Cul-de-sac to the West: Human Rights and Hypocrisy between Turkey and Europe in the 1980s

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 177-192
Author(s):  
Bennett G. Sherry
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
The West ◽  
Amnesty International ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
Human Rights Movement ◽  
International Human

Abstract In the 1980s, over a million Iranian asylum seekers transited through Turkey on their way west, most moving through irregular migration channels. While much has been made of Turkey’s evolving role in more recent refugee crises, this literature neglects the importance of the 1980s Iranian refugee migrations in shaping the global refugee system. By connecting the story of the international human rights movement to the Ankara office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), this paper emphasizes the role of non-state actors. Based on research in the archives of the UNHCR, this paper argues that the UNHCR and Amnesty International used human rights as a tool to pressure Turkey to open its doors to Iranian refugees in the early 1980s, and that this tactic backfired when the West closed its own doors on refugees later in the decade. The result was the increased forcible return of refugees by Turkish authorities to Iran and newly restrictive asylum policies, which would shape refugee migrations through Turkey for decades. For millions of refugees, Turkey has served as transit hub on their journey west; in the 1980s, human rights hypocrisy made it a cul-de-sac.

The role of international human rights organisations in the context of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-31
Author(s):  
Nina I. Karpachova
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
International Human

The task of this paper is to study the role of international human rights organizations in response to the conflict taking place in eastern Ukraine. The study is based on recent reports from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the OSCE on Ukraine. The relevance of the stated topic is determined by the situation with human rights violations in the armed conflict in Ukraine and the significant role of international human rights organizations, making active efforts to resolve it. The purpose of this study is to determine the main aspects of the role that international organizations play in resolving this range of issues. This will help to identify potential opportunities to tackle the problem with human rights violations in the Ukrainian territories. The study combines quantitative and qualitative research of the entire spectrum of issues brought into the subject. The main results obtained are: analysis of the role and place of international human rights organizations in assessing the situation with the conflict in the Ukrainian territories and obtaining statistical information on the current status of human rights violations in these territories. The value of this paper lies in obtaining practical recommendations for finding ways to peacefully resolve the conflict in the East of Ukraine and implementing comprehensive measures to create conditions for the protection of human rights in this region

Defying Communism

2020 ◽  
pp. 138-160
Author(s):  
Aryeh Neier
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Amnesty International ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
Human Rights Movement ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Communist Countries

This chapter examines the rise of the international human rights movement as significant force in world affairs. It draws attention to the Cold War, in which the context of international human rights took place. It also talks about the “Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch” as one of the leading non-governmental human rights organizations operating globally that was established at different stages of the Cold War era. The chapter focuses on the emergence of the human rights movement in the communist countries, as well as its development on the other side of the Cold War divide. It illustrates the demonstration over the arrests of Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel in 1965, which marked the beginning of the emergence of a human rights movement in the Soviet bloc countries.

“Nothing to offer in return”: Refugees, human rights, and genocide in Cambodia, 1975–1979

2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-236
Author(s):  
Laura Madokoro
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Khmer Rouge ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Mass Violence ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
International Human ◽  
Khmer Rouge Regime ◽  
The Relationship

From 1975 to 1979, Canadian politicians and diplomats observed and discussed the possibility that a genocide was taking place in Cambodia. The situation was difficult to ascertain, however, given the limited history between the two countries and the deep isolation in which the Khmer Rouge regime operated after rising to power, as well as the Canadian government’s limited interest in international human rights until the late 1970s. It wasn’t until large numbers of refugees began to cross into Thailand in 1977–78, and began to tell their stories to Western diplomats, that human rights discussions at the United Nations began to focus more closely on the situation in Cambodia. Exploring the Canadian government’s use of refugee testimonies, this article explores the relationship between narratives of mass violence and the burgeoning human rights agenda of the late 1970s to highlight the role of refugees in shaping an international human rights agenda.

Human Rights for and against Empire – Legal and Public Discourses in the Age of Decolonisation

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 317-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Klose
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Genocide Convention ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Paradoxical Situation ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
International Human

Against the background of an ongoing debate about the role of human rights in the age of decolonisation this essay approaches the issue from two different angles. It concentrates on the paradoxical situation that anti-colonial movements as well as colonial powers instrumentalised international human rights documents such as the Genocide Convention, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions, and the European Conventions on Human Rights for achieving their political goals. In combining legal and public discourses in a significant way both sides accused each other of gross human rights violations while at the same time presenting themselves as respecting and even guaranteeing fundamental human rights. Especially during the course of the wars of decolonisation after 1945 this phenomenon became obvious in various diplomatic debates at the United Nations and made universal rights a diplomatic pawn in international debates.

Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Government of Australia, Relating to the Settlement of Refugees in Cambodia & UNHCR Response to Australia-Cambodia Agreement on Refugee Relocation

2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-356
Author(s):  
Ryan Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
United Nations High Commissioner ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Government

On September 26, 2014, the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Government of Australia concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Relating to the Settlement of Refugees in Cambodia. The agreement provides for refugees on the Pacific Island of Nauru to be voluntarily relocated to Cambodia. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and several international human rights organizations have lambasted the agreement, maintaining that Australia would be contravening its humanitarian and refugee obligations.

The International Human Rights Movement

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aryeh Neier
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Amnesty International ◽  
Government Power ◽  
Human Rights Movement ◽  
International Importance ◽  
International Human ◽  
Civil War Era ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Cold War

During the past several decades, the international human rights movement has had a crucial hand in the struggle against totalitarian regimes, cruelties in wars, and crimes against humanity. Today, it grapples with the war against terror and subsequent abuses of government power. This book offers a comprehensive and authoritative account of this global force, from its beginnings in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to its essential place in world affairs today. The book combines analysis with personal experience, and gives a unique insider's perspective on the movement's goals, the disputes about its mission, and its rise to international importance. Discussing the movement's origins, the book looks at the dissenters who fought for religious freedoms in seventeenth-century England and the abolitionists who opposed slavery before the Civil War era. It pays special attention to the period from the 1970s onward, and describes the growth of the human rights movement after the Helsinki Accords, the roles played by American presidential administrations, and the astonishing Arab revolutions of 2011. The book argues that the contemporary human rights movement was, to a large extent, an outgrowth of the Cold War, and it demonstrates how it became the driving influence in international law, institutions, and rights. Throughout, the book highlights key figures, controversies, and organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and considers the challenges to come.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pace John P
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
International Human ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
Complete Account

This book provides the most complete account to date of the UN human rights programme, both in substance and in chronological breadth. The author worked at the heart of this programme for over thirty years, including as the Secretary of the Commission on Human Rights, and Coordinator of the World Conference on Human Rights, which took place in Vienna in 1993. The book traces the issues taken up by the Commission after its launch in 1946, and the methods undertaken to enhance absorption and domestication of international human rights standards. It lays out the special procedures carried out by the United Nations, and the emergence of international human rights law. It then turns to the establishment of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the mainstreaming of human rights across the UN system, eventually leading to the establishment of the Human Rights Council to replace the Commission in 2006. Many of the problems we face today, including conflict, poverty and environmental issues, have their roots in human rights problems. This book identifies what has been done at the international level in the past, and points towards what still needs to be done for the future.

Conceptions And Interpretations of Human Rights in Europe and Asia: Normative Aspects

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-135
Author(s):  
Bożena Drzewicka
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
The West ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
The World ◽  
International Human

Conceptions And Interpretations of Human Rights in Europe and Asia: Normative AspectsThe issue of confronting values between civilizations has become very important. It influences not only the level of international politics but also the international normative activity. It is very interesting for the modern international law and its doctrine. The most important factor of causing huge changes in the system of international law is still the international human rights protection and the international humanitarian law which is related to it. It is very difficult to create one catalogue of executive instruments and procedures but it is possible to influence the attitude toward the basic paradigms. The frictions appear from time to time and move to other planes. The West and Asia are still antagonists in the dialogue on the future of the world. The article is a contribution to the intercivilizational dialogue.

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