LESSON 10: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1984 at Palais de Challiot,
Paris.
 declaration or statement of generally accepted principles of human rights (Humphrey, 1979).

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Human rights law transcends state boundaries by seeking to define and uphold those rights held
universally by every person regardless of nationality.

The UDHR states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed
with reason and conscience and should act toward another in a spirit of brotherhood (Article 1, UDHR).

Under Article 2, UDHR, everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms, without distinction of any
kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
property, birth, or other status.

Under Articles 1-21 of the UDHR, the civil and political rights provided therein are as follows:

(1) Life, liberty, and security of person

(2) Freedom from slavery or servitude

(3) Freedom from torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment

(4) Recognition everywhere as a person before the law

(5) Equal protection of the law;

(8) Fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal

(9) Presumption of innocence until proven guilty

(13) Nationality

Under Articles 22-28 of the UDHR, the economic, social, and cultural rights provided therein are as
follows:

(1) Social security

(2) Work, free choice of just and favorable conditions of work, protection against unemployment, equal
pay for equal work, just and favorable remuneration, and the right to form and join trade unions for the
protection of his interests

(3) Rest and leisure

(4) Standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family

(5) Education

(6) Freely participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific
advancement and its benefits.

International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966.As of March
28, 2014, it has 74 signatories and 167 parties. On December 19, 1966, the Philippines signed it, and the
same was ratified on October 23, 1986 (United Treaty Collection).

Under Article 1, ICCPR, it states that all people have the right of self- determination. By virtue of that
right, they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural
development.

Still under the ICCPR, incorporated therein are rights which are not subject to limitation or suspension
even in emergency situations, to wit:

(1) Right to life

(2) Prohibition on genocide

(3) Freedom from torture and other cruel, degrading. or inhuman treatment of punishment; (4)
Freedom of enslavement or servitude

(5) Protection from imprisonment or debt

(6) Freedom from retroactive penal laws/ex post facto laws; (7) Recognition as a person before the law

(8) Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion

International on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966. It entered
into force on January 3, 1976. As of 2015, it has 71 signatories and 164 parties (United Nations Treaty
Collection).

Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

Article 1 of CEDAW states that discrimination against women refers to any distinction, exclusion, or
restriction made on the basis of sex

Articles 1 and 2 of CEDAW further states that any act of gender-based that results in, or is likely to result
in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts,
coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.
Migrant Workers Convention

migrant worker is defined as one who is to be engaged in a remunerated activity in a state of which he
or she is not a national (Article 2, Migrant Workers Convention).

Part III of the Migrant Workers Convention details the rights of all migrants and their family members:

(1) Freedom to leave any state, including their state of origin and the right at any time to enter and
remain in their state of origin

(2) Not to be subjected to any torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment

(3) Not to be held in slavery or forced or compulsory labor; (4) Right to freedom of thought, conscience,
and religion

(5) Right to hold opinions without interference and to freedom of expression; (6) Not to be subjected to
arbitrary or unlawful interference

(7) Right against arbitrary deprivation of property

(8) Right to liberty and security of person

(9) Right to equality with nationals before courts.

United Nations on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

Article 1 of the UNCRC provides that every human being below the age of 18 years is a child unless
under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.

Some of the rights of the child provided in UNCRC are as follows:

(1) Right to be registered at birth

(2) Right to acquire nationality

(3) Right to know and be cared for by his parents

(4) Right not to be separated from his parents against his will

(5) Freedom of expression

(6) Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion

(7) Freedom of association

(8) Freedom of assembly

(9) Protection from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury, abuse, neglect, negligent treatment,
maltreatment, or exploitation, sexual abuse
(10) Enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and so on

LESSON 11: PRINCIPLES ON INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

International environmental law

comprising of those substantive, procedural, and institutional rules which have as their primary
objective the protection of the environment

"environment" - creatures and products of the natural world and those of human civilization (Sands &
Philippe, 2003).

ESSENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL PRINCIPLES

Principle of Good Neighborliness

States have the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental
policies and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause
damage to the environment of other states

Precautionary Approach/Principle

When there is a lack of full scientific certainty in establishing a causal link between human

activity and environmental effect, the court shall apply the precautionary principle in resolving the case
before it (1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Principle 15).

Polluter Pays Principle

governments should encourage the incorporation of environmental costs into economic activities and
utilize economic tools. Those responsible for pollution should generally bear the associated costs,
balancing public interest, and avoiding negative impacts on global trade and investment.

Principle of Sustainable Development

meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their
own needs.

Environment Impact Assessment Principle

Environmental impact assessment, shall be undertaken for proposed activities that are likely to have
significant adverse impact on the environment

Principle of Intergenerational Equity

Man bears a solemn responsibility to protect and improve the environment for present and future
generations
Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility

Because developed states have contributed disproportionately to global environmental degradation,

and they command greater financial and technological resources, those states have a special
responsibility in shouldering the burden of pursuing global sustainable development

Principle of Non-discrimination

Each state should ensure that its regime of environmental protection, when addressing pollution
origination within the state, does not discriminate between pollution affecting the state and pollution
affecting other states (Sarmiento, 2009).

Standard of Conduct

Strict Liability Theory

States are under an absolute obligation to prevent pollution and are liable for its effects irrespective of
fault (Shaw, 2008).

Test of Due Diligence

imports an element of flexibility in the equation.

Long-Range Trans-boundary Air Pollution

Air pollution whose physical origin is situated wholly or in part within the are under the national
jurisdiction of one state and which has adverse effects in the area under the jurisdiction of another
state.The main bases of liability for transboundary pollution under international law are as follows: (3)
good neighborliness principle. (Sarmiento, 2009).

LESSON 12: GLOBAL DIVIDES

 Global divide - global disparities, often due to stratification due to differing economic affluence
 Social stratification - phenomenon of segregating, grouping, and ranking people
 nobilities and commoners, the lord and the peasant
 hierarchies, especially when pushed toward the extremes, have often led to inequalities,
wherein the group which possesses control over power and resources are given much privilege
at the expense of those who are deprived.

Perspectives in Global Stratification

 Modernization theory-suggests that all societies undergo a similar process of evolution

 internal processes within states are responsible for social change.
 when internal sources of development-e.g., education, market-driven economy, and political
infrastructures-are present, any society will progress (Ynalvez & Shrum, 2015) and poverty will
be resolved.
  Dependency theories ( Raul Prebisch and Hans Singer )suggest that countries are either "core"
(developed) or "peripheral" (developing)
 Wallerstein world system - composed of boundaries, structures, member groups

GLOBAL DIVIDE

First, Second, and Third Worlds

The Cold War yielded two chief political factions:

Western Bloc (First World countries) - comprised by the industrial/capitalist US and the North Atlantic
Alliance (NATO), which include United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy among others

Eastern Bloc ( Second World countries) (Albania, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
and Afghanistan), led by the communist/socialist Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

In 1952, Alfred Sauvy, in his article (Three Worlds, One Planet) said that: in the end, The Third World,
ignored, exploited, and misunderstood just like the Third Estates desires to be something).

Teng Hsiao-Ping distinction among Three Worlds:

 First World - United States and Soviet Union

 Second World - developed countries between the two
 Third World - Developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and other regions

The Brandt Report and Its Criticism

 Led by Willy Brandt

 categorized countries in the northern hemisphere as comparatively smaller in population and
more economically affluent than countries in the southern hemisphere-a categorization that
gave birth to the Brandt line-an imaginary line that divides the world into the developed north
and the developing south.
 The bottom line was the for both the northern and southern countries to thrive

Daniel Sneider (1980), summarized the contentions of the Brandt Report:

 "one world economic system" that governs even countries' taxation of certain items
 "zero growth and Malthusianism", which suggests that controlling overpopulation will cure
underdevelopment
 "basic needs and appropriate technology", focusing on labor than technology
 "promotion of solar energy"
 "strengthen the IMF/World Bank system"

The critique of the Brandt Report highlights two main points. Firstly, it criticizes the composition of the
commission, arguing that it doesn't fully represent the classes within northern and southern countries,
mainly consisting of political elites. Secondly, it suggests that the recommendations of the report aren't
entirely novel, echoing earlier proposals, and it points out a lack of emphasis on historical context

For Graf (1980, p. 28), a proposal for a global economic should:

(1) look at the "historical of the world order

(2) examine "global relations" including "class relations

(3) "define goals and objectives and

(4) "specify strategy and tactic" - ways and plan on how to achieve certain goals of a country.

The world today is better than before; more access to opportunities, more choice, and generally lesser
poverty