the failure of the international community to address the issue of war-time sexual violence during the early years of the UN. Developments are traced to the early 1990s when the international community finally recognized that human rights violations committed against women during armed conflict, including sexual violence, violate fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Ghose, Arundhati. "Terrorists, Human Rights and the United Nations." Faultlines, Vol. 1 ,
Available at: Click here for more info.
In this article, Ghose writes about the inadequacy of UN branches that are supposed to deal with human rights violations on an international level. Her discussion focuses on: the high level of politicization of the subject and the recurrent North-South divide; the lack of attention to issues of terrorism; and the role of NGO's in international human rights forums. Ghose was a career diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service and retired as India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Offline (Print) Sources
Sriram, Chandra Lekha. Confronting Past Human Rights Violations: Justice vs. Peace in Times of Transition. New York: Frank Cass, 2004.
This book challenges transitional justice literature, which aruges that in a period of transition governments much choose between ensuring peace and attaining justice. This Sriram believes that there is a peace and justice continuum and rather than putting the two in competition with each other. Click here for more info.
Minow, Martha L. Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History After Genocide and Mass Violence. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.
This book looks at the capacity and limitations of formal national responses to genocide, systematic rapes, and mass torture. Such responses have come in the form of legal proceedings, truth commission, reparations, and memorials, and give rise to questions about retributive justice, forgiveness, and healing.
Robertson, Geoffrey and Kenneth Roth. Crimes Against Humanity: The Struggle for Global Justice. New Press, January 1, 2003.
This book discusses how human rights have come to dominate world politics, from Kosovo to East Timor. It reveals how the concept of human rights has grown in importance over the last fifty years, providing a justification for the international community "with or without the United Nations" to bring down tyrants and torturers.
Staub, Ervin. "Genocide and Mass Killing: Origins, Prevention, Healing, and Reconciliation." Political Psychology 21:2, 2000.
This article focuses on intense collective violence, especially mass killing and genocide. It briefly presents a conception of their origins, with new elements in the conception and comparisons with other approaches. Various aspects of genocide and mass killing are considered, including their starting points (such as difficult life conditions and group conflict), cultural characteristics, psychological and social processes (such as destructive ideologies), the evolution of increasing violence and its effect on perpetrators and bystanders, and the roles of leaders and of internal and external bystanders. Actions that might be taken by the community of nations and other actors to halt or prevent violence are described. In considering prevention there is a focus on processes of healing within previously victimized groups and reconciliation between hostile groups. A project on healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation in Rwanda is briefly described.
Hannum, Hurst. Guide to International Human Rights Practice, 3rd Edition. New York: Transnational Publishers, Inc., June 1, 1999.
This work provides in-depth description of recent developments in human rights law and evaluates various institutions and procedures that are used within the United Nations framework.
Cassese, Antonio. Human Rights in a Changing World. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990.
This book explores the emergence of international human rights, the impact that human rights have had on the world community, and the supposed universality of those rights. It also discusses some of history's gravest violations of human rights, including torture, apartheid and forced disappearances.
Human Rights Module: On Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide, Other Crimes Against Human Rights War Crimes. Carolina Academic Press, August 1, 2001.
The module is intended for those teaching human rights courses and wishing to explore the core international crimes often associated with human rights violations. Crimes discussed include torture, hostage-taking, apartheid, forced disappearances, and various war crimes.
Cassese, Antonio. "The Great Outrages Against Humanity." In Human Rights in a Changing World. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990. Pages: 71-152.
In Part II of this book, entitled "The Great Outrages Against Humanity," Cassese duscusses a few of the most serious human rights violations seen in world history. These include instances of genocide, torture, apartheid, and forced diasappearance.
Weiss, Thomas G. and Don Hubert. "The Responsibility to Protect: Supplementary Volume to the Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty." Canada: International Development Research Centre, 2001.
This supplementary volume to the Commission's Report explores the issue of humanitarian intervention and discusses how the international community should respond to human rights violations. It includes descriptions of the Commission?s worldwide consultations, research essays from international specialists, and an extensive bibliography.
Return to Top
Examples Illustrating this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
""Dirty War" in Chechnya: Forced Disappearances, Torture, and Summary Executions." , March 1, 2001
Available at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chechnya/RSCH0301.PDF.
This report is based on Human Rights Watch's research with the family members of those who "disappeared". It is based on dozens of interviews, as well as on the correspondence between family members and federal and Chechnya Republic law enforcement agencies. The "disappearances" of detainees in the custody of Russian federal forces in Chechnya is considered a major human rights crisis that the Russian government and the international community need to address.
Leenders, Reinoud. "Algeria: Civilians Trampled in a State of Turmoil." , 1999
Available at: Click here for more info.
This article describes the recent history of political conflict in Algeria, outlining the key issues and actors involved. In addition to background on the conflict and the many human rights abuses that have occurred, the piece discusses efforts toward democratization in Algeria, as well as peace work carried out by a number of non-governmental organizations.
Center of the Storm: A Case Study of Human Rights Abuses in Hebron District. Human Rights Watch.
Available at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/israel/hebron-v2.pdf.
This report sets out the obligations of the parties to the conflict, and documents human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israelis and Palestinians in Hebron and the surrounding vicinity since late September 2000. The West Bank city of Hebron, long a flashpoint of conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, has been the scene of widespread human rights abuses since the renewal of violent clashes on September 29, 2000 - an uprising that Palestinians commonly refer to as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
Decades of Human Rights Abuse in Iraq. Amnesty International.
Available at: http://www.web.amnesty.org/web/web.nsf/print/irq-article_3-eng.
The people of Iraq have suffered widespread human rights abuses for decades. This piece describes the use of torture, political imprisonment, mass killings, and "disappearances" under Saddam Hussein's leadership.
Seng, Mardi. Hope. From Sideshow to Genocide.
Available at: http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/stories/mardiseng.html.
An eyewitness account of the attrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge.
Adar, Korwa G. and Isaac M. Munyae. "Human Rights Abuse in Kenya Under Daniel Arap Moi, 1978-2001." African Studies Quarterly , 2001
Available at: http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v5/v5i1a1.htm.
This article describes how Kenyan president Mois centralization and personalization of power laid the foundation for a dictatorship. The autocratic patronage system established by Moi has undermined the rule of law and respect for human rights in Kenya. In this authoritarian system, the president delegates no responsibilities and becomes personally involved in almost everything in the country. This has included the rights of individual Kenya citizens to free speech and free assembly.
Human Rights and Health: The Legacy of Apartheid. American Nurses Association.
Available at: http://shr.aaas.org/loa/.
This report, which was prepared at the request of the South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission, shows how during the apartheid period, the leadership of the health sector in South Africa subordinated ethical and human rights obligations to the racist practices and political repression of the state.
Massacres of Hazaras in Afghanistan. Human Rights Watch.
Available at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/afghanistan/.
This report documents two massacres committed by Taliban forces in the central highlands of Afghanistan, in January 2001 and May 2000. In both cases the victims were primarily Hazaras, a Shiite Muslim ethnic group that has been the target of previous massacres and other serious human rights violations by Taliban forces. These massacres took place in the context of the six-year war between the Taliban and parties now grouped in the United National Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (the "United Front"), in which international human rights and humanitarian law have been repeatedly violated by the warring factions.
Stifling Dissent: The Human Rights Consequences of Inter-Factional Struggle in Iran. Human Rights Watch.
Available at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/iran/Iran0501.pdf.
In this report, Human Rights Watch traces the impact on human rights of the conservative counter-attack of the past year, and identifies major steps that should be taken by the Iranian authorities, and by those who may have influence upon them, to address human rights violations and bring government policies into conformity with its obligations under international law. By various means, religious conservatives have progressively chipped away at President Khatami's powerbase and exposed his inability to push forward his popular mandate for reform or, indeed, to face down his main opponents. For the conservatives, the question is whether, despite his continued advocacy of reform, President Khatami represents less of a threat in office, where his stature helps to channel discontent in a manner that preserves the Islamic Republic, rather than out of it.
United States Institute of Peace. U.S. Human Rights Policy Toward Africa.
Available at: http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr73.html.
This report examines U.S. foreign policy toward Africa over the past couple decades, focusing specifically on human rights policy. The report charges that inconsistency in U.S. policy has accordingly had an inconsistent effect on human rights in Africa. In particular, the cases of Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa present three highly diverse contexts in which U.S. human rights policy has had varying degrees of success.
Violence and Political Impasse in Papua. Human Rights Watch.
Available at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/papua/PAPUA0701.pdf.
This report looks at the situation in Papua and recommends steps that should be taken to address human rights abuses. HRW believes that continuing human rights abuses have contributed to the increasing violence and political impasse in Papua today, and that addressing the abuses is a pre-condition to any long-lasting solution.
United States Institute of Peace. Zimbabwe and the Politics of Torture.
Available at: http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr92.html.
This USIP special report discusses the history, as well as recent cases, of torture in Zimbabwe. Most recently, torture has been widely perpetrated against members of the opposition political party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Offline (Print) Sources
Donnelly, Jack. International Human Rights. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, November 1, 1997.
"Although concerned primarily with the international politics of human rights, the book includes a chapter on theoretical issues, including the moral basis of human rights, problems of cultural relativism, and the place of human rights in the contemporary international society of states. Case studies of human rights violations in Chile, Argentina, South Africa, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, as well as extensive illustrations drawn from other parts of the world, lend concreteness to the discussion. "
Roniger, Luis and Mario Sznajder. The Legacy of Human Rights Violation in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999.
This book examines how Argentina, Chile and Uraguay deals with a history of human rights violations. In the 1970's these three countries faced a break down in democracy and thus experienced many violations of human rights. When the the countries re-democratized they faced a struggle between standards of human rights. This book examines how each country dealt with redefining standards of human rights given their terrible past.
Mills, Nicolaus and Kira Brunner, eds. The New Killing Fields: Massacre and the Politics of Intervention. Basic Books, September 1, 2002.
This book of essays revisits Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and East Timor-sites of four of the worst instances of state-sponsored killing in the last half of the twentieth century-in order to reconsider the success and failure of U.S. and U.N. military and humanitarian intervention. This compilation of 14 essays poses interesting questions about how to deal with violations of human rights.
Russell, Steve, Audrey Zamora and Christopher Boeck. "The Two Faces in the U.S. Human Rights Mirror." Peace Review 13:4, December 1, 2001.
This article discusses the two-sided nature of United States human rights policy. On one hand, the U.S. acts as an international police force ostensibly working for inalienable human rights. But on the other hand, the country refuses to take any action or redress of its own sordid past. The authors list three major examples: the mass murder of Native Americans, the slave trade, and the conquest and annexation of parts of Mexico.
Watanabe, Kazuko. "Trafficking in Women's Bodies, Then and Now: The Issue of Military, Vol. 20." Peace and Change 20:4, October 1, 1995.
The military "comfort women" of the Japanese Imperial Army in World War II offer an extreme case of institutionalized sexual violence against women. Trafficking in women is a form of sexual slavery in which women are transported across national borders and marketed for prostitution. In this way, their bodies are displaced and commodified by other powers. This practice has been expanded in times of peace to "sex workers," either as entertainers or prostitutes. Sex tourism to other Asian countries by Japanese men is a contemporary version of comfort women. Unless sexual violence and the commodification of women's bodies are eliminated, there will always be comfort women. War justifies violence against women; to stop war, we have to recognize the fact of this violence and understand the casualties.
Return to Top
Audiovisual Materials on this Topic:
Offline (Print) Sources
Chronicle Of A Genocide Foretold . Directed and/or Produced by: Lacourse, Daniele and Yvan Patry. First Run Icarus Films. 1996.
Shot over three years, this film follows several Rwandans before, during, and after the 1994 genocide.
Click here for more info.
Guatemala: Personal Testimonies. First Run Icarus Films. 1982.
In this film, Guatemalans' give witness to the human rights abuses they endured during the government's military campaign of fear. Click here for more info.
Justice and the Generals. Directed and/or Produced by: Pellett, Gail. First Run Icarus Films. 2002.
This film brings forth the facts involved in the international criminal trial of two El Salvador generals who face charges for human rights abuses they committed during El Salvador's civil war. Click here for more info.
Mexico: Dead or Alive . Directed and/or Produced by: Davis, Mary Ellen. First Run Icarus Films. 1996.
This film examines the complexities involved in the Mexican conflict. It focuses on issues of human rights and democratization. Click here for more info.
Scars of Memory / Cicatriz de la Memoria . Directed and/or Produced by: Gould, Jeffrey and Carlos Henriquez Consalvi. First Run Icarus Films. 2002.
This film documents the testimonies of numerous Salvadorians who survived the 1932 brutal mass murder of thousands of peasant dissenters. Click here for more info.
Return to Top
|
