Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

204 Pages·2007·11.76 MB·English

by  Andrew Clapham

Andrew Clapham
HUMAN RIGHTS
A Very Short Introduction
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXTORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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©Andrew Clapham 2007
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First published as a Very Short Introduction 2007
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Data available
ISBN 978-0-19-920552-3
13579 10 8642
Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Great Britain
by Ashford Colour Press Ltd., Gosport, Hampshire
Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgements ix
List of illustrations xi
1
Looking at rights 1
2 The historical development of international
human rights 23
3 Human rights foreign policy and the role of
the United Nations 57
4
The international crime of torture 81
5 Legitimate restrictions on freedom 96
6 Balancing rights - the issue of privacy 108
7
Food, education, health, housing, and work 119
8 Discrimination and equality 143
9 The death penalty 152
Final remarks 159
References 164
Further reading 174
Annex: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 182
Index 190
Preface
The aim of this book is to provide the reader with some entry
points into the worlds of human rights thinking, activism, and
law. This book concentrates on the power of ideas to mobilize
people against injustice and indignities. Human rights do not
really resolve the tension between competing interests and various
visions of how the world should be; rather, human rights ideas
provide the vocabulary for arguing about which interests should
prevail and how best to achieve the ends we have chosen.
This short introduction actually looks at the content of a number
of rights rather than simply telling the human rights story of
revolutions, proclamations, and continuing struggles. Calling for a
world based on respect for human rights is easy; adjusting current
arrangements to achieve full respect for human rights is a never-
ending process when we consider that there are human rights
to life, equality, free speech, privacy, health, food, and housing.
Human rights are about each of us living in dignity, and we are a
long way from achieving that on a global scale. We shall see that
the human rights project is not simply about implementing a set
of obligations fixed in history; rather, the human rights movement
is about people standing up to injustice and showing solidarity in
the face of oppression.
In order to allow readers to discover for themselves some of
the texts and organizations referred to in this introduction,
we have provided a website with internet links at
http://hei.unige.ch/human-rights-vsi. References marked
with an asterisk* in this book can be found on the website.
Acknowledgements
I should like to thank all those at Oxford University Press who
worked to bring this project to fruition. Special thanks go to
Marsha Filion, who saw through the initial ideas and lent
her support at an important stage. I must also thank James
Thompson, Alyson Silverwood and Zoe Spilberg for their hard
work in the production of the book. In addition, I very much
appreciated the constructive comments and encouragement I
received from Susan Marks and the anonymous reviewers.
Their enthusiasm, dedication, and suggestions certainly
shaped the final product for the better. Thanks also go to
Louise Petre for designing an elegant companion website for
the book.
Here at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva,
I have been fortunate to have access to assistance from excellent
graduate students, who have posed pertinent questions and
provided marvellous editorial help. I should like particularly to
thank Michelle Healy and Claire Mahon for their help on this
project.
Lastly, let me express my gratitude to two people from my family:
my mother, Margaret Clapham, who nourished the project and
read the manuscript with a critical eye to keeping it jargon-free,
and my wife, Mona Rishmawi, who not only offered unwavering
support, but also helped to shape the ideas and was happy to
'think aloud' with me on many occasions.
A.B.C.
Graduate Institute of International Studies,
Geneva
List of illustrations
1 'Criminals' Rights Act': 8 Mary Robinson on a
Sunday Telegraph, mission in Afghanistan 79
14 May 2006 4 www.peacebuild.ca
2 Thomas Paine stamp 8 9 Guy Fawkes's confession 82
National Postage Museum, The National Archives
Smithsonian Institution,
Washington 10 'Resign, Rumsfeld': front
cover of The Economist,
3 Rights of Man book 8 May 2004 84
cover 30 © The Economist
© Penguin Books
11 'Human rights law is now
4 Radislav Krstic 38 officially a joke': cartoon in
'before': © Getty Images; The Economist,
'after': © Reuters/Ranko Cukovic 10 June 2006 94
© Kevin Kallaugher
5 Child soldiers in the
Democratic Republic of
12 Launch of the Appeal for
Congo 39
Amnesty, 1961 102
© Roger LeMoyne
© The Guardian Newspapers Ltd
1961
6 Demonstration in Berne 64
© Amnesty International (Suisse) 13 Princess Caroline of
2003 Monaco 117
© Getty Images
7 Mothers of the 'disappeared',
Buenos Aires 74
14 Union rights 139
© J. Etchart/Exile Images
© Getty Images