Human Rights Facts (48): Resource Curse

(source: http://solitaireinternational.wordpress.com/2007/05/)
Why do countries with lots of natural resources tend to do worse than countries with less resource wealth, both in terms of economic growth and in political, social and human rights terms? We see that countries which own lots of natural resources such as diamonds, oil or other valuables that are found in the [...]

Plato, Democracy, and “Human Rights” (3): Violence

(please read part 1 and part 2 first)
The philosophers are the only ones who know the value and superiority of theoretical life. The rest will only appreciate their efforts once they are successful. This is an effort on the part of Plato to justify the use of force. Ordinary people will not strive autonomously or [...]

Human Rights Facts (31): Ethnic Cleansing

Ethnic cleansing is the violent displacement of an ethnic group from a particular territory in order to create an ethnically “clean” unit, i.e. a territorial unit composed of only one ethnic group. The means used to achieve ethnic unity are:

direct military force
police brutality
genocide
the threat of force
intimidation
rape
pogrom
demolition of housing, places of worship, infrastructure
discriminatory legislation or policies
tribal [...]

Human Rights Facts (25): Enforcement of Human Rights

Complaints, verdicts, judgments, condemnations and recommendations are not enough. Words do have some power. They may be able to influence those who violate rights or those who are unwilling to protect rights. And the language of rights is a tool that victims can use to recognize their predicament, to organize their struggles, to rally supporters [...]

Human Rights Facts (22): Humanitarian Intervention

Humanitarian intervention is an armed intervention in one state by another state or states with the objective of ending gross violations of human rights, such as genocide or ethnic cleansing.
Whereas the moral case for such an intervention is very strong, it remains controversial because of the fact that violence is used and that the national sovereignty of [...]

Human Rights Quote (36): Catholicism

In a speech on his U.S. trip, Benedict said that respect for human rights, not violence, was the key to solving many of the world’s problems.
While he didn’t identify the countries that have a stranglehold on global power, the German pope — just the third pontiff to address the U.N. General Assembly — addressed long-standing [...]

What is Democracy? (13): The Willingness to Live Together

Democracy is impossible when there is fundamental hostility between large groups in the state, when one group fears that a political victory of another group will harm its fundamental interests and when, as a consequence, groups are unwilling to live together. The tensions between communities resulting from this kind of situation makes the functioning of [...]

Human Rights Cartoon (49): Security

(by http://cartoonbox.slate.com/nickanderson/)
Those human rights that protect a person’s security, bodily integrity and life, and that prohibit physical assault, dismemberment, torture, cruel punishment etc., acknowledge deep-rooted needs such as the wish to survive and to avoid pain.
Now, if it is reasonable to presume that some or even all people will not always be able to avoid [...]

Human Rights Quote (21): Human Rights and Democracy

Even if he can vote to choose his rulers, a young man with AIDS who cannot read or write and lives on the brink of starvation is not truly free. Equally, even if she earns enough to live, a woman who lives in the shadow of daily violence and has no say in how her [...]

Human Rights Cartoon (21): Violence

(by http://www.globecartoon.com/, Chappatte)
The use of force by governments is always a sign of weakness. It’s a sign that their legitimacy is withering or gone, and that their normal procedures of maintaining order (house arrest, censureship, propaganda, divide and rule, bribery etc.) are no longer functioning. Few dictators like to use force. They don’t like the [...]