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Mar. 5, 2001

Notes on the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights The genesis of the vision of fundamental rights or claims of all people to obtain just treatment emerges from three primary arguments: Natural rights Religious beliefs and duties A sense of responsibility to care for others Philosophical positions about the nature of government. Some argue that the concept of individual human rights is profoundly western. Others counter with the argument that all the major religions of the world advocate human responsibility to others. They share a universal interest in the integrity, worth and dignity of all persons and identify a duty towards those who suffer. They encourage the direction of thoughts and actions away from self-centeredness and toward the well-being of others. Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, the Torah, Christianity, Islam and others all establish a vision of an ideal way of being, a moral imperative of obligation to others, the concept of a duty to protect others. Philosophers as well posed a universal law of nature that provided the basis for an egalitarian framework of rights: equal respect for all, equality before the law, equality in political power, equality of civil rights. Many philosophers speak of a natural law that "commands right conduct and forbids wrongdoing." Much of the literature on natural law focuses on universal responsiblities and duties and later argue that rights are a corelative of duties. The French Delaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789 was described as a single page that "outweighed libraries and was stronger than all the armies of Napoleon." Opponents of these ideas stressed the sovereignty and authority of the nation-state. Edmund Burke warned that ideas about the rights of man were proposed by those "carried away with dangerous theoretical extremes" and that they had forgotten the nature of man -- "flawed, weak and only intermittently rational." He was concerned that if people were given too many rights they would want everything. Arguments against the universality of human rights pointed to the importance of the secular order, concerns about equality of gender and race, doctrines of national sovereignty and domestic jurisdiction. International law, for example, is defined as law governing relations between nation-states. Even in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights based on theories of natural law and "inalienable" rights, four groups of Americans were excluded: slaves, women, the unpropertied, and indigenous peoples. Other Western nations as well had difficulties with the distance between vision and reality concerning human rights. Another difficulty was the lack of information about the plight of others. The first efforts of the 19th century to protect rights and defend justice focused on slavery. Britain emancipated slaves in its colonies in 1833. France ended slavery after the revolution of 1848. Only in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation did the U.S. begin to free its slaves. Only Cuba and Brazil retained salavery in the Western Hemisphere longer than the United States. Race, gender and class were other barriers that are slowly giving way. The Red Cross established the rights of individuals in time of war to certain basic human rights. Gradually the theory that if a stated persecuted its own people to such an extent that it attracted international attention and generated international outrage, then intervention by others might be considered legitimate. Minorities who suffered religious or ethnic persecution received early attention. The concept of humanitarian intervention began to be recognized although critics worried that the theory carried a dangerous potential of providing a pretext for coercion or a mask for motives of national self-interest and aggrandizement. In the years between the turn of the last century and World War I, thirteen intergovernmental bodies and 304 NGOS were established to deal with growing internationalism brought about by technology and advances in telephone and telegraph, railroad, postal services, shipping, salvage at sea, protection of patents and copyrights, law enforcement, scientific discovery, trade, suppression of opium and other drugs, even sports events. In 1901 the NGO known as the Ligue des Droits de l"Homme was established. Also the International Labor Office and the NAACP in the U.S. were founded. The involvement of nonwhites and non-Westerners in World War I fighting was important in the subsequent development of African and Asian nationalism and visions of human rights especially self-determination. Within countries, WWI accelerated the evolution of visions about human rights by denying them. Governments sought centralization, economic regimentation and thought control. The government regulated lives, conditions of employment, diet, freedom of action and speech -- all in the name of of national security. At the same time, President Woodrow Wilson announced the U.S. would "put human rights above all other rights." Lenin also spoke of human rights placing emphasis on socal and economic rights focused on class and group rights rather than the individual. Great hope and drama surrounded the creation of the League of Nations. The League with the International Court of Justice was supposed to make the achievement of peace and justice and the promotion of human rights possible through collective action. Some provisions relative to human rights included fair and human labor conditions for men, women and children in all countries, agreements about enforcing laws agains traffic in women and children and in opium and other drugs, support of freedom of communiation and transit, expansion of the scope of humanitarian law on improvement of health, prevention of disease and the "mitigation of suffering throughout the world" and they agree to work for the just treatement of native inhabitants of territories under their control. Woodrow Wilson chaired the Commmission but in the end, the U.S. Senate refused to ratify the agreement and the United States remained outside the League of Nations. Women's rights made grreat advances in 1919 and 1920 including the 19th amendment to the U.S. constitution giving women the right to vote in the U.S. New NGOs devoted to advancing international human rights were created. Many dealt with racial equality and the right of nondiscrimination. The French Ligue mentioned above saw itself as an organized designed to hold a visionary ideal aloft and to pressure governments on behalf of human rights. Most of these visons of international human rights came from either individuals or from NGOs rather than governments. The League of Nations created several special mechanisms to help monitor and implement treaty obligations and to bring violations of human rights before the court of International Justice. The beginning of World War II made the future of human rights bleak. The U.S. had played no significant role in international affairs after World War I. It deliberately chose not to participate in the Legue of Nations and pursued a policy of isolationism. The outbreak of the war made it clear that isolationism was an illusion. President Roosevelt proclaimed the "four essential human freedoms" to Congress: the freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. He and Winston Churchill met in August 1941 "somewhere in the Atlantic" and issued the Atlantic Charter, an eight point declaration relinquishing territorial aggrandizement for their two countries, supporting freedom of trade and the seas, respecting the rights of people to choose their own form of government, the right to have improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security, and the right for people to "live out their lives in freedom from want and fear." This Charter was the basis of an agreement to bind together what were called the "united nations". Many new international organizations, precursors of those that form components of the United Nations, were created during the War. At the end of the war, the "Great Powers" came together at Dumbarton Oaks to draw up a charter for the United Nations. Because of disagreements among the Soviet delegation and the Chinese in particular, mention of human rights was buried, rather the text spoke of social and economic cooperation and eliminated all mention of racial equality. However, the power of the vision of human rights was such that a widespread demand went up for a more broadly based international conference. The ambassador from New Zealand to the U.S., Carl Berendsen, expressed what many felt when he said that the Dumbarton Oaks proposals "aims too low." Many regional conferences of the smaller countries of the world were convened calling for "peace with rights." The San Francisco Conference convened by the U.S. Department of State included 42 NGOs like the American Association of University Women, the American Bar Association, the American Federation of Labor, the American Jewish Community, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peac, the Countil on Foreign Relations, the Federal Council of Churches, the national Catholic Welfare Conference and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People among many others. Not surprisingly, the representatives were not content to simply participate but spoke out passionately, issued press releases, lobbied representatives from foreign countries, and applied pressure wherever they could. The issue of the right to self-determination and the welfare of indigenous people in colonial territories were particularly hot issues. With many compromises agreement was reached on the terms of the United Nations charter on June 26, 1945. Article I of the Charter includes explicit human rights provisions -- To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples ... to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian characters, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion ... and recognition of the interdependence of the peoples of the world. Reactions to the Charter differed widely. Never before had the issues of international human rights been so openly discussed, strongly advocated, or made such an integral part of a negotiated agreement with obligations and responsilities by so many different nations. It wasn't perfect but people generally agreed with President Harry Truman who said it was "the best possible hope" of realizing peace with human rights for men, women and children around the world. The All-Colonial People's Conference was convened shortly after the signing. The African National Congress and the World Jewish congress along with the NAACP and the Indian Rights Association, among others, pushed for provisions to protect human rights. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg attracted enormous world attention as information about atrocities became available. Changes in constitions for many countries followed that specifically addressed equality of rights, such as Brazil, China, Ecuador, France, Japan, Panama, Yugoslavia. Women's rights were specifically but not exclusively addressed. The United Nations created the Commission on Human Rights and elected by acclaim Eleanor Roosevelt as its first chair. One of her recommendations considering very daring was to recommend that the Commission be composed of individual experts rather than representative of governments. From the first meeting the Commission confronted fundamental philosophical questions about human rights. "Do they originate from a deity, from eternal religious precepts, or from enduring philosophical principles, or are they granted by the authority of temporal states under exclusive domestic jurisdiction? Can they be universally claimed by all peoplewithout distinctions as members of the larger human family or are they restricted to membership within a given state, culture or stage of development? Should the basic right to life be applied at the time of conception, or only after birth? do rights apply only to people, or can states claim certain rights? What is the relation between human rights for individuals and lasting peace and security for the world? ... Are some human rights more fundamental than others? For example, are political and civil rights more important than economic and social rights, or must they all be respected in equal degree? what happens if the claims of one right conflict with those of another." The newly created UNESCO convened a "conference of Philosophers" in 1947 to hear their views on these and other questions. They concluded that despite difference, all people shared certain basic and fundamental principles that applied to human rights "not only to all governmnets, but also to their peoples." They concluded that "Human rights have become, and must remain, universal." They enumerated many of these rights but for each right they identified it raised a political problem somewhere in the world. The Commission on Human Rights considered all the reactions and in 1948 drafted a declaration with 28 articles that it submitted to the Economic and Social Council of the UN which transmitted it to the UN General Asembly. It was debated in this body in the fall of 1948. the members successed in reaching consensus or near-consensus of most of the articles stating that it was not intended to be a narrow set of legally binding provisions ("a document for lawyers) but rather a statement of universal principles that could be widely understood and serve as an inspiration for subsequent action. The first of the 30 articles declared that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." It also declared that all the rights and freedoms in the document were applicable to everyone "without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sec, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status." Some wonderful quotes I came across in reading about Human Rights from various sources here for your enjoyment: "Do not make the mistake of thinking that concerned people cannot change the world; it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead "Am I my brother's keeper?" Genesis 4:9 "Close your hearts to pity, and be prepared to act brutally." Adolf Hitler "Sometimes issues arise where one has to advocate something that may be difficult for one's own government to carry through, and yet, if one believes it is right, I think one should advocate it, hoping that if it would be good for the world, it would, therefore, in the end, be good for one's own government and one's own people too." Eleanor Roosevelt "I learned from my illiterate but wise mother that all rights to be deserved and preserved came from duty well done. Thus the very right to live accrues to us only when we do the duty of citizenship of the world. From this one fundamental statement, perhaps it is easy enough to define the duties of Man and Woman and to correlate every right to some corresponding duty to be performed." Gandhi

Feb. 5, 2001

Additional Readings Hofstede Analysis. -- A quick summary found by Christine Stachowicz. Includes the fifth dimension: Confucian dynamism with valuable Long-Term Orientation (high or low) (defined as long-term commitments and respect for tradition, strong work ethic but somewhat slow to change) Some examples of "advice to international visitors:" (Georgia example described on Feb. 5 "Getting Ready" was model) Purdue University. "Customs and Culture" from Purdue's International Students and Scholars Handbook. contributed by Cynthia Merrill. "Minding your Manners" -- by Lisa Guffey, a grad student at Ball State Univ. about the Rocky Ridge Boarding School on a Navajo Reserveration. contributed by Leslie Sult EduPass: The Smart Student Guide to Studying in the US A guide that "contains up-to-date information about everything an international student needs to know about studying and living in the U.S." Check the "Cultural Differences" link -- contributed by Cynthia Merrill.

Revised 3/5/2001.