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WHAT HAPPENS IF
THERE ARE HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES? (What Governmental
Machinery Can Be Employed?)
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The UN can
investigate and publicize human rights abuses. Usually, the country
in question is embarrassed by negative world opinion and shamed into
halting their actions. The threat of being criticized and possibly
ostracized by the world community usually changes their behavior and
improvement occurs.
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The UN can
denounce and condemn countries who abuse human rights. Generally,
countries are sensitive to exposure of their human rights abuses.
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The UN can
suspend or sever diplomatic relations, isolate an apartheid regime
and make them pariahs. (ex. So. Africa)
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The UN can
impose economic sanctions, deny assistance to develop the country,
restrict their trade, and institute economic blockades.
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The UN can
impose trade sanctions and offer no financial assistance.
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The UN can
summon military force when there is a threat to international peace
and security. (This is usually an option of last resort - ex.
genocide)
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The UN can
create special war crimes tribunals authorized to persecute and
punish those guilty of war crimes and genocide. (ex. Yugoslavia and
Rwanda)
In the
future, the UN could create an ongoing International Criminal Court.
(International Justice System)
IF THERE ARE HUMAN
RIGHTS ABUSES, WHAT NON-GOVERNMENTAL MACHINERY CAN BE EMPLOYED? (WHAT
ROLE DO NGO’S PLAY IN REGARD TO HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS?)
There are
many initiatives that citizens and groups world-wide undertake to
promote human rights. One should remember that there could possibly have
been no human rights mandate in the United Nations Charter whatsoever if
it had not been for the pressure exerted by non-governmental advocates
in San Francisco in the spring of 1945. Human rights advocacy groups
constantly probe, gather information, nudge, and nag governments.
Courageous individuals in repressive societies slip word of abuse to
foreign journalists and rights advocates. "...without the zeal of
human rights activists ... countless individuals would still be
languishing in jails, vanished persons would still remain unaccounted
for, farmworker organizers would be shot, and orphans would still suffer
deadly abuse in orphanages." Human rights advocates provide
information about abuses and publicly expose them to the world. (Inalienable
Rights, Fundamental Freedoms, A Report of the UNA-USA Global Policy
Project, UNA-USA, 1996)
The
following is a list of some of the NGO's (nongovernmental organizations)
and groups which monitor human rights abuses and/or educate others to
strive to achieve human dignity for all citizens throughout the world:
Amnesty International,-USA, Partners in Human Rights Education (PIHRE),
University of Minnesota Human Rights Education Center, University of
Denver Human Rights Center, University of Pennsylvania Human Rights
Education Center, Human Rights Watch, Holocaust Center in Dallas. Texas,
The American Bar Association Campaign for Peace and Democracv, the
Center for Global Education, Catholic Charities, etc. For a complete
listing, consult the PARTNERS IN HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION DIRECTORY and
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL website. (This Directory lists addresses, phone
numbers, website addresses, and contact persons.)
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