Volume 1 (No 1-2)

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    The economic crisis, debt and the impact on human rights: Eastern Partnership countries
    (Global Campus, 2017-01) Bournazian, Vahan ; Torosyan, Mane ; Staselyte, Jolita ; Banjac, Bogdan ; Chertilina, Olga
    The article explores the nexus between the economic crisis, foreign debt and the impact on human rights as it has manifested in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) region since the beginning of the 2008 ‘global economic crisis’. That an economic crisis requires states to borrow internationally is not novel. By researching and developing case studies for all but one of the EaP countries, and then engaging in a comparative analysis of the case studies, the article seeks to explore, in the EaP context, the extent and legitimacy of borrowing, the impact on human rights of the economic crisis and/or debt, and the degree to which national debt frameworks of EaP countries comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Foreign Debt and Human Rights. As for the nexus between human rights, economics and debt, this dynamic is founded in the fact that human rights values the equality of individuals and, in the socio-economic context, this may be expressed in terms of equal opportunity, which must be ensured and fomented by the state – often through the expenditure of public resources. As a developed society is best conceived of as a collective of developed individuals, and as equal opportunity is foundational to individual development, phenomena which curtail the equal opportunity of individuals necessarily impact negatively on the human rights regime. It is generally accepted that several factors influence an individual’s equal opportunity for development: civil and political rights; economic facilities (for instance employment opportunities, fair remuneration); social opportunities (for instance education); transparency/ accountability (for instance the rule of law); and protective securities (for instance healthcare and social welfare). It is in this broad context that the article considers increasing poverty and the degradation in socio-economic rights as having a negative impact on equal opportunity and on human rights, and explores this impact as a derivative of the economic crisis and foreign debt.
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    Editorial
    (Global Campus, 2017-12) Viljoen, Frans ; Mullen, Matthew ; Krasteva, Anna
    This is the second issue of the first volume of the Global Campus Human Rights Journal. It consists of three parts: a part containing articles of a general nature; a part consisting of articles all centred around a special focus; and a part discussing recent developments in human rights and democratisation in various regions of the world.
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    Editorial
    (Global Campus, 2017-01) Viljoen, Frans ; Mullen, Matthew ; Bournazian, Vahan ; Wheadon, Georgina
    This is the inaugural issue of Global Campus Human Rights Journal (GCHRJ). GCHRJ is an open-access journal, established and published under the auspices of the Global Campus of Master’s Programmes and Diplomas in Human Rights and Democratisation (Global Campus of Human Rights). The Global Campus of Human Rights is a framework of collaboration between seven Regional Master’s programmes in Human Rights and Democratisation, taking place on each of the five continents. It is a unique network of more than 100 universities with the overall aim of educating human rights defenders committed to upholding the universal values of human rights and democracy. The seven programmes are the European Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation; the Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa; the European Regional Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation in South Eastern Europe; the Master’s in Human Rights and Democratisation in Latin America and the Caribbean; the Master’s of Human Rights and Democratisation in Asia and Pacific Regional Programme; the Regional Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in the Caucasus; and the Master’s Programme in Democratic Governance, Human Rights and Democratisation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. For more information, see http://www.eiuc.org/ education/global-campus-regional-masters.html. The European Union Commission supports this network financially.
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    From sleepwalking into surveillance societies to drifting into permanent securitisation: Mass surveillance, security and human rights in Europe
    (Global Campus, 2017-12) Lamer, Wiebke
    The migration crisis, terroristic acts on EU soil and other so-called generators of risks have been accompanied by an increasing trend towards securitisation in many European countries. After decades during which traditional national security threats only indirectly affected most member states of the EU, many European governments have now turned towards policies that prioritise the safeguarding of national security at the expense of human rights and civil liberties. In countries that have been directly affected by Islamic terrorism, such as France and Belgium, extreme anti-terrorism legislation has been implemented and civil liberties have been curtailed. The threat of terrorism and the migration crisis has been accompanied by a legitimisation for the increased use of government surveillance measures for border control and counterterrorism actions. The article examines the linkages between securitisation and surveillance in the European context, and studies the consequences of the increasing trend of government surveillance on human rights. The article argues that looking at the implementation of mass surveillance measures in Europe illustrates that the continent is drifting into a permanent state of securitisation that threatens not only certain human rights, but the very foundation of democratic societies by permanently altering statesociety relations. It also discusses possible ways to counter these worrying trends. Key words: securitisation; mass surveillance; Europe; human rights; democracy
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    Global Campus Human Rights Journal, Volume 1 No 1
    (Global Campus, 2017-01) Guest editor for special focus: Vahan Bourhazian, Yerevan State University
    Global Campus Human Rights Journal (Human Rights Journal) is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, published under the auspices of the Global Campus of Human Rights as an open-access on-line journal.
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    Global Campus Human Rights Journal, Volume 1 No 2
    (Global Campus, 2017-12) Guest editor for special focus: Anna Krasteva New Bulgarian University
    Global Campus Human Rights Journal (Human Rights Journal) is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, published under the auspices of the Global Campus of Human Rights as an open-access on-line journal.
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    Human rights violations in the ChevronTexaco case, Ecuador: Cultural genocide?
    (Global Campus, 2017-12) Berti Suman, Anna
    This article discusses the Chevron contamination case in Ecuador with the aim of illustrating the scope of the human rights violations suffered by the affected indigenous communities. The contribution is inserted into a broader debate on the need for business to respect human rights, in a society where profit seems to be corporations’ only concern. The facts of the case and the damage to the indigenous peoples’ rights and culture are presented. The legal developments of the case are illustrated, with the focus falling on Chevron’s delaying strategy before the judicial system. The risk of new forms of colonisation hidden in cases like the Chevron Ecuador case is highlighted. When threats resembling colonisation are posed to the rights, culture and dignity of the local inhabitants, ex post reparations seem inadequate. However, participatory processes of defining the remediation together with the affected communities may restore some of the values lost. The analysis of the facts leads to the assertion that the Chevron Ecuador case could be regarded as cultural genocide and even as a crime against humanity. The supposed reasons that induced the multinational to intentionally ‘destroy’ the local culture are outlined. Numerous international treaties to which Ecuador is a party support this statement. Moreover, it is suggested that the case should be considered not only from the perspective of the Inter-American system, but also from the European Union’s normative framework. EU action on behalf of the Ecuadorian affected people is presented as advisable and recommendations on possible forms of this action are highlighted. Key words: environmental crime; indigenous rights; human rights violations; oil exploitation; cultural genocide; United Nations system; European Union system
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    The impact of securitisation on marginalised groups in the Asia Pacific: Humanising the threats to security in cases from the Philippines, Indonesia and China
    (Global Campus, 2017-12) Kim, Eunha ; Dinco, Jean ; Suamen, Louise ; Hayes, Mike ; Papsch, Tilman
    Securitisation has a disproportionate impact on marginalised groups. This article examines the impact of securitisation on four groups of people: the poor and children in Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’ in the Philippines; female North Korean refugees in China; and the LGBTI community in Indonesia. The article argues that the term ‘security threats,’ as used by Buzan, does not adequately describe the consequences of securitisation. The term ‘human threats’ is more suitable as it demonstrates that state securitisation impacts humans and their rights, and that the existential threats have real-life consequences. This is demonstrated in the case studies. First, the war on drugs in the Philippines has been killing the poor and detaining children rather than eliminating drugs. The securitisation of China’s border with North Korea results in many women becoming victims of trafficking, forced marriage and other forms of genderbased violence. Religious groups consider LGBTI communities a threat to national security and, as a result, their personal security and access to government services (such as education) is threatened. Key words: securitisation; war on drugs; age of criminal responsibility; North Korean refugees; LGBTI rights in Indonesia
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    The impact of the economic crisis on human rights in Europe and the accountability of international institutions
    (Global Campus, 2017-01) Ginsborg, Lisa
    The impact of austerity measures in Europe on human rights has now been widely documented by international and regional bodies and scholars working in the area. The article begins its investigation by briefly examining the impact of austerity measures adopted by European states on human rights standards, with a particular emphasis on the cases of those Eurozone states in bail-louts. The second part of the article investigates the role of international institutions in the austerity measures in Europe, and the institutional framework underlying the bailout measures in the Eurozone. It places a particular emphasis on the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), now established as a permanent crisis resolution mechanism. In this context, the article exposes a number of problems linked to the absence of accountability of the ESM, including its democratic deficit, technocratic rule and lack of transparency. At the heart of the article are questions around the degree of autonomy left to states in the context of austerity measures, and whether a certain degree of responsibility for the human rights violations resulting from these measures may be attributed directly to the institutions driving the conditionality agenda. The main legal framework will be international law, both international human rights law and international institutional law, which is still lagging behind in terms of direct accountability of international organisations for human rights violations, but remains a rich and useful field from which to derive a number of conclusions about the human rights responsibility of international institutions. The article concludes with a number of recommendations aimed directly at the international institutions in their imposition of austerity measures. Many countries in the west seem to be doing their best to go straight into the mouth of a fairly hefty snake ... austerity measures in Europe are a spiralling catastrophe (Sen 2011).
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    The impact of the global financial crisis on the realisation of socio-economic rights in sub-Saharan Africa: An analysis based on the Millennium Development Goals framework and processes
    (Global Campus, 2017-01) Orago, Nicholas Wasonga
    The global financial crisis, which affected global trade and investment, did not leave sub-Saharan Africa untouched. The region registered a decline in economic growth in the period after the crisis and experienced ongoing impacts. The article looks at these impacts, focusing on the realisation of socio- economic rights in sub-Saharan Africa using the mechanism of the Millennium Development Goals. It begins by describing the major actors that have played a leading role in economic growth in the region, and the realisation of socio- economic rights. It then focuses on the pre-crisis growth period of 2000 to 2007, examining the drivers of growth in sub-Saharan Africa and how this growth impacted the realisation of socio-economic rights. The article uses the mechanism of the Millenium Development Goals framework and process to measure the achievement of each goal within a high growth period. It finds that while this growth created more resources for the realisation of socio-economic rights, little progress was made in achieving the Millennium Development Goals within that period: The socio-economic conditions of poor, vulnerable and marginalised individuals and groups remained the same. The article then looks at the effects of the global financial crisis on sub-Saharan African economies after 2007, indicating that the crisis had an adverse impact on economic growth, with growth declining to 5.5 per cent in 2008, 3.5 per cent in 2009 and then rebounding slightly to 5.1 per cent between 2013 and 2014 and further to 5.8 per cent in 2015. It says that, although the reduction in economic growth had a great impact on the availability of resources for the realisation of socio- economic rights, an analysis of the MDG progress after the crisis does not show a marked difference from the MDG progress prior to the crisis. The article concludes that, even though the crisis had some impact on the realisation of socio-economic rights, its impact would have been greatly lessened if these sub- Saharan African countries had shown political commitment and developed proper mechanisms for the realisation of these rights.
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    Intractable conflicts in Africa: The international response to the Darfur and South Sudan crises
    (Global Campus, 2017-12) Owiso, Roger ; Boshoff, Elsabé ; Mamhare, Tapiwa Matemai ; Tsighe, Adiam Zemenfes
    This article considers the intractable conflicts and human rights situations in Darfur, Sudan and South Sudan, respectively, against the international responses they elicited. Intractable conflicts are conflicts that have lasted for a long time with resistance to settlement despite various attempts at intervention and conciliation. These conflicts from neighbouring nations have both elicited extensive engagement from the international and regional communities but, while some clarity regarding the direction to be taken has been achieved in the case of South Sudan, the situation in Darfur remains dire. The article analyses the difference in the peace-building approaches in the two conflicts and how these approaches have contributed to the different outcomes in Darfur and South Sudan. Following an exposition of intractability in the introduction, the second section applies the factors identified to the case of Darfur, confirming that this indeed is an intractable situation. It then considers the international response to the conflict in Darfur and the mechanisms employed by the global and the regional community in an attempt to address this conflict. The third section considers the situation in South Sudan and the international response, noting that efforts were led by the regional and subregional bodies, with the UN’s role being to complement these efforts. The methodology employed is a comparative analysis, in which the international and regional legal and institutional responses to the crisis in South Sudan are analysed with a view to identifying the lessons to be applied in addressing the situation in Darfur, utilising theoretical and functional approaches to legal and political interventions. The final section draws from the insights gained in comparing the international response in Darfur and South Sudan, and concludes by attempting to extract general principles about intractability and the effectiveness of international responses to situations considered to be intractable, noting in particular the importance of regional and sub-regional bodies taking the lead in efforts to resolve intractable conflicts. Key words: conflict; intractability; human rights; South Sudan; Darfur
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    Introduction to Global Classroom on Securitisation
    (Global Campus, 2017-12) Nowak, Manfred
    The Global Classroom on ‘Securitisation and the Impact on Human Rights and Democracy: Human Security in a Time of Insecurity’, organised by the Institute for Human Rights and Peace Studies at Mahidol University in Bangkok from 22 to 26 May 2017 as an activity of the Global Campus of Human Rights, brought together professors, experts and students from seven Master’s Programmes in Human Rights and Democracy from all world regions with the aim of analysing and discussing the phenomenon of securitisation from a global and different regional perspectives
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    The ‘mantra of stability’ versus human security in the post-Soviet space
    (Global Campus, 2017-12) Avetisyan, Sos ; Abrahamyan, Vahan ; Chobanyan, Marianna ; Lyabuk, Kostantyn ; Nabi, Walaga
    This article provides an understanding of current human security challenges in the post-Soviet space. Cognisant that such studies are rare, we hope to provide a stepping stone for further theoretical and empirical research. Drawing on comparative case studies of Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, the article argues that while securitisation techniques deployed by authoritarian and/or semi-authoritarian regimes vary in scope, degree and targeting, they share two important commonalities with the overarching aim of ensuring regime endurance. First, the exogenous threats, whether real and/or willfully constructed by the ruling regimes, provide a convenient context in the Balzaquian sense to construct effective securitisation acts. Closely related to the first point, the external environment and internal deliberation by ruling elites fuel a specific narrative-constructing strategy of illiberal state-building ideology, which normalises anti-human rights policies in the specific countries. Concurrently, we problematise the traditionalist approach and treat the ‘audience’ as a monolithic and passive entity. Making use of Bourbeau and Vuori's work on resilience, we demonstrate that securitisation is not a straightforward bottom-up process, but also is filtered through societal resistance. Key words: human security; securitisation; democratisation; illiberal statebuilding
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    Market might in Factory Asia: The struggle to protect labour
    (Global Campus, 2017-01) Mullen, Matthew ; Santoso, Purwo ; Tapiheru, Joash ; Valiente-Riedl, Elisabeth
    ‘Factory Asia’ pejoratively frames a situation of oversupply in low- skilled and underpaid wage labour, where people work in immiserating conditions, deprived of essential opportunities for political organising and the right to freedom of association. The context is such, in part, because the market enjoys considerable leverage and might over states and labour in the region. A range of factors, including capital mobility, the 1997 Asian financial crisis and global neo-liberal pressures, combine to dislocate the state from its role as protectorate and provider, and foreclose on conventional channels that offer protection for workers. This article frames and illustrates these dynamics, and argues that labour encounters a myriad of challenges, but also new opportunities for re-articulation, mobilisation and protection around labour rights. Two case studies, those of Indonesia and Thailand, provide empirical grounding for this thesis and convey both commonalities and contrasts in local labour struggles. In Indonesia, the increasing dislocation of the state needs to be understood in the context of the manifestation of a dual labour market. This has produced contrasting experiences of informal and formal workers. Accordingly, the resilience of traditional models of labour mobilisation (such as unions) diminishes compared to the growing relevance of informal and collective social protection systems. In Thailand, union advocates remain adamant about the need to realise international labour rights norms precisely because of deepening union restrictions and the state’s reluctance to fulfil its duties. Meanwhile, other labour rights groups have sought space, protection and action from duty bearers through non-traditional methods. Relations between these networks can be tense, but they combine into a formidable, even if uncertain, force. In both case studies, the dislocation of the state has led to new and thickening vulnerabilities for labour working in the shadow of the market, but also to unconventional opportunities for protection and mobility.
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    Poderes regulatorios estatales en el pluralismo jurídico global
    (Global Campus, 2017-01) Abramovich, Víctor
    El proceso de creación de una pluralidad de regímenes internacionales crea una compleja constelación de sistemas de regulación jurídica, que por lo general funcionan de manera descentralizada, con gran autonomía y fragmentación. Esta convivencia genera una ‘interlegalidad’ en la cual los Estados pierden el control del conjunto de los procesos en manos de actores financieros transnacionales. Sin embargo, estos procesos pueden también ser utilizados por los Estados para recuperar capacidad de ejercicio de poder regulatorio ante actores económicos concentrados y trasnacionales. Frente a esta contradicción, no existen reglas consensuadas para resolver los conflictos normativos, ni instituciones internacionales que tengan competencias asignada formalmente para dirimirlos. El presente artículo procura presentar un panorama general de algunas discusiones en curso sobre la conformación de una pluralidad de regímenes internacionales, sus relaciones, divergencias y posibles convergencias.
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    Securitisation and its impact on human rights in Latin America
    (Global Campus, 2017-12) Lopez, Diego
    In Latin America, securitisation policies and their rhetoric have been part of historic challenges to the rule of law and are very much a part of current challenges in a new security agenda designed to combat complex crimes, such as terrorism, money laundering, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and common crimes affecting citizen security. These policies are also manipulated in order to disable dissent and weaken the right to accountability. Securitisation is at the heart of the current interventionist tactics, and their impact on the respect for human rights. Securitisation links public security to a discourse of war, and builds on a friend/enemy dichotomy. In the collective imagination, the perception of fear connects with and feeds back into the discursive and practical instrumentation of securitisation and the threats to (physical or moral) integrity that it seeks to confront. These issues are explored mainly by reference to the invocation of the National Security Doctrine during the dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s in Latin America, and through the criminalisation of human rights defenders in the more recent democratic era. Initiatives based on the human security paradigm are also considered, in light of their desired contribution to a possible desecuritisation strategy. Key words: securitisation; Latin America; National Security Doctrine; criminalisation of human rights defenders
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    Securitisation in the Arab region: A new form of kinship relations?
    (Global Campus, 2017-12) Astudillo, Francisco ; Boustani, Razane ; Gentil, Henriette ; Kassis, Moudar ; Taha, Nora
    This article examines the repercussions of the process of securitization in the Arab region, focusing on its impact on the ‘everyday’. It demonstrates how this process negatively impacted on human rights and infringed on freedoms, failing to serve national security and human security. The logic the article follows is based on an assumption that securitisation is organically connected to neoliberal transformations, which tend to deform the role of the state in protecting its citizens, and the autonomy of individuals by obliging them with new duties, and conditioning their lives upon a sophisticated regulatory system under various pretexts, not the least of which is security. This conditioning poses a threat to the nature of the everyday, which is the ultimate goal of all political organisations, and is perceived to need protection, as the everyday is the scene where the principles of equality of humans and their dignity are realised. Key words: securitisation; Arab region; ‘everyday’; national security; human security
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    Securitisation versus citizenship in the Balkan states: Populist and authoritarian misuses of security threats and civic responses
    (Global Campus, 2017-12) Krasteva, Anna ; Vladisavljević, Nebojša
    The objective of this article is threefold: to identify the main security threats in the post-conflict and (post)-crisis Balkans; to analyse the emergence and strengthening of authoritarian and far-right tendencies as both a response and catalyst to securitarian policies and politics, as well as their variation across the region; and to examine the capacity of civil society to produce alternative discourses and mobilise resistance through various forms of civic activism and popular protest. The analysis is structured in three parts. The first part introduces three country cases – Bulgaria (mainstreaming of populist securitisation); Macedonia (ethnic securitisation in a deeply-divided society); and Serbia (democratic backsliding and populist authoritarianism). The three case studies reveal an important variation in the dynamics and outcomes of a broader populist and authoritarian trend that swept across the region. The three countries illustrate various types of civic resistance and contestatory citizenship. The two other parts are comparative: They enlarge the countries’ coverage and identify major regional trends from two perspectives: populist and authoritarian misuses of security threats and authoritarian trends; and emergence and diversification of forms of citizenship as expression of civic resilience. Nationalist, populist and authoritarian politics have moved from the periphery of the political scene to the mainstream. The trend takes a paradoxical form: on the one hand, a promotion of the EU agenda and regional co-operation; on the other hand, securitisation, construction of political opponents, ethnic, religious and cultural Others, and civic activists as threats to national security and national identity. The civic resistance and human rights responses to populist authoritarianism and mainstreamed securitisation are analysed through the theoretical lenses of citizenship. It expresses the transition from the engineering project of building civil society in post-communist countries to the emergence of new forms of civic agency. Three types of citizenship are studied comparatively – green, contestatory, and solidary. Key words: securitisation; authoritarianism; populism; citizenship; civic mobilisations; Bulgaria; Macedonia; Serbia; the Balkans; South-Eastern Europe
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    Selected developments in human rights and democratisation during 2015: Asia-Pacific
    (Global Campus, 2017-01) Azizah, Nur ; Mullen, Matthew ; Sangroula, Swechhya
    Informality is a characteristic central to the Asia-Pacific region. Nonetheless, the regional discourse around democratisation, which includes not only speech but also practice, tends to mention informal institutions only in passing. In the Asia-Pacific region, prominent informal institutions include local customs; clan politics; money politics; corruption; clientelism; patronage; informal mobilisation and resiliency networks; everyday resistance; vigilantism; shadow markets; and unconventional community-based organisations. This contribution posits that these informal institutions rarely receive adequate treatment as part of debates and discussions about democratisation and the shaping of the practice around it. It is argued that the tendency to ignore or reject informality compromises attempts to understand and support democratisation processes in the region. Each of the three case studies brought forth in this contribution illustrates different types of informal institutions and their impact on democratisation in different contexts and dynamics, namely, (i) the way in which informal institutions shape procedures ranging from everyday licensing to national elections in Indonesia; (ii) the way in which individuals and communities have been able to build resiliency action and networks by leveraging informal institutions in their pursuit of transitional change in Myanmar; and (iii) the threat posed by informal institutions to post-earthquake aid and recovery activities throughout Nepal. As the contribution illustrates, understanding the situation in 2015 requires locating developments in a more expansive and broadened historical perspective. Fortunately, recent experiences signpost that making informality more central in discourses around democratisation in the Asia-Pacific region could be a shift towards ensuring that informal institutions receive the due consideration their influence on politics merits.