u2uu8S 0SC - Claiming Buman Rights

Piof. Bi. Bans u. Kippenbeig anu Piof. Bi. Bi.

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21
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of Febiuaiy 2u14
Woiu Count: 2uS9


Saiah Nichaela Spitz
s.spitzjacobs-univeisity.ue
Nati.-Ni.: 2uSSuS9u
Saiah Spitz
0SC - Claiming Buman Rights
1
The official uefinition foi Buman Rights given by the 0niteu Nations is that they aie
'iights inheient to all human beings, whatevei oui nationality, place of iesiuence,
sex, national oi ethnic oiigin, coloui, ieligion, language, oi any othei status.' It
fuithei states that all people aie 'equally entitleu' to them 'without uisciimination'.
Nowauays, we take these iights as gianteu, especially in a fiist-woilu inuustiialiseu
countiy like ueimany, howevei, in ieality, the incieaseu inspection of violations of
Buman Rights has been a faiily iecent uevelopment in some countiies. All of Latin
Ameiica can be useu as an example foi this, which is why we will analyse the Buman
Rights situation in these countiies, with a special focus on Nexico anu Aigentina.
The iuea of the piotection of human iights uates back as fai as the Fiench
Revolution anu the 0.S. Bill of Rights, yet, it was only aiounu 2uu yeais latei, as
iecently as the 197us, that people iecogniseu the impoitance of the implementation
of human iights into goveinment policies. Especially aftei the Seconu Woilu Wai,
goveinments iealiseu that human iights aie a ciucial component in theii policies,
which is why a lot of human iights netwoiks emeigeu aiounu that time. This papei
will only give a shoit oveiview of the cieation of human iights netwoiks in geneial
anu will then shift its focus to Latin Ameiica, Nexico anu Aigentina in paiticulai, as
veiy seveie human iights violations have occuiieu in both countiies until veiy
iecently.
Aftei the Seconu Woilu Wai anu the Nazi genociue of }ews, Sinti anu Romani,
homosexuals anu people with uisabilities, the issue of human iights became a
piessing issue like nevei befoie. This leau to the iapiu establishment of the 0niteu
Nations in 194S, which weie built on Piesiuent Roosevelt's Foui Fieeuoms: fieeuom
of speech anu ieligion anu fieeuom fiom want anu feai.Shoitly aftei the founuation,
the 0N assigneu the Commission on Buman Rights to uiaft a 0niveisal Beclaiation
of Buman Rights. 0n Becembei 1u, 1948, the S6 membeis of the 0N auopteu the
Beclaiation anu by touay moie than 18S nations have incoipoiateu the 0niveisal
Beclaiation of Buman Rights into theii constitution.
Saiah Spitz
0SC - Claiming Buman Rights
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As a iesult of the 0niveisal Beclaiation, the tiansnational human iights auvocacy
netwoik came to life. This is an acioss-boiuei netwoik 'cieateu to piomote
compliance with univeisally accepteu noims.' This netwoik is maue up of five majoi
components:
(1) Paits of inteigoveinmental oiganisations at both a iegional anu inteinational
level
(2) Inteinational Non-uoveinmental 0iganisations (Nu0s): These Nu0s pay
paiticulai attention to specific violations of human iights, iegaiuless of wheie these
violations aie taking place. Especially uuiing the 197us anu 8us, the numbei of
inteinational Nu0s incieaseu iapiuly.
(S) Bomestic Nu0s: Nany Latin Ameiican activists became involveu in the fight foi
human iights uue to theii own expeiiences. 0ne example is the 'uianumotheis of
the Plaza ue Nayo' which will be explaineu in moie uetail latei.
(4) Piivate Founuations: The Foiu Founuation is a veiy impoitant example of
founuations that helpeu pioviue ieseaich on human iights in Latin Ameiica. Theie
weie of couise also othei piivate founuations that helpeu suppoit human iights
activities.
(S) Paits of some goveinments: uoveinment policies often emeigeu uue to piessuie
fiom human iights oiganisations.
Even befoie the incoipoiation of human iights into the ueclaiation of Latin
Ameiican countiies, theie was a stiong suppoit netwoik between the countiies.
This was paiticulaily helpful as the countiies hau anu still have a veiy uneven
uistiibution of powei, so thiough the suppoit of stiongei countiies, weakei
countiies weie able to counteiact inteiventions which they woulu noimally not
have been able to uo. Even though this useu to mostly apply to soveieignty anu
noninteivention, it was faiily easy to apply the same concept to the piomotion of
Saiah Spitz
0SC - Claiming Buman Rights
S
human iights anu uemociacy. Neveitheless, it took many yeais to implement human
iights in eveiy countiy anu this piocess also claimeu many victims, as will be shown
in some examples latei. The fiist step towaius the iecognition of human iights was
the joining of the League of Nations, which many countiies in Latin Ameiica uiu
aftei the Fiist Woilu Wai. Anothei step towaius the acknowleugement of human
iights was the uiafting anu passing of the Ameiican Beclaiation on the Rights anu
Buties of Nen, months befoie the 0niveisal Beclaiation of Buman Rights was
passeu. Bowevei, it still took until the 197us foi any actual changes to occui in most
of Latin Ameiica, as this was when iegional anu inteinational human iights
netwoiks emeigeu.
Nongoveinmental oiganisations (Nu0s) playeu a ciucial pait uuiing the
implementation piocess in Latin Ameiica. Buiing the 197us a lot of human iights
oiganisations foimeu coalitions between each othei, making them veiy poweiful
anu influential in compaiison to pievious times. It was also aiounu that time that
inteinational Nu0s iealiseu the necessity of inteivening in human iights issues in
Latin Ameiica. This in tuin also leu mainly 0S anu Euiopean citizens to become
involveu in Latin Ameiica, paiticulaily if they hau some connection to a given
countiy, such as living theie befoie. 0ne example is Pepe Zalaquette, an immigiant
in Chile, who was fiist impiisoneu anu then expelleu fiom the countiy when he tiieu
to help some of his fiienus who suffeieu aftei the iepiession in 197S. Following this,
he moveu to the 0niteu States, wheie he was electeu to the boaiu of committees of
Amnesty Inteinational (AI). Amnesty Inteinational was the fiist human iights
oiganisation to gain inteinational iecognition anu is still one of the laigest
oiganisations conceining human iights. Pepe Zalaquette even became chaii of AI foi
S yeais, befoie he was finally alloweu to ietuin to Chile in 1986. Bue to his actions
anu achievements he was, anu still is, aumiieu by many anu seives as an inspiiation
foi a laige numbei of activists.
Bowevei, not just inteinational Nu0s play an impoitant iole in the puisuit of human
iights. As national Nu0s only focus on violations in one specific countiy, they often
Saiah Spitz
0SC - Claiming Buman Rights
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have moie uetaileu knowleuge about a case anu can then collaboiate with
inteinational Nu0s to use theii powei to achieve theii common goal. Nost people
join a national Nu0 foi one main ieason: they have themselves been involveu in
some way in a human iights violation anu weie tieateu in an unfaii mannei. This is
also the case foi most activists that aie pait of the netwoik 'uianumotheis of the
Plaza ue Nayo.' As an example, Estela Baines ue Cailotta became a membei anu
then latei on also the piesiuent of the pieviously mentioneu oiganisation, aftei both
hei husbanu anu hei uaughtei weie kiunappeu by Aigentine secuiity foices. Aftei
paying a iansom, hei husbanu was able to ietuin to hei, howevei, they still kept the
uaughtei. Shoitly aftei this, the militaiy ietuineu the bouy of the uaughtei claiming
that she was shot in a confiontation with the militaiy. Latei on, some people
contacteu Estela anu tolu hei that, in ieality, hei uaughtei hau been impiisoneu anu
hau given biith to a boy. When she founu out about this, she joineu the
uianumotheis of the Plaza ue Nayo, all women who weie looking foi theii
uisappeaieu gianuchiluien. As the human iights netwoik gaineu inteinational
attention, they quickly ieceiveu help fiom Ameiican scientists who helpeu them
gain access to a soit of pateinity test, which coulu skip one geneiation so that a
ielation between gianupaients anu theii gianuchiluien coulu be shown. This
methou maue it possible foi many family to ieunite, howevei, this uiu not go
without a veiy teuious piocess.
Founuations playeu a somewhat uiffeient, yet nonetheless equally impoitant iole in
the puisuit of human iights in Latin Ameiica. The main uiffeience between
founuations anu Nu0s is that founuations meiely suppoit the Nu0s mainly by
financial oi ieseaich means, yet they cannot implement theii own iueas. Theie have
been seveial founuations impoitant foi human iights in Latin Ameiica, howevei, the
Foiu Founuation has been the most impoitant anu poweiful one. 0ne of the biggest
achievements of this founuation was the funuing of the Biazilian Centei foi Analysis
anu Planning, a think tank foimeu by the Biazilian sociologist Beniique Caiuoso
aftei he was iemoveu fiom his pievious job by the goveinment.
Saiah Spitz
0SC - Claiming Buman Rights
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In the example of Aigentina we can see how the five majoi components of the
tiansnational human iights auvocacy netwoik woik togethei to finally implement
human iights into the constitution. Even befoie the final coup in 1976, the
Aigentinian goveinment was unuei a lot of piessuie to auheie to human iights. The
whole situation eiupteu when Aigentinean junta's political iepiession became
inteinational knowleuge, which was baseu on infoimation gatheieu by Amnesty
Inteinational anu some othei Nu0s. This leau the 0S goveinment to ieuuce anu
tempoiaiily even eliminate all militaiy aiu pioviueu foi Aigentina. In the meantime,
iegional Nu0s useu theii contacts with 0S anu Euiopean human iights netwoiks to
fuithei cause awaieness, which leau to even moie inteinational piessuie on the
Aigentinean goveinment. As a iesult, the Aigentine junta hau to impiove on theii
human iights situation as they weie uepenuent on the militaiy anu economic aiu of
Euiope anu the 0S. This piocess is known as the Boomeiang Piocess anu is uepicteu
in the uiagiam below.

Saiah Spitz
0SC - Claiming Buman Rights
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A similai phenomenon can be obseiveu in Nexico, howevei, the pioblem with
human iights violations in Nexico was, that it was only in the late 198us that othei
countiies founu out about these violations. The two main ieasons foi this aie that
only in the late 198us, auvocacy netwoiks staiteu foiming anu theiefoie only then
became awaie of the pievailing issues. The othei ieason is that to the outsiue woilu,
Nexico always seemeu like a veiy stiong uefenuei of human iights, so othei
countiies uiu not believe that any majoi violations coulu occui in such a countiy.
Bowevei, it was again the ielease of seveial iepoits by both Ameiica's Buman
Rights Watch anu AI, anu the woik of national anu inteinational Nu0s that biought
the violations to light. This new founu infoimation piovokeu piessuie fiom both the
0S goveinment anu iegional oiganisations, which leau to the Nexican goveinment
having to ieuuce its human iights violations. The piess anu Nu0s closely monitoieu
the compliance with this ieuuction.
Fiom the uevelopment of human iights in Nexico, Aigentina anu Latin Ameiica in
geneial we can see that it was a veiy long anu teuious pioceuuie to auu the human
iights to constitutions. It was only thiough the help of Nu0s, founuations anu the
piessuie fiom foieign goveinments that suppoiteu the iuea of human iights that
any change was even possible anu even then the iespective goveinments uiu not
immeuiately change theii policies.
The pioblem with enfoicing human iights in countiies is that the 0N Chaitei
manuate on human iights is weakei than pioposeu by many Nu0s, meaning that
countiies aie only stiongly encouiageu to iespect human iights, howevei, Nu0s
believe that they shoulu be assuieu anu piotecteu.
We must also note that the human iights auvocacy netwoiks aie not always
successful in eliminating human iights violations. The netwoiks faileu foi example
uuiing massive abuses in Colombia in the 199us oi we can even look at countiies
outsiue of Latin Ameiica, such as China foi an example of the failing of netwoiks. It
is veiy uifficult as a foieign countiy to uetect human iights violations, making it
Saiah Spitz
0SC - Claiming Buman Rights
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ciucial foi all five components to closely woik togethei in oiuei to achieve the best
possible outcome. Negotiations aie also always easiei if theie is some involvement
of leveiage, as was the case in Nexico anu Aigentina. It must also be noteu that
countiies often uo not tiack a countiy as much if that countiy is of impoitance to the
fiist countiy. Theiefoie, the vulneiability of a countiy must also always be
consiueieu when uiawing conclusion about the inteivention in human iights issues.

Saiah Spitz
0SC - Claiming Buman Rights
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Works Cited

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Pearcy, Thomas, and Mary Dickson. "Franklin D. Roosevelt, The "Four
Freedoms" Address to Congress." Franklin D. Roosevelt, The "Four
Freedoms" Address to Congress. N.p., 4 Feb. 1997. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

"A Short History of Human Rights." A Short History of Human Rights.
University of Minnesota, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

Schmitz, Hans P. Transnational Human Rights Networks: Significance and
Challenges. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Keck, Margaret E., and Kathryn Sikkink. Activists Beyond Borders:
Advocacy Networks In International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1998.
Print.