VOCABULARY

UNIT 1 “Globalization”

Developing Countries: Countries with little industrial and economic activity where people
generally have low incomes.

Developed Countries: Countries with a lot of industrial and economic activity where people
generally have high incomes

Least Developed Countries: (Países Menos Desarrollados)

Emerging Economy: A nation’s economy progressing toward becoming developed and

advanced.

Global Village: The idea that we became a single community due to affordable and effective
transportation, mass media, and electronic communications.

Global Economy: Refers to economy of the world comprising economies of different

countries closely interrelated

Global Trade / International Trade: Simply the exchange of goods and services between
countries.

Sweatshop: Workplace with unacceptably severe conditions and usually extremely low
wages (Explotación Laboral)

Outsourcing: When businesses outsource production to countries with developing

economies. (Externalización)

Loss of Identity: (Pérdida de Identidad)

Prosperity:

Standard of Living:

Consumerism: (Excessive Consumption)

Cultural Convergence: Things that make cultures more alike

Cultural Divergence: Things that make separation of cultures

Additional Vocabulary

Affluence: abundance of property.

Antiglobalization movement: is a social movement critical of the globalization of corporate

capitalism.

Borders: boundaries between countries.

Economic growth drivers: something that provides development and growth of economy.

Economic superpower – an extremely powerful nation.

Fair trade: trade in conformity with a fair-trade agreement.

Imbalance / inequality: a state or condition in which different things do not occur in equal
or proper amounts.

Integration / cooperation

Interdependence: the mutual reliance between two or more groups.

Local (relating to a particular area, city or town) / national (relating to an entire nation or
country) / domestic (relating to or made in your own country).

Multilateral (involving more than two groups or countries) / unilateral (involving only one
group or country).

National sovereignty: the idea that independent nations, which have declared their
independence, have an organized government and are self-contained, have a right to exist
without other nations interfering.

Standardization: is the process of implementing and developing technical standards.

Tariff: a tax on goods coming into or leaving a country.

To accelerate: cause (something) to happen sooner or more quickly.

To dominate: to have control of or power over (someone or something).

Trade barrier: a government-induced restriction on international trade.

Trading blocs - Increasingly, support is provided by trading blocs such as the European
Union and not simply by individual countries.
UNIT 2 “International Law

Enforce (verb): to make people, nations or organisations obey a law or a rule.

Hear (verb): to give a listening to legal arguments; to give a legal hearing to.

Contentious (adjective): causing, involving, or likely to cause disagreement and argument.

(llevar la contraria, estar en desacuerdo…)

Binding or Legally Binding (adjective): (of an agreement) involving an obligation that

cannot be broken. (Jurídicamente Vinculante)

Organization or Body (noun): a group of individuals organized for some purpose.

Trial (noun): formal meeting in a law court, at which a judge and jury listen to evidence and
decide whether a person is guilty of a crime.

Breach of (noun): infraction or violation of a law or obligation.

Complainant (noun): the party who makes the complaint in a legal action or proceeding.
(Plaintiff)

Amendment: The formal alteration of treaty provisions affecting all the parties to the
particular agreement.

Convention: Generally used for formal multilateral treaties with a broad number of parties.

Covenant: Pacto

Accession: The act whereby a state accepts the offer or the opportunity to become a party to
a treaty already negotiated and signed by other states. It usually occurs after the treaty has
entered into force.

Multilateral: Agreements between more than two parties.

Protocol: An instrument which contains supplementary provisions to a previous treaty, e.g.

the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees to the 1951 Convention relating to the
Status of Refugees.

Bilateral: Concluded between two states or entities.

Solicitor: (abogado), When the accused knows that he is going to stand trial, he asks a
solicitor to prepare his case.
Barrister: (abogado a nivel superior), The information collected is then given to a barrister
who will defend him in court.

To stand trial: to be bought to a court of law to have your case examined and judged

Prosecutor: (Fiscal), In a criminal case, the police will have their own barrister, who is
known as the prosecutor.

Jury: group who give verdict at trial (Jurado)

Witness: (testigo)

To plead: (declarar)

To acquit: absolver

To convict: To decide officially in a law court that someone is guilty of a crime

To sentence: To decide and say officially what punishment will be

To appeal: To request a higher court of law to consider again a decision made by a lower
court

Valid or operative; in effect: to be in force

Someone who takes goods or people into or out of a country illegally: smuggler

The act by which the public authorities deliver a person accused of a crime, and who is found
in their jurisdiction, to the authorities within whose jurisdiction it is alleged the crime has
been committed: surrender (entregar)

To avoid something unpleasant or unwanted, or to manage not to do (something that should

be done): evade (tax evasion)

A person who uses bombs: bomber

A sentence issued by the judge to an offender that requires the offender to be confined in a
certain place for a certain period of time: detention order

“the state of being legally responsible for something”. liability

Punishment

The delivery or return of an offender to a requesting country’. hand over, surrender and
extradition

Laundering is the illegal process of making “dirty” money appear legitimate instead of ill-
gotten. Laundering
UNIT 3 “Human Rights and Refugees”
Refugee: person who has fled their own country because they are at risk of serious human
rights violations and persecution there.

Asylum-Seeker: same definition that refugee, but who hasn’t yet been legally recognized as
a refugee

Migrant

Amnesty: A legal guarantee that exempts a person or group of persons from liability for
criminal or political offenses.

Asylum: The grant, by a State, of protection on its territory to persons outside their country
of nationality or habitual residence, who are fleeing persecution or serious harm or for other
reasons.

Child Labour: Any work performed by a child which deprives them of their childhood, their
potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development.

Climate Refugee: Person displaced in the context of disasters and climate change.

Country of Origin:

Deportation: Coerced physical removal of a person to their country of origin or a third

country by the authorities of the host country.

Displacement: The movement of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave
their homes or places of habitual residence

Expulsion: A formal act by a State authority with the intention of securing the removal of a
non-national from its territory.

Gender-related persecution: A non-legal term encompassing the range of different claims

in which gender is a relevant consideration in the determination of refugee status.

Host Country: The country in which a non-national stays or resides, whether legally or
irregularly.

Humanitarian Assistance: Material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian

purposes, typically in response to crises and disasters.

International Protection: The protection that is accorded by the international community to

individuals or groups who are outside their own country, who are unable to return because
they would be at risk there, and whose own country is unable or unwilling to protect them.
Livelihoods: Activities that allow people to secure the basic necessities of life, such as food,
water, shelter and clothing.

Minor Child

Non-refoulement: A core principle of international human rights and refugee law that
prohibits States from returning individuals in any manner whatsoever to territories where they
may be at risk of persecution, torture, or other forms of serious or irreparable harm.

Persons of concern: All persons for whom UNHCR is mandated to provide protection,
solutions and assistance.

Smuggling: (Tráfico de Personas)

Stateless person: A person who is not considered as a national by any State

Unaccompanied child: A child who has been separated from both parents

Xenophobia

Harassment: Acoso

UNIT 4 “The UN”

Agenda: The programme of work of a UN organ or conference.

Resolution: A written decisión by a conference

Full Powers:

Intervene: When a delegate makes a statement.

Subsdiary body/organ:

Breakdown: A point at which negotiations make no progress and the participants see no
prospect of agreement.

Summit: Conference at which the participants are Heads of State or Government.

Chair: Title of a presiding officer

Special Envoy:

Specialized Agency:

Mandate: Authority to act in a particular way as a result of a vote or ruling.

Presiding Officer: A delegate elected by the conference to control the proceedings, to

maintain order and generally to lead the work of the conference.

In arrears: owing money that should have been paid already

Discharge: cumplimiento de las obligaciones

Refrain From: to avoid doing or stop yourself from doing something

Breach: An act of breaking a law, promise, agreement, or relationship

Trusteeship: the position of a person or group who controls property and/or money for
another person or an organization

Consensus (noun): Generally accepted agreement or opinion among a group of people.

Landmark: An important stage in the evolution or development of something. (Punto de

referencia)

Codification (noun): The act or process of arranging something, such as laws or rules, into a
system.
Disarmament (noun): A reduction in or limitation of the number of weapons in the armed
forces of a country.

Apartheid (noun): A political system in which people of different races are separated.

Aggression (noun): Use of armed force in international relations not justified by defensive
necessity, international authority, or consent of the state in which force is used.

Rule of law (noun phrase): The restriction of the arbitrary exercise of power by
subordinating it to well-defined and established laws.

UNIT 5 “Environmental Law”

Decontamination: The removing of chemical, biological, or radiological contamination
from, or the neutralizing of it on a person, object, or area (Descontaminación)

Drought: Sequía

Green Economy: Economía Verde

Illegal Logging: Tala Ilegal

Landlocked developing country: País en desarrollo sin litoral

Precautionary Principle: Principio Preventivo

Principle of non-regression: Principio de No Regresión

Renewable Energy:

Soft Law: In international law: guidelines, policy declarations, or codes of conduct that set
standards of conduct but are not legally binding (Derecho Indicativo)

Trade in Species