War and the Politics of Ethics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Zehfuss
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Ethics Training ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The World ◽  
Ethics And Politics

Contemporary Western war is represented as enacting the West’s ability and responsibility to help make the world a better place for others, in particular to protect them from oppression and serious human rights abuses. That is, war has become permissible again, indeed even required, as ethical war. At the same time, however, Western war kills and destroys. This creates a paradox: Western war risks killing those it proposes to protect. This book examines how we have responded to this dilemma and challenges the vision of ethical war itself. That is, it explores how the commitment to ethics shapes the practice of war and indeed how practices come, in turn, to shape what is considered ethical in war. The book closely examines particular practices of warfare, such as targeting, the use of cultural knowledge, and ethics training for soldiers. What emerges is that instead of constraining violence, the commitment to ethics enables and enhances it. The book argues that the production of ethical war relies on an impossible but obscured separation between ethics and politics, that is, a problematic politics of ethics, and reflects on the need to make decisions at the limit of ethics.

Human Rights, Governance, and Democracy: The World Bank's Problem Frontiers

1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gillies
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Bank Lending ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Conditions

This article examines the case for and against applying political conditions to World Bank lending, the circumstances that might trigger such conditions, and the means by which they may be applied. It also surveys the genesis and diverse meaning of the ‘good governance’ agenda and briefly examines how the Bank responded to human rights abuses in China and Kenya.

Violence, Development, and Canada’s New Transnational Jurisprudence

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliza Guyol-Meinrath Echeverry
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Global Era ◽  
Corporate Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Forms Of Violence

For decades, Canadian-based corporate development projects have been linked to acts of violence in countries all over the world. These acts include sexual violence, destruction of property, community displacement, the use of forced labor, and other forms of violence. While Canada has repeatedly failed to pass legislation holding Canadian-based corporations accountable for human rights abuses committed abroad, Canadian courts are increasingly asserting their jurisdiction over cases of development-related violence. Analyzing two ongoing court cases—Caal v. Hudbay, regarding sexual violence in Guatemala, and Araya v. Nevsun, regarding forced labor in Eritrea— this article examines the potential and limits of law to address the bureaucratic mechanisms and grounded experiences of corporate-development-related violence, and the changing relationship between states, corporations, law, and human rights in the modern global era.

Human Rights Watch Arms Project—Chemical and Biological Weapons Program

1996 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Nongovernmental Organization ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Free Expression ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The World ◽  
Chemical And Biological Weapons

Human Rights Watch is the largest U.S.-based independent human rights organization. It conducts regular, systematic investigations of human rights abuses in some seventy countries around the world. Human Rights Watch (HRW) includes five divisions, covering Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and the signatories of the Helsinki accords, and has four thematic projects: the Arms Project, the Women's Rights Project, the Children's Rights Project, and the Free Expression Project. HRW maintains offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, London, Brussels, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Dushanbe, and Hong Kong. Human Rights Watch is a nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds.

Between Emotion and Calculation

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (136) ◽  
pp. 129-141
Author(s):  
Ximena Espeche
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The World

Abstract Operation Truth (Operación Verdad) was the Cuban Revolution’s first major intervention in the global mass media. In late January 1959, the revolutionary government invited journalists and politicians from around the world to witness the trials and executions of individuals accused of committing human rights abuses during the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship. This essay argues that Operation Truth prompted a battle of information waged to define the legitimacy of emotion and calculation as a way of supporting political action in Cuba. Operation Truth coverage judged the revolutionary leaders’ suitability as governing officials by characterizing them as bearers of a “true masculinity,” and positively or negatively judging their “Latin” identity.

Torture at Abu Ghraib: Non-disclosure and Impunity

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aloysia Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
The United States ◽  
Abu Ghraib ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The World ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Culture Of Silence ◽  
Abu Ghraib Prison ◽  
Different Parts

This chapter discusses some of the long-standing social and political impacts of the torture of prisoners in Iraq by Coalition forces, and reflects on the consequences of the culture of silence and impunity that has typified torture in the so-called War on Terror. More specifically, it explores the culture of silence and non-disclosure that has led to further human rights abuses globally, including the exportation of torture techniques used at Abu Ghraib prison to different parts of the world, the increased public acceptance of torture in countries such as the United States and Australia, and the marginalisation and vilification of certain groups within the global community. Finally, the chapter explores the importance of acknowledgement, transparency, and accountability in relation to torture and for the broader promotion and protection of human rights, and the achievement of long-standing peace in the region.

The Sociopolitical Discourse of Violeta Parra and Víctor Jara - The Culture of People's Power

2017 ◽  
pp. 109-126
Author(s):  
Elena Maria De Costa
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Central America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Social Commentary ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Military Regimes ◽  
The World ◽  
Latin American Culture ◽  
History Of

While its roots lie deep in Latin American culture and history, the New Song music was first brought to the attention of the world when totalitarian military regimes seized power in South America during the 1970s. Torture, death, persecution, or disappearance became the tragic fate of thousands of citizens including Violeta Parra and Victor Jara of Chile, popular and talented singer-songwriters (cantautores), the latter executed for his songs of justice and freedom. Other New Song artists were driven into exile to avoid a similar fate. Later, during the 1980s, a second, deadlier wave of terror swept through Central America in genocidal proportions. Again, New Song artists urgently sang about these horrific human rights violations, denouncing the perpetrators of this violence and telling the story of the struggle of people resisting. Beyond the desired social space in which to talk about horrific human rights abuses, there is a deep history of social commentary in musical and other performative traditions in Latin America.

COVID-19 will embolden autocrats

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan

Subject Democracy and COVID-19 Significance A growing number of leaders are using the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to curtail the activities of opposition parties and to expand their powers. In some cases, such as Malawi, unpopular presidents are using a declaration of emergency to prohibit opposition rallies and protests. In others, such as Hungary, emergency laws have been introduced that effectively undermine democratic checks and balances. The need for lockdown and quarantine to contain the virus has also led to a militarisation of the healthcare response -- with significant human rights abuses already reported in Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa. Impacts Further power grabs are likely as the crisis's impact is increasingly felt in Sub-Saharan Africa. Human rights violations will increase as stretched security forces enforce lockdowns on populations that have limited trust in government. The quality of democracy in many parts of the world will continue to decline.

Why victimology should focus on all victims, including all missing and disappeared persons

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Sarkin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Societal Implications ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The Real ◽  
Missing Persons ◽  
Organized Violence ◽  
The World

This article examines issues concerning the scope and role of victimology specifically as far as they relate to missing and disappeared persons. It argues that victimology ought to have a greater effect on the world by dealing with more victims, and that it should not be a solely academic discipline. It is contended that victimology should confront the real issues that arise for the victims after the crimes they suffer, and thus it needs to play a far more pragmatic, practical role. It is reasoned that broadening the study of who victims are, how they become victims and how their fate and suffering could have been avoided will also have a meaningful effect. This is also true regarding what can be done to reduce the numbers of (potential) victims. The article specifically calls on victimology to deal with victims who have gone missing. It argues that even amongst victimologists studying the widest variety of affected victims, there is almost no focus on the missing. The article goes into detail about who the missing are, and analyses the circumstances surrounding missing persons, whether as a result of war, human rights abuses such as enforced disappearances, or disasters, organized violence, migration and many more. The article also touches upon the processes of finding missing persons and considers their legal, technical and societal implications.

scholarly journals Hunting Indians: Globally Circulating Ideas and Frontier Practices in the Colombian Llanos

2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carwil Bjork-James
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Agricultural Cooperative ◽  
The World ◽  
Moral Geographies

AbstractIn the mid-twentieth century, renewed colonization of the Llanos region of Colombia brought escalated violence to the closely related Guahibo and Cuiva peoples. This violence was made public by two dramatic episodes that became international scandals: a December 1967 massacre of sixteen Cuivas at La Rubiera Ranch, and a 1970 military crackdown on an uprising by members of a Guahibo agricultural cooperative in Planas. The scandals exposed both particular human rights abuses and the regional tradition of literally hunting indigenous people, and provoked widespread outrage. While contemporaries treated these events as aberrations, they can best be explained as the consequence of policies that organize and manage frontiers. Both events took place in a region undergoing rapid settlement by migrants, affected by cattle and oil interests, missionaries, the Colombian military, and U.S. counterinsurgency trainers. This paper draws on archival research to trace the events involved and explains their relation to globally circulating policies, practices, and ideas of frontier making. It illustrates how Colombians eager to expand their frontier in the Llanos emulated and adapted ideas of human inequality, moral geographies that make violence acceptable in frontier areas, economic policies that dispossess native peoples, and strategies of counterinsurgency warfare from distant sources. Ironically, their quest for modernity through frontier expansion licensed new deployments of “archaic” violence. The Llanos frontier was thus enmeshed in an interchange of frontier-making techniques that crisscrosses the world, but particularly unites Latin America and the United States.

Human Rights and Economic Liberalization

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Art Carden ◽  
Robert A. Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Economic Liberalization ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The World

Using several case studies and data from the Economic Freedom of the World annual report and from the CIRI Human Rights Data Project, we estimate the effect of human rights abuses on economic liberalization. The data suggest that human rights abuses reduce rather than accelerate the pace of economic liberalization.

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