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  • Chapter 11 - International Human Rights Regimes (Abridged)

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    Mara de los Santos
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    This document discusses international human rights regimes. It describes the global human rights regime and its key actors like the UN Human Rights Council and treaty bodies. It also discusses regional regimes in Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Finally, it examines single-issue regimes and how human rights regimes have evolved over time, noting the challenges of moving from declaratory to enforcement regimes on the multilateral level.

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    Presentation on Chapter 11 of Jack Donnelly's Universal Human Rights

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    This document discusses international human rights regimes. It describes the global human rights regime and its key actors like the UN Human Rights Council and treaty bodies. It also discusses regional regimes in Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Finally, it examines single-issue regimes and how human rights regimes have evolved over time, noting the challenges of moving from declaratory to enforcement regimes on the multilateral level.

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    85 views18 pages

    Chapter 11 - International Human Rights Regimes (Abridged)

    Uploaded by

    Mara de los Santos
    This document discusses international human rights regimes. It describes the global human rights regime and its key actors like the UN Human Rights Council and treaty bodies. It also discusses regional regimes in Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Finally, it examines single-issue regimes and how human rights regimes have evolved over time, noting the challenges of moving from declaratory to enforcement regimes on the multilateral level.

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    of 18

    Chapter 11

    International
    Human Rights
    Regimes
    Mai de los Santos
    I. Global Human Rights Regime

    International Regimes
    • “Systems of norms and decision
    making procedures accepted by
    states and other international actors
    as binding in a particular issue area”
    Decision making procedures
    Involves binding international decision
    Enforcement making (and international monitoring
    of national compliance)
    Includes monitoring practices and
    policy coordination - states use
    Implementation international forums to coordinate
    policies under national control
    Information exchange and efforts to
    Promotion encourage/assist national
    implementation of international norms

    • Can be used to classify regimes, which can be


    further classified as relatively strong or weak
    • Declaratory regime - involves international
    norms, but no international decision-making
    Who/what are the main
    actors in a global human
    rights regime?
    • The Universal Declaration and International
    Human Rights Covenants - provide norms
    • Principal actors include:
    • UN Human Rights Council
    • “Treaty bodies”
    • UN High Commissioner for Human
    Rights
    The Human Rights Council
    • Impartial forum for development of new
    international human rights norms (ex. Conventions
    of PWDs)
    • Efforts: to promote the implementation of human
    rights, multilateral monitoring (limited in scope)
    • Special rapporteurs and working groups
    Treaty Bodies
    • 9 human rights treaties establish a committee of
    experts to monitor implementation
    • Second major focus on multilateral implementation
    activity for internationally recognized human rights

    Activities of the treaty bodies


    • Reporting - principal & most important activity
    • General Comments
    • Complaint Procedures
    Reporting
    Public Written Publishing
    Report Questions Discussion Exchange Comments
    • Limited, non-coercive monitoring
    • Two major limits:
    • Positive effects depend on state willingness
    • Changes are likely to be limited and incremental, not systematic
    General Comments
    • Quasi-authoritative interpretations of nature of obligations
    under a treaty
    • Ex. “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
    degrading treatment or punishment…” (Article 7, ICCPR)
    Complaint Procedures
    • Individual “communications” screened by the OHCHR,
    recommendations made and given to gov’t in question
    • Voluntary participation; not binding in international law
    The High Commissioner for
    Human Rights

    • Important role: information


    dissemination
    • Administrative and research support for
    the treaty bodies and UN Human Rights
    Council
    • Illustrates the possibilities for progressive
    cooperative action with governments
    II. Political Foundations of the Global Regime

    • Post World War II


    • Circumstances made it easy to agree on a set
    of international principles against violations of
    basic rights, HOWEVER
    • Decision-making remained entirely national
    • Remains a declaratory regime
    • Why? Because nations value tangible benefits
    • Human are a “profoundly national” issue in
    Universal Declaration model
    III. & IV.
    Regional Human Rights Regimes and
    Single-Issue Human Rights Regimes

    • “Autonomous, but relatively coherently


    nested international human rights (sub)
    regimes”
    • Single-issue human rights regimes - less
    institution-bound; restrict their activities to
    a limited range of issues
    III. Regional Human Rights Regimes

    A. The European Regional Regime


    • “Strong system of regional human rights
    enforcement”
    • “Evolutive interpretation”
    B. The Inter-American System
    • Relatively weaker than European counterpart
    • Optional recognition of jurisdiction
    C. The African Regional Regime
    • “Clawback clauses”
    D. The Arab World & Asia
    • Non-existent until recent years
    IV. Single-Issue Human Rights Regimes

    A. Minority Rights
    B. The Slave Trade & Slavery
    C. Workers’ Rights
    D. Genocide and Crimes against
    Humanity
    E. Racial Discrimination
    F. Torture
    G. Women’s Rights
    H. Children
    I. Disabled People
    J. Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
    Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
    • Debate: are they international human rights?
    • Distinctive in the context of human rights for 4 reasons:
    1. More than three fifths of all states have no indigenous
    peoples in their territories
    2. Requires the creation of special mechanisms
    3. Rights are held by the group and not individual
    members
    4. Economic costs of indigenous peoples’ rights claims -
    astronomical (ex. US and Canada)
    V. Assessing Multilateral Human Rights
    Mechanisms

    Source of Authority
    • HR institutions draw influence from broader
    organizations
    • Avoid politicization to maximize impact
    Range or Focus
    • Single-issue/thematic initiatives - less threatening
    Character of Powers
    • Individual complaint mechanisms - relies on the commitment
    of states to abide by proceedings and implement decisions;
    can only address a small number of cases
    VI. The Evolution of Human Rights Regimes
    • Promotional regimes remain the rule
    • Movement from declaratory regime?
    • When states accept norms stronger than non-binding
    guidelines: declaratory regimes —> promotional
    regimes
    • Requires a large qualitative jump in transition to
    implementation or enforcement
    • Largest contributor to a strong regime: national
    commitment
    • Enforcement regimes are regional
    • Importance of dominant power and hegemony
    • Effective exercise of power requires ideological
    justification
    Overview

    • There are norms and decision-making procedures that guide


    govern international human rights: regimes.
    • There are principal actors/key figures that are involved in giving
    authority to these regimes.
    • From the Global Regime, there may be “nested” region-specific
    or single-issue regimes
    • These “sub” regimes have varying key institutions and
    mechanisms.
    • We can assess the impact and effectivity of these mechanisms.
    • How do we move from a promotional regime to a “stronger”
    implemented or enforced regime?
    • There are limitations of multilateral action in the global human
    rights regime.
    Chapter 11

    End

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