THE POLITICS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN
RIGHTS
POLS 4427/8427
Georgia State University,
Spring 2001,
Mondays, 7:15-9:45PM, Room
417-G
Professor Henry (Chip) Carey,
Email: polhfc@langate.gsu.edu
Tel: 404-651-4845
Office Hours:
Monday Noon-1PM, Tuesday:
4-5PM, Thursday 4-5PM or by appointment
This
is an introductory survey course on international human rights law,
institutions and politics. Global,
regional and national mechanisms and forces for promoting and protecting human
rights are covered, including procedural and substantive aspects.
You
are only required to read the first 75 pages listed of reading each week. Any
readings listed beyond 75 pages is optional, if you have or can make time. Assignments are listed by week. The precise assignment for each class will be
indicated in class, depending on precisely what we have had time to cover in
class.
For
your papers, as well as for future reference and inspiration, I have provided a
thorough listing of sources for each week's topic. You will write your papers
on one of the weekly topics. You will make a 5-10 minute class presentation of
your paper on the day that this reading is discussed in class. You will need to
choose that topic by the third week of class. Please submit an outline to me
before beginning to write your paper. The paper is due the last class of the
semester.
Requirements for GRADE:
30%: Mid-Term Exam
covering first-half of the course
35%: one 5-page paper
on a topic related to one week’s reading. You will also be “on call” to answer
questions about the reading for the week that you selected.
35%: Final Examination
covering mostly the second half, but also the basic ideas and concepts from the
first half of the course
Excellent class
participation can raise your grade.
NB: University rules
state: “A student, doing passing work, was permitted to withdraw from the
course without penalty. Withdrawals without penalty will not be permitted after
the midpoint of the total grading period, which includes final examinations,
except in cases where hardship status has been determined by the Office of the
Dean of Students and the student is doing passing work, as determined by the
student’s instructor.” The last day to withdraw without a grade of W is:
March 2, 2001. The Mid-Term
will occur on Monday, February 26, 2001; so, you will have your mid-term
grade before March 2, 2001.
Three Items for
Purchase:
Kevin M. Cahill, ed., Health,
Human Rights, and Humanitarian Assistance in Conflicts and Disasters (New
York: Routledge, 1999)
Richard Falk, Human Rights
Horizons: The Pursuit of Justice in a Globalizing World (New York:
Routledge, 2000)
Course Packet: Available from Bestway Copy Shop on Decatur St.
READING ASSIGNMENTS:(THESE ASSIGNMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO REASONABLE CHANGES,
WITH NOTIFICATION TO THE STUDENTS IN CLASS)
We will rely on readings from
the computer extensively in this course. This will save you money, but will
require some extra effort on your part. The main internet sites from which you
will do required readings are:
Human Rights Working
Papers:
www.du.edu/humanrights/workingpapers
Human Rights Dialogue:http:www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Docuweb:http://docuweb.gsu.edu/
United Nations: www.un.org
Amnesty International:
www.amnesty.org
Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org
US State Dept.: www.state.gov/www/global/swci/index.html
and:
www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/index.html
You will also receive monthly
copies of UN Law Reports for which we will read for every class.
You should also be using the web-ct compliment
to this class to find human rights links and additional suggested readings from
the internet.
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WEEK I: INTRODUCTION TO COURSE, January 8, 2001
Required:
Video from Library South
Reserves: “The Wansee Conference”
D810.3 .W36 1989
Falk, “Introduction” and ch.1
“Pursuing Global Justice”
Docuweb: Kenneth Jost, “Human Rights”
Course Packet: David B. Steele, “Embedding UN Norms,” and Zenon
Stavrinides, “Human Rights Obligations under the UN Charter” and Jose Alves,
“The Declaration of Human Rights in Postmodernity”
As soon as possible, please
try to familiarize yourself with the following, which are found on www.un.org,
then click on treaties
United Nations Charter
Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights
International Covenant on
Economic Social and Cultural Rights
European Convention on Human
Rights
Charter, Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe
For
empirical data, you will want to consult human rights NGO reports. For a general overview, see the State Dept.'s
Annual Report on Human Rights in the world issued every February. The best NGO reports are from Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch's World Report: Events of 1997. See:
United Nations: www.un.org
Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org
US State Dept.: www.state.gov/www/global/swci/index.html
and:
www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/index.html
Look
for the code following the UN document, such as for "Comparative Summary
of Existing Communications and Inquiry Procedures and Practices under
International human rights instruments and under the Charter of the United
Nations." E/CN.4/1997/4, Jan. 21, 1997. (CN.4 stands for human rights,
CN.6 is for women). Fortunately, this particular document is available too on
the UN home page.
To
subscribe to the general Human Rights Watch e-mail list to receive press
releases and public letters concerning all regions of the world, send an email
message to majordomo@igc.apc.org with "subscribe hrw-news" in the
body of the message
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Week II: INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RIGHTS LAW, POLITICS AND
PRACTICE
January 22, 2001
An overview of the basic
human rights covenants, as well as the Conventions on the Child, Torture and
Genocide, and the Conventions on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination
Against Women.
Required:
Video from Library South
Reserves on “Human Rights” (30 minutes)
MC-0909
Falk, ch. 2 “A Half Century
of Human Rights” and ch. 10, “The Challenge of Genocidal Politics in an Era of
Globalization”
Peter R. Baehr,
“Controversies in the Current International Human Rights Debate,”
http://www.du.edu/humanrights/workingpapers/papers.htm
Jack Donnelly, “Ethics and
International Human Rights Practice”
http://www.du.edu/humanrights/workingpapers/papers.htm
Consult for Papers: Jack Donnelly and Rhoda E. Howard, "Assessing
National Human Rights Performance: A Theoretical Framework," Human
Rights Quarterly, Vol. 10, May 1988, pp. 214-48; Louis Henkin, ed., The
International Bill of Rights, New York: Columbia University Press, 1981,
Doug McAdams and Dieter Rucht, "The Cross National Diffusion of Movement
Ideas," in Russel J. Dalton, ed., Citizens, Protest and Democracy,
special issue of The Annals 528 (July 1993), pp. 56-74. You might also want to peruse a Holocaust
memoir to sense the world's conscience when human rights were developed, as
well as the mentality of some of the founders of the human rights movement. Alexander Donat's The Holocaust Kingdom,
New York: US Holocaust Museum, 1978, ($15.95) is a good one because it depicts
all the different phases of the nightmare.
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Week III: UNIVERSAL OR RELATIVISTIC?, ACCOUNTABLITY OR
AMNESTY?
January 29, 2001
Are human rights
universal? Should exceptions be made for
cultural differences, such as in East Asia?
What about states of emergency?
What rights are not derogable? Is
there such a thing as a mostly universal approach? What cross cultural consensus exists, if
any? We review which of the legally
binding, international human rights are actually respected in practice and
suggest some hypotheses why. We also
consider what actions states have undertaken during democratic transitions to
account for past violations, including the Truth Commissions in Haiti and El
Salvador and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa.
Required:
Falk ch. 5, “Patterns of
Global Dominance and Non-Western Attitudes toward Human Rights”
Todd Landman, “Comparative
Politics and Human Rights
http://www.du.edu/humanrights/workingpapers/papers.htm
Brandon Hamber and Richard
Wilson, “Symbolic Closure through Memory, Reparation and Revenge in
Post-conflict Societies”
http://www.du.edu/humanrights/workingpapers/papers.htm
Docuweb:
1) Makau Mutua, “African
Viewpoint”
2) Arab Conference on Human
Rights, “The Social Framework: An Arab View”
3) Catherine Lalumiere, “A
European Perspective”
4) Bonny Ibhawoh “Between
Culture and Constitution: Evaluating Cultural Legitimacy of Human Rights in the
African State”
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“Human Rights for All? The Problem of the Human Rights Box”,
www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“Efforts, East and West, to Improve Human Rights Assessments”www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“Transitional Justice in East Asia and its Impact on Human Rights,”
www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“The Human Rights Discourse of East Asia: Reports from the Region,” www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Human
Rights Dialogue,
”Cultural Sources of Human Rights in East Asia: Consensus Building Toward a
Rights Regime -A Conference Report,” www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“Three Years After the Bangkok Declaration: Reflections on the State of the
Asia-West Dialogue on Human Rights,“ www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“International Human Rights and Asian Commitment,” www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“About the Human Rights Initiative” www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Course
Packet:
Michael Freeman, “Universalism, Communitarianism, and Human Rights: A Reply to Chris Brown,”
and “Declan O’Sullivan, “The History of Human Rights across the Regions:
Universalism vs. Cultural Relativism” and Jack Donnelly, “Human Rights as
Natural Rights” and Jeremy Sarkin,”The Necessity for a Truth and Reconciliation
Commission in Rwanda”
Consult
for Papers: R.
J. Vincent, "The Idea of Rights in International Ethics," in Terry
Nardin and David R. Mapel, eds., Traditions of International Ethics;
David Forsythe, The Internationalization of Human Rights; Jack Donnelly,
Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice; Louis Henkin, The Age
of Rights, New York: Columbia University Press
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Week
IV:
MULTILATERAL POLITICS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
February
5, 2001
What
impact have multilateral implementation procedures had on the human rights
practices of states? Special attention
on the UN system, especially the Human Rights Commission, the Subcommission on
the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities, General
Assembly and the Human Rights Committee and other Treaty-created bodies.
Required:
Docuweb:
1)
Jack Donnelly: “The Multilateral Politics of Human Rights”
A.H.
Robertson and J. G. Merrils, “The United Nations and Human Rights: Other
Instruments and Procedures”
2)
Tom J. Farer, “The United Nations and Human Rights: More than a Whimper, Less
than a Roar”
3)
Patrick James Flood, “The UN Human Rights System” and “Factors Influencing the
Effectiveness of UN Human Rights Institutions”
Consult
for Papers:
UN Yearbook and the UN Chronicle, both published by the
UN, as well as the Inter Dependent, the bi-monthly newspaper of the UN
Association of the USA.
WWW HOME PAGES (url web
sites)
You
should get comfortable with the web to obtain human rights reports from various
sources, and to try to assess their comprehensiveness and accuracy. Normally, you have to find your document by
searching through "links." For
example, to obtain the draft optional protocol to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which would give
women a right to petition under the convention, you would click:
Someone
who seems very generous in answering student questions on human rights
documents is Wiltrud Harms, whose address is: wharms@boalt.berkeley.edu
Web Site URL's for Key Human
Rights Information Sources:
Aboriginal Law and
Legislation:
www.bloorstreet.com/300block/ablawleg.htm
Bosnia Link:
http://www.dtic.dla.mil/bosnia/
European Commission on Human
Rights www.dhcommhr.coe.fr
European Court for Human
Rights www.dhcour.coe.fr/default.hcm
Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org
Int'l Court of Justice www.law.cornell.edu/icj
or: www.icj-cij.org
Int'l Criminal Tribunal for
Former Yugoslavia: www.un.org/icty
www.demon.co.uk/iwp
Int'l Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda:
http://persubveb.francenet.fr/~intermed/
Int'l Indian Treaty
Council:
www.aloha.net/nation/iitc/
Int'l Law and Policy
Institute www.vcilip.org/vcilp/vip
International
Organization:
http://WEB.bu.edu/anajam/ir595.html
National Coalition on Haitian
Rights www.nchr.org
Rwanda and Bosnia list: TWATCH-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU
US Campaign to Ban Land Mines
(c/o Vietnam Vets): www.vvaf.org
UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights: www.unhchr@unog.ch
(includes
the 25 Human Rights Fact Sheets)
UN Library Home Page: www.un.org/Depts/dhl/unique
UN Office in Geneva: www.unog.ch
UN Resolutions from the
Current (52nd) Session can be found at:
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/res52.htm
UN Security Council agenda
matters, actions, statements, etc:
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/scact.htm
UN Subcommission on
Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities 1996 Resolution on
Protection of Indigenous Peoples
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu4/subres/9637.htm
Also under; UN Doc:
E/CN.4/Sub.2/RES/1996/37
Subcommission Summer 1997
Working Group on Indigenous Populations
UN Doc
E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/1997
War Criminal Watch www.wcw.org/wcw/
Yale UN Work Station www.library.yale.edu/un/unhome.htm
Univ. of Minnesota Human
Rights Library:
www.umn.edu/humanrts/usdocs/1994.html
For
those with no background in the United Nations, you should consult and/or
purchase any of the many introductory texts, e.g.: Forsythe, David P. and
Thomas Weiss, The United Nations and Changing World Politics, Boulder,
CO: Westview Press, 1994, 0-8133-9962-9, Mingst, Karen A. and Margaret P.
Karns, The United Nations in the Post-Cold War Era, Boulder, CO:
Westview Press, 1995, Roberts, Adam and Benedict Kingsbury, eds., United
Nations, Divided World, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993; Taylor,
Paul and A.J.R. Groom, International Institutions at Work, New York: St.
Martin's Press, 1988.
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WEEK
V: REGIONAL
HUMAN RIGHTS PROCESSES:
February
12, 2001
How
have regional human rights organizations influenced the practices of their
member states? What are the relative
strengths and weaknesses of regional as opposed to global approaches? What explains the dramatic differences between
regions? How do multilateral and
regional instruments co-exist? Special
attention will be paid to Europe and Latin America
Required: Robertson: ch. 4-7. Claude,
17, 18
Docuweb:
1)
Burns H. Weston, Robin Ann Lukes and Kelly M. Hnatt, “Regional Human Rights
Regimes: A Comparison and Appraisal”
2)
Thomas Buergenthal, “The Inter-American Human Rights System”
3)
Makau Mutua, “The African Human Rights Court: A Two-Legged Stool?”
Course
Packet:
“Selected Judgements of the European Court of Human Rights”
Consult
for Papers:
Forsythe, David, Human Rights in the New Europe, Lincoln, NB: University
of Nebraska Press, Buergenthal, Thomas, "The Advisory Practice of the
Inter-American Human Rights Court," 79 American Journal of
International Law, 1985, pp. 1-27, Gros Espiell, Hector, "Contentious
Proceedings before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights," 1 Emory
Journal of International Dispute Resolution, 1987, pp. 175-218
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Week
VI:
DOMESTIC REMEDIES, NGOs’ and HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING
Feb.
19, 2001
Required:
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“Human Rights Litigation: Promise v. Perils” http://www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Docuweb:
1)
W. Marvin Will, “NGOs and IGOs as Promoters of Liberal Democracy in the
Caribbean: Cases from Nicaragua and Guyana”
2)
Edward L. Cleary, “Transnational Networking for Human Rights Protection”
3)
Katherine A. Sikiink, “Nongovernmental Organizations, Democracy and Human
Rights in Latin America”
4)
Michael H. Posner, “Human Rights Defenders”
5)Laurie
S. Wiseberg, “Human Rights Nongovernmental Organizations”
Course
Packet:
Smith, Pugnucco and Lopez, “Globalizing Human Rights: the Work of Transnational
Human Rights NGOs in the 1990s” and Susan Burgerman, “Mobilizing Principles:
The Role of Transnational Activists in Promoting Human Rights Principles”
Consult
for Papers: Sikkink,
Kathryn, "Human Rights, Principled issue-networks, and Sovereignty in
Latin America," International Organization, Vol. 47, Summer 1993,
pp. 411-41 and Sikkink, "The Emergence,
Evolution and Effectiveness of the Latin American Human Rights
Network," in Elizabeth Jelin and Eric Hershberg, eds., Constructing
Democracy: Human Rights, Citizenship, and Society in Latin America,,
Boulder; Westview Press, 1996, ch.4; Cancado Trindade, Antonio,
"Exhaustion of Local Remedies in International Law and the Role of
National Courts," 17 Archiv des Volkerrechts, 1977-1978, pp.
333-370; Hurst Hannum, ed., Guide to International Human Rights Practice,
2d ed.; HRW reports on WWW; Constitutions of South Africa, which is based upon
the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Haiti and Romania's, which
give supremacy to the Covenants and other ratified human rights treaties
(unlike the ambiguous position of the US Constitution, which gives supremacy to
treaties, but not to UN actions).
MID-TERM
EXAMINATION:
February 26, 2001
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Week
VII: HUMAN
RIGHTS AND US FOREIGN POLICY
March
12, 2001
What
are the relative strengths and weaknesses of bilateral, as opposed to
multilateral implementation procedures?
What place should human rights objectives have in national foreign
policies? How can international human
rights be reconciled with the principle of non-intervention? What explains that the US has been both a
leading promoter and violator of human rights? What explains the different
human rights policies in East Asia, Africa and the "like-minded
states" like Canada, the Netherlands and Norway?
Required:
Falk,
ch. 3 “Taking Human Rights Seriously at Home”
Gregory
J. Moore, “Human Rights and United States Policy towards China in the New
Millenium” http://www.du.edu/humanrights/workingpapers/papers.htm
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“Toward a "Social Foreign Policy" with Asia: Fostering Links Between
Americans and East Asians on Shared Social Concerns”,
www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Consult
for Papers:
Fouad Ajami, "Human Rights and World Order Politics," in Falk, Kim
and Mendlovitz, eds., Toward a Just World Order; Robert Matthews and
Cranford Pratt, Human Rights in Canadian Foreign Policy, Shoultz, Lars, Human
Rights and united States Policy Toward Latin America, esp. Introduction and
Conclusion
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Week
VIII:
MINORITIES, DISAPPEARANCES AND RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION
March
19, 2001
What
are the sources of religious intolerance?
How have Latin America and the UN approached the problem of displaced or
disappeared persons? What is the right
to self-determination and what is it not?
What are the permissible limits or restrictions upon the exercise of
rights and what are impermissible derogations?
Required:
Falk
ch.6, “Revising the Right to Self-Determination”
Docuweb:
1)
Hurst Hannum, “Autonomy, Sovereignty and Self-Determination”
2)
Sabrina P. Ramet, “The So-Called Right of National Self-Determination and Other
Myths”
3)
Daniel Kofman, “Secession, Law and Rights: the Case of the former Yugoslavia”
4)Mario
Sznajder and Luis Roniger, “The Unsolved Legacy of Human Rights Violations in
the Southern Cone”
Consult
for Papers:
Lapidoth, Ruth, Autonomy: Flexible Solutions to Ethnic Conflicts,
Washington: US Institute of Peace, 1997; Nationalities Papers, special
issue on the Roma of Eastern Europe, Fall 1991.Extrajudicial, Summary or
Arbitrary Executions, UN Human Rights Fact Sheet, no. 11 (rev.1); Forced
Evictions and Human Rights, UN Human Rights Fact Sheet no. 25.
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Week
IX: SECOND GENERATION RIGHTS: GENDER,
ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS AND INDIGENOUS RIGHTS
March
26, 2001
Has
the demise of the "new world order" affected the Covenant on
Economic, Social and Political Rights?"
What effects have the globalization of capital had on this
"Second-Generation" of human rights?
What efforts have been undertaken to promote a right to
development? How has the right to a
healthy environment been formulated and implemented? What effects have the Earth summit and the
Kyoto conferences on ozone depletion regulation had? What are the rights of the indigenous
populations, both in law and in fact?
What was the effect of the April 8-10, 1997 conference in Phuket,
Thailand on the "Protection of Folklore"?
Required:
Falk
ch.7, “Group Claims within the UN System”
Rhonda
E. Howard-Hassman, “The Gay Cousin: Learning to Live with Gay Rights,”
http://www.du.edu/humanrights/workingpapers/papers.htm
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“Who Can Protect Workers' Rights? The Workplace Codes of Conduct Debates,”
www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“Breaking: The Women's Dimension of the Human Rights Box,”
www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Course
Packet:
Scott Leckie, “Another Step Toward Indivisibility: Identifying Key Features of
Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” and Arvonne S. Fraser,
“Becoming Human: The Origins and Development of Women’s Human Rights,” and Joel
Oestreich, “Liberal Theory and Minority Group Rights” and Miriam Aukerman,
“Definitions and Justifications: Minority and Indigenous Rights in a
Central/East European Context” and Boeker and van Grondelle, “The Environment
as a Human Right”
Docuweb: Mary H. Cooper,”Women and
Human Rights”
Consult
for Papers:
Human Rights Watch, Sexual Abuse of Women in US State Prisons, 1997. The
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, UN Human Rights Fact
Sheet no. 16 (rev. 1); Alston, Philip, "The United Nations' Specialized
Agencies and Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social,
and Cultural Rights," 9 Human Rights Quarterly, 1987, pp. 156-229,
Turk, Danilo, "The Realization of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights,
Final Report," UN doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/16, of 3 July 1992, pp. 1-70.,
Van Hoof, G. J. H., "The Legal Nature of Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights: A Rebuttal of Some Traditional Views," in Alston, Philip and K.
Tomasevski, eds., The Rights to Food, Dordrecht: SIM/Nijhoff, 1984, pp.
97-110.
See
1996 Resolution of the Human Rights Sub-Commission on "Protection of the
Heritage of Indigenous People" (E/CN.4/Sub.2/RES/1996/37) found at:
www.unhchr.ch/html/menu4/subres/9637.htm
C.f., the 1997 Working Group on Indigenous Populations
(E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/1997/). For futher
information, contact the Internatonal Indian Treaty Council at: 415-512-1501,
iitc@igc.apc.org
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Week
X:
HUMANITARIAN LAW, GENOCIDE AND WAR CRIMES TRIBUNALS
April
2, 2001
What
is the emerging understanding of the sociology of genocide? Is humanitarian law also human rights
law? What are the rights and modus
operandi of the International Committee of the Red Cross? What is the current debate on neutrality in
the distribution of humanitarian assistance?
How has Latin America responded to "internal disturbances and
tensions"? How effective have been
the International Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda? What are the prospects for the International
Criminal Court?
Required:
Falk
ch.9, “The Unmet Challenges of Genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda”
Docuweb;
Ben
Kiernan, “Bringing the Khmer Rouge to Justice”
Course
Packet:
Mark Osiel, “Why Prosecute? Punishment for Mass Atrocity,” and Linda Moore and
Mary O’Rawe, “International Lessons for the Transformation of Policing in Northern
Ireland”
Consult
for Papers:
Bell-Fialkoff, Andrew, Ethnic Cleansing, New York: St. Martin's Press,
1996; Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals, Selected and Prepared by the
United Nationals War Crimes Commission, His Majesty's Stationary
Series. See for example, Vol. II on the
Belsen Trial or the Einsatzgrappen trial at Nuremburg, where only five were
executed and most received ten year sentences, but were released in 1953,
serving only seven years for murdering 100,000 or more. For the Cambodian War Crimes research,
contact Yale Genocide Program for Yale, c/o Craig.etcheson@yale.edu; Gardner,
Gay, "Why Doesn't the US Arrest War Criminals?" The Christian
Science Monitor, Jan. 6, 1998, p.19
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Week
XI: Case
Studies
April
9, 2001
Does
the US have double standards on China and Iran?
What procedures have the UN adopted for these cases? Why is there so little attention to communal
killing in East and South Asia in most international human rights fora?
Required:
Video,
The Official Story, PN 1997, .O34 1995
Falk
ch. 8, “The Geopolitics of Exclusion: the Case of Islam”
Tom
J. Farer, “Swallowing Injustice to Build Community: Latin America after the Era
of State Terror”
http://www.du.edu/humanrights/workingpapers/papers.htm
Roberto
Belloni, “Building Civil Society in Bosnia-Herzegovina
http://www.du.edu/humanrights/workingpapers/papers.htm
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“Innovative Human Rights Strategies in East Asia,” www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Human
Rights Dialogue,“New
Issues in East Asian Human Rights: A Conference Report,”
www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Human
Rights Dialogue,
“Human Rights in the Post-Cold War Era: The Cases of North Korea, China
and Burma” www.cceia.org/lib_hri.html
Consult
for Papers:
Nathan, Andrew, "China: Getting Human Rights Right," The
Washington Quarterly, Spring 1997, Vol. 20, no.2, pp.135-152; Svensson,
Marina, The Chinese Conception of Human Rights, Wei Jingshen, Courage
to Stand Alone, New York: Viking, 1997.
www.hrw-news-asiaWigc.org See the
ongoing series from the NYC-based, Carnegie Council on Ethics and International
Affairs on human rights standards in East Asia
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Week
XII:
Humanitarian Assistance
April
16, 2001
How
has humanitarian assistance raised a plethora of human rights isses? What
standards other than human rights might be applicable?
Required: Cahill, Part I: Reality
Consult
for Papers:
Ian Guest, Behind the Disappearances; news accounts of the ongoing
crises in Chile and Argentina on their "dirty wars."
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Week
XIII:
REFUGEE RIGHTS AND ASSISTANCE
April
23, 2001
Required:
Cahill,
Part I: Players
Docuweb:
Dariusa
Rejali, “Conceptualizing Refugees Who Have Been Tortured in the Global Village”
Course
Packet:
Maria Stavropoulu, “Displacement and Human Rights: Reflections on UN Practice”
and Christina Boswell, “Doing Justice to Refugees: Challenges and Limits of the
Current Debate”
Consult
for Papers:
"The UN and Refugees' Human Rights," Secretariat of the International
Service for Human Rights," Geneva, 1997, Arboleda, Eduardo, "Refugee
Definition in Africa and Latin America: The Lessons of Pragmatism," 3 International
Journal of Refugee Law, 1991, no. 2, pp. 184-207, Goodwin-Gil, G.S., The
Refugee in International Law, Oxford: Clarendon, 1986.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Week
XIV: THE
VIENNA HUMAN RIGHTS CONFERENCE AND THE POST-COLD WAR
April
30, 2001
What
effects did the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights have? How has the end of
the Cold-War begun to harm and protect human rights? How are NGOs evolving? With the dawn of the new century, what new
perspectives on improving and strengthening protection mechanisms are emerging?
Required:
http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ngo/
Falk,
ch. 4 “Moving Toward Implementation”; ch.11, “The Extension of Human Rights to
Past and Future Generations” and ch. 12, “Morality and Global Security: A Human
Rights Perspective.”
Cahill,
Part III: Solutions and Future Options
Wofgang
Dietrich, “A Structural-cyclic Model of Developments in Human Rights,
”http://www.du.edu/humanrights/workingpapers/papers.htm
Consult
for Papers:
Cancado Trindade, Antonio, "The Current State of International
Implementation of Human Rights," Hague Yearbook of International Law,
1990, pp. 2-29; Fodor, Janos, "Future of Monitoring Bodies," Canadian
Human Rights Yearbook, 1991-1992, pp. 177-209, Martenson, "The United
Nations and Human Rights Today and Tomorrow," in Mahoney and Mahoney,
eds., Human Rights in the Twenty-First Century: A Global Challenge,
Dordrecht: Nijhoff, 1993, pp. 925-936, Ramcharan, B.G., "Strategies for
the International Protection of Human Rights in the 1990s," Human
Rights Quarterly, 1991, pp. 155-169.
FINAL
EXAMINATION:
MONDAY, MAY 7, 7:15-9:15PM
FOR ADDITIONAL READING
Alston,
Philip, Promoting Human Rights Through Bills of Rights: Comparative
Perspectives, New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, 825822-4, $64
Barbieri,
William A., Jr., Ethhics of Citizenship: Immigration and Group Rights in
Germany, Durham: Duke University Press, 1998, 0-8223-2071-1, $16.95, 216
pages
Braun,
Herbert, Our Guerillas, Our Sidewalks: A Journey Into the Violence of
Colombia, 0-87081-357-9, $17.50
Burg
and Walter Laquer, The Human Rights Reader, Meridian/Pergamon, rev. ed.,
1990, 0-452-01026-8
Fabricius,
Fritz, Human Rights and European Politics: The Legal Political Status of
Workers in the European Community, New York University Press, 0-85496-763-X
Heraclides,
Alexis, The Self-Determination of Minorities in International Politics,
London: Frank Cass, 1991, 0-7146-4082-4, $20, 291 pages
Holt,
Robin, Wittgenstein, Politics and Human Rights, New York: Routledge,
1997, 184 pages, $55, hardback, 0-415-15438-3
Howard,
Rhoda E., Human Rights and the Search for Community, Boulder: Westview,
195, 272 pages, $19.95,0-8133-2579
Human
Rights Watch, World Report, 1995, Yale University Press, 1995, 500
pages, $25, 06363-6 and equivalent ones for 1996, 1997
Ishay,
Micheline, R., The Human Rights Reader, New York: Routledge, 1998,
0-415-91849-9
Mullerson,
Rein, Human Rights Diplomacy, New York: Routledge, 1997, $18.95,
0-415-15391-3
Newberg,
Paula, The Politics of Human Rights, New York: NYU Press, 1980,
0-8147-5755-3
Robertson,
A.H. and J. G. Merrills, Human Rights in Europe: A Study of the European
Convention on Human Rights, Manchester University Press/distributed by St.
Martin's, 1995, 0-7190-4613-0, $29.95, paper, 448 pages
Roht-Arriaza,
Naomi, ed., Impunity and Human Rights in International Law and Practice,
New York: Oxford University Press, 1995