Africa, the United Nations, and Third Generation Rights

2020 ◽  
pp. 96-133
Author(s):  
Derrick M. Nault
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
World War ◽  
Global Inequality ◽  
Right To Development ◽  
International Body ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Right

Chapter Four assesses Africa’s contributions to ‘third generation’ rights—‘solidarity’ or ‘group rights’ that emerged in tandem with decolonization after World War II. It traces the genealogy of three such human rights incorporated into the mandate of the United Nations (UN) from the 1950s to 1980s—the right to self-determination, the right to racial non-discrimination, and the right to development—arguing that African political lobbying proved decisive for the recognition and codification of these interrelated rights at the UN. Through writings and speeches critical of colonialism, racism, and global inequality; cultivating alliances with non-African Third World nations; and making the United Nations a more inclusive and representative international body, African leaders, it is shown, helped redefine human rights at the UN in ways that continue to reverberate in our own era.

The United Nations Between Empire and Emancipation

2019 ◽  
pp. 17-28
Author(s):  
Henning Melber
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Indian Population ◽  
Global South ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
World War ◽  
Nationalist Movements ◽  
The United Nations

This chapter revisits the normative frameworks on which the establishment of the United Nations were based after World War II. It includes discussion about the Atlantic Charter as a precursor to the UN Charter, and recapitulates the differences in interpretation of self-determination and sovereignty between the Western states and the nationalist movements in the Global South that were fighting against colonialism for Independence. Reference to the normative and political power of human rights discourses challenge claims that these were ineffective by Mark Mazower and Samuel Moyn. Rather, this chapter argues that their utilization by representatives of the nationalist movements in colonized territories show their relevance and the support they offered to their struggles. The condemnation of South Africa for its treatment of the Indian population is used to illustrate this point.

scholarly journals Paix, développement et droits de l'homme

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 649-674
Author(s):  
Louis Pettiti
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
European Community ◽  
European Council ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
Collective Rights ◽  
The Third ◽  
Right To Development ◽  
The Right

The author begins by presenting the institutional effort for development accomplished by the United Nations, the European Council, the European Community as well as that resulting from the A.C.P. Lomé Accords and the Helsinki Accord. The author then situates the right to development in the third generation of Human Rights, which are those of collective rights and examines the very concept of the right to development including all of its social implications.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian MacNaughton ◽  
Mariah McGill
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Limited Capacity ◽  
United Nations High Commissioner ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Right

For over two decades, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has taken a leading role in promoting human rights globally by building the capacity of people to claim their rights and governments to fulfill their obligations. This chapter examines the extent to which the right to health has evolved in the work of the OHCHR since 1994, drawing on archival records of OHCHR publications and initiatives, as well as interviews with OHCHR staff and external experts on the right to health. Analyzing this history, the chapter then points to factors that have facilitated or inhibited the mainstreaming of the right to health within the OHCHR, including (1) an increasing acceptance of economic and social rights as real human rights, (2) right-to-health champions among the leadership, (3) limited capacity and resources, and (4) challenges in moving beyond conceptualization to implementation of the right to health.

ON THE ROLE AND RELEVANCE OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND ITS FUTURE PROSPECTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-39
Author(s):  
Михаил Елизаров
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
International Peace ◽  
World War ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Common Goals ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Second World

Born out of the ashes of the Second World War, the United Nations has made a major contribution to maintain international peace and security. Based on common goals, shared burdens and expenses, responsibility and accountability, the UN helped to reduce the risk of a repetition of a Word War, to reduce hunger and poverty, and promote human rights. But today, the legitimacy and credibility of the UN have been seriously undermined by the desire of some countries to act alone, abandoning multilateralism. So, do we need the UN today?

scholarly journals The Human Right to Water and Unconventional Energy

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 1858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Palmer ◽  
Damien Short ◽  
Walter Auch
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Right

Access to water, in sufficient quantities and of sufficient quality is vital for human health. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (in General Comment 15, drafted 2002) argued that access to water was a condition for the enjoyment of the right to an adequate standard of living, inextricably related to the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and thus a human right. On 28 July 2010 the United Nations General Assembly declared safe and clean drinking water and sanitation a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights. This paper charts the international legal development of the right to water and its relevance to discussions surrounding the growth of unconventional energy and its heavy reliance on water. We consider key data from the country with arguably the most mature and extensive industry, the USA, and highlight the implications for water usage and water rights. We conclude that, given the weight of testimony of local people from our research, along with data from scientific literature, non-governmental organization (NGO) and other policy reports, that the right to water for residents living near fracking sites is likely to be severely curtailed. Even so, from the data presented here, we argue that the major issue regarding water use is the shifting of the resource from society to industry and the demonstrable lack of supply-side price signal that would demand that the industry reduce or stabilize its water demand per unit of energy produced. Thus, in the US context alone, there is considerable evidence that the human right to water will be seriously undermined by the growth of the unconventional oil and gas industry, and given its spread around the globe this could soon become a global human rights issue.

scholarly journals Designing Work with People Living with Dementia: Reflecting on a Decade of Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 11742
Author(s):  
Paul A. Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Right To Work ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Right

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is widely acknowledged as a landmark document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives from all over the world, the declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard for all peoples and all nations. The declaration sets out a series of articles that articulate a number of fundamental human rights to be universally protected. Article 23 of the declaration relates to the right to work and states that people have a human right to work, or engage in productive employment, and may not be prevented from doing so. The right to work is enshrined in international human rights law through its inclusion in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, where the right to work emphasizes economic, social and cultural development. This paper presents ongoing research that highlights how a disruptive co-design approach contributes to upholding UN Article 23 through the creation of a series of innovative working practices developed with people living with dementia. The research, undertaken in collaboration with several voluntary and third sector organizations in the UK, looks to break the cycle of prevailing opinions, traditional mindsets, and ways-of-doing that tend to remain uncontested in the health and social care of people living with dementia. As a result, this research has produced a series of innovative work opportunities for people living with dementia and their formal and informal carers that change the perception of dementia by showing that people living with dementia are capable of designing and making desirable products and offering much to UK society after diagnosis. In this ongoing research, the right to continue to work for people living with dementia post-diagnosis in creative and innovative ways has clearly helped to reconnect them to other people, helped build their self-esteem, identity and dignity and helped keep the person with dementia connected to their community, thus delaying the need for crisis interventions. This paper reports on a series of future work initiatives for people living with dementia where we have used design as a disruptive force for good to ensure that anyone diagnosed with dementia can exercise their right to work and engage in productive and rewarding employment.

scholarly journals A Transition of Internationalisms: Britain, the United States, and the Formation of the United Nations Information Organization during World War II

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Giles Scott-Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Public Information ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Agency ◽  
World War ◽  
The United Nations

The United Nations Information Office (UNIO), dating from 1942, holds the distinction of being both the first international agency of the embryonic UN network and the first to hold the United Nations label. Run from 1942 to 1945 from two offices in New York and London, these two were merged at the end of World War II to form the UN Information Organisation, and subsequently transformed into the Department of Public Information run from UN headquarters in New York. This article adds to the history of the UN by exploring the origins and development of the UNIO during 1940–41, when it was a British-led propaganda operation to gather US support for the allied war effort. It also examines the UNIO from the viewpoint of the power transition from Britain to the United States that took place during the war, and how this reflected a transition of internationalisms: from the British view of world order through benevolent imperialism to the American view of a progressive campaign for global development and human rights.

Introduction: The Search for Meaning in Defeat and Victory

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Barak Kushner
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
United Nations ◽  
East Asia ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
The Political ◽  
Search For Meaning ◽  
World War ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Political Spectrum

World War II dragged on in East Asia for three more months than in Europe, where the Allies declared victory on May 8, 1945. The formation of the United Nations was announced in San Francisco on June 26, 1945, and soon it became clear that Japan’s imperial demise would be entirely different from the Nazi collapse. World War II fractured the political spectrum in East Asia: the result was a cacophony of groups vying for postimperial authority in a situation where nothing was preordained and where no result was inevitable....

Solidarity

2021 ◽  
pp. 327-340
Author(s):  
William A. Schabas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Healthy Environment ◽  
Right To Development ◽  
The Right ◽  
Collective Dimension

Some fundamental rights, variously described as ‘solidarity rights’, ‘people’s rights’ or ‘third generation rights’ are not fully reflected in the human rights instruments. Indeed their place within human rights law remains somewhat controversial although that does not imply that they are not customary in nature. Among them are the right to peace, the right to a healthy environment, the right of peoples to self determination, and the right to development. The main distinction between these rights and other human rights relates to the jurisdiction of human rights bodies. They have a collective dimension that is not present in the same way with the other categories of human rights.

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