Human Rights Conditions Research Articles

The Path of the Boomerang: Human Rights Campaigns, Third-Party Pressure, and Human Rights

Abstract How can information campaigns of nongovernmental human rights organizations (HROs) to “name and shame” human rights violators improve human rights conditions? Is the effect direct—does HRO targeting induce violating states to change their behavior? Or is the effect indirect—does pressure by third parties mediate the relationship between HRO actions and changes in human rights practices? The boomerang and spiral models suggest HRO activity provokes third parties, such as other states and international organizations, to pressure violating states. This pressure, in turn, drives violating states to improve human rights conditions. On the other hand, recent empirical work finds third-party pressure can further degrade human rights conditions. In this paper we provide a comprehensive analysis of how these individual factors—HRO activities and pressure from third parties—work together in the larger chain of causal events influencing human rights conditions. Using a causal mediation model, we examine whether HRO campaigning improves human rights directly or if the effect is mediated by costs imposed by powerful actors through sanctions and military interventions. We find that, although HRO activities have an overall positive effect on human rights conditions, the negative effects of third-party pressure somewhat diminish the positive effects.

Regulatory arbitrage in relation to international human rights

The adoption of the United Nations (UN) Charter in 1945 marked the legalization of international human rights. Despite the legalized status of human rights, their violation by states is not uncommon. This article questions why a state might violate international human rights. Analyzing this issue from an economic perspective, this article advances regulatory arbitrage theory to rationalize a state’s violation of human rights. It discusses regulatory arbitrage-type behaviors among state actors that derogate from the obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights. Defending state sovereignty, minimizing regulatory or compliance costs, and prioritizing economic achievement are identified as rational arbitrage actions that circumvent international human rights. We call for competent and credible governance mechanisms that can increase the cost of arbitrage, to disincentivize state violation of international human rights.

Fostering Justice and Stability: Rights Protection and National Sovereignty in the Honduran Zones for Employment and Economic Development (ZEDE)

Honduras's National Congress overwhelmingly approved a bold solution to confront the institutional instability, corruption, and violence that have undermined the protection of basic human rights. The solution, originally inspired by Nobel-Prize-winning economist Paul Romer's charter cities concept, was to form new, independent governing institutions for designated zones of the country, established by popular consent and international best practices for governance. Thus were born the Zonas de Empleo y Desarrollo Economico (Zones of Employment and Economic Development or ZEDEs). Established by constitutional amendment and organic law, the ZEDEs are intended to adopt new public management models operating with a high degree of autonomy, yet without renouncing Honduran sovereignty. Given their novelty and their troubled emergence against a backdrop of institutional failure, the ZEDEs have encountered understandable skepticism, confusion, and criticism. The main concerns have been that the ZEDEs do not protect individual rights and instead expose the Honduran people to abuse and exploitation by foreign companies. Many authors also assert that the ZEDEs undermine Honduran sovereignty. As strong supporters of human rights and institutional accountability, the authors take these concerns seriously. Both are engaged in a multi-year effort to analyze and strengthen the ZEDE legal regime, including its human rights protections. This paper is a product of those efforts. This paper addresses the question of whether the ZEDEs are consistent with Honduran sovereignty and human rights by way of constructing a general rule for ZEDE autonomy that defines the scope of what a ZEDE can legally do. This construction is made by applying principles of statutory construction accepted both internationally and in Honduras to the laws establishing the ZEDEs. This general rule establishes respect for sovereignty and human rights as limitations or outer bounds on ZEDE autonomy, thereby forcing ZEDEs to not transgress these core principles. Thus, while the general rule for ZEDE autonomy allows the ZEDEs wide latitude to develop new laws and administrations, it also ensures consistency with human rights norms and Honduran sovereignty. Moreover, it helps position the ZEDEs to greatly improve the status of human rights and institutional strength in Honduras. This paper begins by highlighting the major challenges facing Honduras today. It then analyses the laws creating the ZEDEs to formulate the general rule of ZEDE autonomy. It then details the human rights safeguards that ZEDEs must comply with and, finally, the relationship between ZEDE autonomy and Honduran sovereignty. As a result, the paper clarifies the ZEDE’s legal obligations regarding human rights and national sovereignty, thus helping define the scope of ZEDE autonomy.

Mexico's human rights crisis

Mexico's human rights crisis is an edited book that takes a close look at one of the most pressing and complex internal conflicts of our time. For over a decade, local activists and international organizations have called attention to the unprecedented rise in violence that Mexicans have suffered since the government began a war against the drug cartels in 2006. They have also condemned the pervasive impunity that prevails around such violence. So what does this book add to our understanding of the Mexican crisis and what does it contribute to scholarly discussions beyond Mexico? The contributions are organized by the editors, Alejandro Anaya-Muñoz and Barbara Frey, into three sections: the first part focuses ‘on the human rights consequences that flow directly from the ongoing’ spiral of violence, insecurity and impunity (p. 11), the second part looks into ‘the violation of human rights of migrants’ (p. 14) and a last section aims to address different ‘domestic and transnational elements and processes that shape the human rights crisis in Mexico’ (p. 17). As each of its twelve chapters approaches the problem of violence from a different angle, the edited volume provides a panoramic view of the current state of human rights in Mexico and makes three important contributions.

The Politics of Human Rights

The Politics of Human Rights

THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENCE IN INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT ARBITRATION: EXPLORING THE LIMITS OF SYSTEMIC INTEGRATION

AbstractIn a variety of investment arbitration cases, respondent States have argued that measures impugned by investors were mandated by that State's human rights obligations. Tribunals have generally been reluctant to engage with such arguments and to interpret the relationship between investment law and human rights in a straightforward manner. This article discusses two other possibilities: harmonious interpretation and prioritization. Harmonious interpretation seeks to read provisions from investment treaties and human rights treaties together, whereas prioritization gives normative superiority to one provision over another. We conclude that harmonious interpretation is facilitated by the discretionary character of common treaty standards in both human rights and investment law, but that the final result is unlikely to be very different from prioritization, because even harmonious interpretation requires that one provision is read in the light of, and thereby subjugated to, the other.

Human Rights, Income and International Migration

AbstractThis study contributes to the literature of migration studies by addressing the question: why does international migration persist despite welfare improvements in migrant‐sending countries? We propose that the human rights condition of the origin countries is an important determinant of global migration. Although the human rights issue is not new to researchers in migration studies, the concern is primarily about the rights of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers or migrant workers in a host country. We undertake a bilateral panel data analysis to examine the pattern of global bilateral migration between 1995 and 2010. We find that international migration is positively associated with human rights conditions and income. Similar results are also obtained when we control for multilateral resistance and possible sample selection biases in a panel context. Our study implies that efforts to promote human rights may also be assessed in relation to their contribution to migration flows.

Human Rights and Governance in Nigeria, 2011-2015

Globally, it is generally acknowledged that every individual and a every citizen possess certain definite political, civil, economic and social rights, which are fundamental to his/her dignity and personhood. Theoretically, these presumptuous ideals hold sway in the constitutions of countries of the world, Nigeria inclusive. However, in reality and with respect to Nigeria especially, during the military era, can hardly be reconciled with constitutionalism as there are always cases of infringement upon citizens’ fundamental rights. With successful transition to democracy in 1999 and the consequent stabilisation with the conduct of four successive elections as of 2011. This paper considered the state of human rights under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration (2011-2015). It appraised how human rights issues have been handled under Jonathan’s administration in line with democratic considerations in the Nigerian polity. Nigeria continues to confront serious human rights challenges politically and socio-economically, including a culture of impunity where perpetrators are often not held accountable for their actions in forms of corrupt practices, extra-judicial killings by the police and Boko Haram insurgency. Moreover, no serious improvement in the socio-economic status of the Nigerian citizens as the increasing GDP growth is only on paper and not real in the economy. In protecting the rights and liberties of all Nigerians, the paper concludes that the Nigerian Government must be resolute in its commitment to ensuring security without compromising human rights. Strong and transparent institutions that deliver essential services must be built and sustained. The key now is to look internally with readiness to use political will in the right direction; to take significant actions to address critical human rights issues in Nigeria.Key Words: Citizens, Human Rights, Security, Democracy, Governance

El juez humanista: el nuevo guardián del derecho en el paradigma neoconstitucional

Los cambios vertiginosos que trajo consigo el fenómeno de mundialización de los derechos humanos impulsaron una apertura semántica del concepto de derecho. Esto conllevó a que no sólo comenzara a diferenciarse el “derecho” de la “ley”, sino también el modo de interpretar las normas. Es así que se produjo el pasaje del Estado constitucional al actual Estado democrático de derechos humanos regido por el paradigma neoconstitucional. A partir de este pasaje, las esferas del Estado fueron amoldándose a los nuevos requerimientos. El rol del juez también se vio modificado, porque ahora su dirección del proceso deberá garantizar la tutela judicial efectiva, concepto elástico y progresivo. Es así que deberá tener en cuenta todas las aristas que se proyectan del derecho de acceso a la justicia en forma de derechos y principios, y que permiten la flexibilización de las normas para resolver el caso particular de modo humanizado.

A Reality of Vulnerability and Dependence: Internet Access as a Human Right

We are faced with a new reality where our reliance on internet access to fulfil basic civil tasks is threatened by increasing personal and societal cyber vulnerability. This dichotomy of dependence and vulnerability requires a new framework for understanding the legal and human rights status of this evolving technological reality. A number of theories have sought to explain how internet access could attain the status of a human right. These include reliance on the freedom of expression protection offered by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. More recent approaches have suggested that international customary law could apply, or that internet access could attain the status of an auxiliary human right. Despite repeated demands by international institutions to address modern cyber challenges through a human rights lens, this assortment of legal approaches has failed to garner a consensus view in the international community. The article reviews the merits of each of these arguments, and grounds the debate in the lens of this reality of dependence and vulnerability. Of the four options surveyed, we find that auxiliary righthood is the most promising approach, but that additional research is required to substantiate the claims.

A deliberately delayed or forgotten issue: North Korean human rights as an international legal problem

In spite of the recent bilateral peace talks and developments between South and North Korea and between the US and North Korea, it needs to be reminded that the human rights condition in North Korea is already an established legal subject, protected by both international and domestic law, and therefore, unless the human rights condition in North Korea is significantly improved, this issue cannot be legally terminated. In this vein, this paper intends to examine the ways that the issue on North Korean human rights is handled both in international law (especially by the UN, including criminal punishment) and domestic law (especially by the US, including human rights sanctions), and then identify some policy implications for addressing the human rights issue in the context of the Korean peninsula peace talks.

A Note on Economic Development in North Korea: Call for a Comprehensive Approach

Abstract North Korea is currently one of the most impoverished countries with a history of famine, but the country has a significant potential for economic development that could lift its population from poverty. Neighbored by some of the largest and most advanced economies in the world (South Korea, Japan, and China) and endowed with abundant mineral resources, industrial experience, and a history of successful economic development in the past, North Korea can embark on the path to rapid economic development, as its southern counterpart (South Korea) did so successfully since the 1960s. Yet, the successful economic development of North Korea requires a comprehensive approach, including obtaining a fund for development; normalizing relations with the West and the neighboring countries; improving its human rights conditions; prioritizing key industrial development; and reforming its political-economic system. This note discusses the comprehensive approach necessary for the successful economic development of North Korea.

Constitutive justice and human rights

In order to show the validity of here proposed conception of social ontology and its advantages over descriptive theories of social reality, which in the analysis of the socio-ontological status of human rights find only legally understood normativity as present in social reality, we will first (1) lay out Searle?s interpretation of human rights. In the second step, we will (2) introduce the methodical approach and basic concepts of our socio-ontological position, and explain the structure of the relationship between justice, law, morality, social institutions and collective intentionality. At the end (3) we will show how our theory of social ontology is better than Searle?s legal positivism in examining the ontological status of human rights. At the end, (3) we show in what ways such a theory of social ontology more intuitively and with wider arguments explains the ontological status of institution of human rights than Searle?s legal positivism.

Structuring a Philosophical Approach

A framework is developed for understanding what is “taken for granted” both in philosophy and in life generally, which may serve to orient philosophical inquiry and make it more effective. The framework takes in language and its development, as well as mathematics, logic, and the empirical sphere with particular reference to the exigencies of life. It is evaluated through consideration of seven philosophical issues concerned with such topics as solipsism, sense data as the route to knowledge, the possible reduction of geometry to logic, and the existence and status of human rights. Various dichotomies and the notion of continuity are evidently highly strategic.

Arming the Peace: Foreign Security Assistance and Human Rights Conditions in Post-Conflict Countries

ABSTRACTWhat are the effects of foreign security assistance on the quality of the peace in post-conflict countries? Despite the stakes, and the tremendous amount of weaponry and other forms of foreign military aid flowing to governments of post-conflict countries, the academic literature provides little guidance as to what effects policymakers and practitioners should expect from this type of aid. Military assistance provided to the government of a country emerging from the turmoil of civil war could enable the state to establish a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, leading to a more durable peace and greater human security. However, we contend that significant flows of military aid and weapons from foreign governments may encourage regimes to adopt more repressive approaches to governance. We investigate the impact of security assistance on human rights conditions after 171 internal armed conflicts that ended between 1956 and 2012 using a novel measure of military aid and an instrumented measure of weapons transfers. We find strong evidence that both military aid and arms transfers to post-conflict governments increase state repression.

Human rights as indicator for the differentiation of centre, semiperiphery and periphery in the world society. A Contribution to World Society Studies.

Neste artigo, as categorias de “centro”, “periferia” e “semiperiferia” são revisadas por meio dos estudos da sociedade mundial. O centro da sociedade mundial tem como diferenciação primária a funcional, enquanto outras formas de diferenciação, como diferenciação segmentar e estratificação, permanecem dominantes na periferia. A semiperiferia pode ser definida como uma arena na qual a diferenciação funcional luta pela hegemonia contra outras formas de diferenciação. Em primeiro lugar, o centro é definido por sua proximidade cognitiva assim como por seu poder de definição e interpretação contra a periferia, ao passo que a periferia só pode aceitar as interpretações, definições e decisões realizadas no centro. O surgimento da identidade nacional como uma identidade cultural fora do centro não pode ser entendida sem relação com o centro. No entanto, identidades culturais semiperiféricas e periféricas impedem algumas nações de se modernizarem em direção à diferenciação funcional. Em segundo lugar, o centro da sociedade mundial moderna é definido pela implementação de diferenciação funcional, enquanto um importante indicador da fronteira entre o centro e a periferia é o status dos direitos humanos. Assim, podemos dizer que todas as regiões estão expostas aos efeitos estruturais da sociedade mundial, especialmente aquele da economia mundial, mas todos os sistemas funcionais não foram implementados igualmente em todo o mundo. À medida em que, no centro, o acesso aos recursos sociais é garantido pelos direitos humanos individuais (direitos fundamentais), a população, na semiperiferia e periferia, necessita participar de organizações particulares ou de laços sociais para obter benefícios do mundo moderno e da economia mundial. Em terceiro lugar, enquanto a periferia da sociedade mundial é vista em “estados falidos”, este artigo propõe que os regimes autoritários são semiperiféricos. Sociedades na semiperiferia são caracterizadas pela dominação dos sistemas político e econômico sobre outros sistemas funcionais. A moderna teoria dos sistemas chama esta sociedade de sociedade organizacional.

Taking Stock of Flow

Research suggests a positive link between foreign direct investment (FDI) and human rights. In this study, we revisit this relationship and find that FDI does not produce significant improvements in human rights conditions. Both flow and stock measures of FDI are negatively associated with human rights ratings, with the negative effect of stock being notably larger. We discuss complications associated with the use of flow measures in panel estimation and argue that stock measures represent what scholars more likely have in mind when estimating the longitudinal effect of foreign capital. We then show that stock's negative effect is robust to several methodological concerns, including denominator effects in the foreign investment rate, information effects in the dependent variable, endogeneity in the FDI–human rights relationship, and the removal of wealthy countries and influential observations from our models. Finally, we find that stock's negative effect is significantly smaller in democratic regimes. Overall, the results suggest that foreign capital does not improve human rights conditions, and it may prove detrimental, especially in authoritarian states.

Factors influencing the allocation of China's development assistance for health.

BackgroundChina has been described as a “rogue” donor suspected of using foreign assistance to obtain raw materials, promote exports, and strengthen its business links with aid recipient countries. However, the factors influencing China’s development assistance policy have rarely been analysed, particularly those related to its health aid. This study explores the factors that could affect the allocation of China’s development assistance for health (DAH) from three key aspects: recipient need, recipient merit, and donor interest.MethodsAnalysis was based on cross-sectional data of China’s DAH from 2006 to 2014. This study explores the following characteristics of the 82 recipient countries identified in the data: the association between China’s allocation of DAH and recipient need (measured by Gross Domestics Product [GDP] per capita and all-cause Disability-Adjusted Life Years [DALYs]), recipient merit (measured by government effectiveness and human rights violations) and donor interests (measured by China’s export, United Nations voting alignment, and recipient natural resources). A stratified analysis was conducted to understand these associations in different development contexts and the factors that influenced each type of DAH.ResultsMultivariate Spearman correlation suggested that the most significant factors influencing China’s allocation of DAH were the recipient countries’ GDP per capita (r = -0.31941, P = 0.0049) and human rights conditions (r = -0.23227, P = 0.0435). Health workforce was associated with medical team deployment (r = -0.20929, P = 0.0715), while malaria DALYs was associated with anti-malaria center establishment (r = 0.46473, P < 0.0001). According to the sub-group analysis, donor interests such as trade and natural resources only slightly influenced DAH allocation.ConclusionRecipient need and merit strongly influence China’s DAH allocation while donor interests only slightly influence DAH allocation in certain development contexts.

Human Rights Violation of Transgender People: A Critical Analysis on Bangladesh Perspective

Transgender people are discriminated based on their gender identity, especially, in the societies of South Asian countries. The legal recognition of this ‘third sex’ had to wait long in countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The human rights of these people are being violated in every sector although having been recognized as ‘citizens’ by their respective governments. Many countries have already started to let them get involved in different social and economic activities. In 2013, the Bangladesh government declared the status of the third gender to the transgender people of its territory. This recognition was aimed to protect all the human rights of the third gender enabling them to identify their gender as ‘Hijra’ in all government documents and passport. Section 27 of the Constitution of Bangladesh states that ‘All the citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of law’. But the legal protection of the human rights of the newly recognized third gender is questionable till now. The Prevention of Oppression against Women and Children Act, 2000 describes the rights of only women and children. In Bangladesh, the transgender people are becoming rape victims everywhere but unlike women and children, their rape cases never get filed as the police officers do not even believe that anyone can rape these third genders. This social taboo and negligence are costing the sexual minorities their human rights like legal protection. Therefore, it has become important to address this issue to create social awareness which might induce the urgency to practice equal laws for every gender identity. In this paper, a critical analysis of the human rights of Bangladeshi transgendered people has been performed. Finally, the human rights condition of transgender people of Nepal and India is also discussed.

Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World

These are troubling times, in which we appear to be facing an ever-expanding litany of harms and injustices entirely of our own making. Our awareness of these pathological conditions is expressed through various critical perspectives and platforms, which together reinforce a pervasive sense of crisis. We all contribute to the making of our world in a variety of ways. Few of us can claim to possess entirely clean hands when it comes to accounting for how the world could have become so disenchanted and so unpleasant for so many. However, some may wish to claim that the very purity of their cause provides them with a secure alibi. The sounds of utterly marginalized voices do not carry very far and remain inaudible to those who occupy the various sites of economic, political and legal power. This cannot be said of human rights, which cannot claim the status of ignored outsider. In a relatively short span of time, human rights came to fill the mouths of countless millions of people in their attempts to give voice to “justice.” Human rights, at least according to many of its most ardent supporters, is the language of humanity. Setting aside the metaphysical presumptions of such sentiments, the very fact that so many human beings across the world, including so many of the most and the least powerful of humankind, adopted the language of human rights appeared to confirm its status as the globe’s foremost moral doctrine for the public sphere. The elevated status of human rights does not rest upon rhetoric alone. That human rights occupy a prominent place within the global order is apparent in a variety of ways and settings, one of the most visible of which is the rapid development of an entire body of international human rights law. The moral power of human rights was given hard, concrete form through the hard, concrete institutions of international and domestic law. Through its legal embodiment, human rights became an integral component of the global order and, in so doing, lost the moral alibi afforded those doctrines that seek only to protest and condemn from the sidelines.