冷战后东盟对西方人权压力的反应及其影响

冷战结束后,以美国为主的西方社会不再对东南亚进行直接的军事干涉,而是增加了以人权为借口和手段对东盟施加的压力。面对西方压力,东盟在不同阶段作出了不尽相同的反应。在东盟与西方博弈以及走向一体化的过程中,人权逐渐演变为东盟的重要议题之一,已经并将继续对东盟的发展产生一些不可忽视的影响。     

International Norms and the End of Apartheid in South Africa

This article examines the interface in the post-World War II era between expanding global movements supporting human rights and traditional great power concerns regarding global security, and asks why an international alliance of actors mobilized to pressure the Western powers, particularly the USA, to politically isolate and economically sanction South Africa in the midst of the cold war. We argue that in the international struggle against apartheid, humanist (human rights) ideology emanating from social movements in global civil society clashed with traditional realist ideology regarding what constituted state security in the global polity. The norms of self-determination of nations and anti-racism together fueled global activism and challenged powerful Western states. Facing mass protests and lobbying efforts from citizens, democratic states across the Western world found greater security in upholding their own professed human rights principles than in maintaining close economic ties to the apartheid regime.     

A New Asian Order and the Role of Japan

China is changing the international order in East Asia. It is not only a matter of a power transition, but also a matter of a change in the international system. Chinese people tend to see the world order in hierarchical terms as they did for centuries; nationalism is used as a tool of national integration; and government control of the military is weakening. These are the factors behind the rise of China. If these trends continue, a hierarchical order with China as hegemon might be established in East Asia. It seems as if we are returning to the period before the nineteenth century when China led the world. However, the international order in the twenty-first century has to be based upon such principles as the rule of law, peaceful solution of conflict, democracy, and human rights. In order to establish such an order, Japan and other countries that have committed to those values should unite firmly. China also would benefit very much from that order in the long run.     

The domestic application of international human rights conventions in Saudi Arabia and the need to ratify conventions on migrant workers

This article examines the application of international human rights conventions in Saudi legislation where Sharia is the main source of law. Saudi laws often adopt the dualistic approach and its international human rights obligations must be in agreement with the Sharia. This paper further intends to explore the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's (KSA) position on reservations and ratifications of international human rights conventions generally and in the context of migrant workers’ rights particularly. Since the KSA has not ratified any convention related to migrant worker protection, it is essential to examine the role of national human rights organisations in implementing and promoting human rights in the KSA and the article explores the significant efforts made by these organisations to implement and protect the rights of migrant workers in the country. It argues that the KSA has ratified a number of human rights conventions such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; however, it has failed to comply with its provisions. It is suggested that non-discrimination provisions of some of these conventions may be used to advance migrants’ rights in the country.     

Defining the limits of the North Korean Human Rights Act: A security and legal perspective

The introduction of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (HR 4011 or the Act) was hailed by many in the U.S. Congress as a significant and much-needed legislative effort that would substantially improve the human rights conditions of North Korea, considered to be one of the most unpredictable and undemocratic regimes in the world today. The passage of HR 4011 effectively marked a new and notable phase within U.S. foreign policy, in which the issue of human rights was directly linked to the issue of North Korean nuclear non-proliferation in a Helsinki-style framework. Relating to the Act, this paper argues from cross-cultural, security, and legal perspectives that HR 4011 may encounter specific limitations, which may hinder the Act from reaching its stated objectives of furthering “respect for and protection of fundamental human rights in North Korea” and “to promote a more durable humanitarian solution to the plight of North Korean refugees.” Although improving human rights is a fundamentally important issue, linking human rights with DPRK nuclear non-proliferation through HR 4011’s explicit Helsinki-style approach may exacerbate rather than eradicate North Korean human rights violations as well as the DPRK’s ongoing nuclear standoff with the international community.     

Defining Rights in Democratization: The Argentine Government and Human Rights Organizations, 1983–2003

Defining the rights that must be protected in a democracy is an integral component of the process of democratization. In the case of Argentina, the definition of these rights results partly from important debates between human rights organizations (HROs) and the state. Argentine HROs have framed their demands for state protection of human rights in terms of the need to protect the family. Yet HROs' successes in using international courts as arbiters may be reducing their need to present their demands in this framework.     

Still a Beacon of Human Rights? Considerations on the EU Response to the Refugee Crisis in the Mediterranean

The European Union is a political union of democracies which protects human rights and presents itself as a beacon of human rights on the global scene. This Profile reviews the measures the EU has introduced in response to the crisis and highlights the problems they pose from a human rights perspective. Overall, a set of five measures were adopted: (1) improving search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean and the Aegean in order to prevent loss of human lives at sea; (2) initiating military intervention to tackle networks of smugglers; (3) introducing resettlement and relocation quotas to alleviate pressure on the EU member states which serve as entry points (Italy, Greece and Hungary) and from the countries neighbouring Syria (primarily Turkey); (4) creating a common list of safe countries to facilitate and speed up the return of failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants; and finally (5) strengthening cooperation with countries of origin and transit to readmit migrants and to tighten border controls. Whether the EU will be able to respond to the unfolding crisis by providing international protection to those in need while simultaneously securing its external borders will be a yardstick by which to judge its human rights commitment.     

When is a Child not a Child and Other Questions—A Commonwealth-wide Overview

Abstract

Although international human rights instruments assume a universalism of application and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is one of the most ratified instruments in the world and therefore most likely to have global if not universal application, in fact understandings of childhood and definitions of ‘child’ or ‘children’ are very variable not just in different social and cultural contexts but in laws as well. This creates a number of challenges for formulating cross-boundary policies and programmes, because on the one hand these differences cannot be ignored, but on the other hand they should not be seen as insurmountable barriers to the advocacy and promotion of children’s rights. This paper presents an overview of difference and similarity in the Commonwealth and considers some of the challenges that these may present in formulating strategies for international organisations such as the Commonwealth.     

Indigenous Rights,Resistance, and the Law: Lessons from a Guatemalan Mine

Using a case study of a controversial mine in an indigenous area of Guatemala, this article explores the transnational dynamics of development and regulation of large‐scale extractive industry projects in the developing world. It examines the roles played in the Marlin mine dispute by national law, international law, international financial institutions, and corporate social responsibility. It concludes that these legal regimes have a role in protecting human rights but have not addressed the fundamental questions of democratic governance raised by this case.     

State,bureaucracy and polity in modern Thai politics

We test the comparative foreign labor policies of Korea and Japan within a vein of international relations literature addressing the effects of international norms on changes in state policies. Building on the efforts to emphasize a state's domestic structure as a source of variations in the impact of international norms, this study enriches this debate further by demonstrating the role of the Korean state in developing international human rights norms domestically. In contrast to the previous studies that tend to dichotomize between states and human rights activists, which result in focusing their empirical studies on the question of whether states are constrained in developing immigration policies under the influence of international human rights norms, we demonstrate that state actors in coalition with human rights activists were actively involved in the process of enacting the Employment of Foreign Workers Act (EFWA) in Korea. More precisely, by offering a detailed account of how Korea finally suc ceeded in adopting the EFWA in 2003 after two failed attempts in 1997 and 2000, we attribute the success to the more extensive, organized pro-foreign workers coalition of state actors and human rights activists over the course of actions. When this observation is applied to Japan, the absence of an active role of the state accounts for Japan's relative silence on the EFWA.     

Realising the Right to Health for Young People in South Africa—Some Reflections

Abstract

The right to health is enshrined in the South African Constitution as well as a range of international and regional human rights treaties which South Africa accepts. Yet empirical data reveals some of the challenges faced by South African youth—childhood diseases, HIV/AIDS and such like. There are evidently challenges realising the right to health in practice. Nevertheless, South African courts have led the international field in recognising the justiciability of economic and social rights such as the right to health. Having reviewed the applicable laws and jurisprudence, the paper will conclude that a more holistic human rights-based approach offers perhaps the best way forward.     

Bibliographies on Korea

Abstract

As Noam Chomsky has pointed out, press accounts about the non-western world, in particular Cambodia, are often as interesting for themselves, as “works of art,” as for information about conditions within the country concerned. For over three years the mainstream western press generally treated the regime of “Democratic Kampuchea” (DK) and its leader, Pol Pot, as very nearly the worst known to human history; and calls for intervention to displace them were heard even from usually responsible quarters. Yet when they finally were displaced, following a war largely provoked by their own actions, and by a polity whose record on human rights had always seemed much better, not only was little rejoicing heard, but the remnants of the DK regime became recipients of recognition and support by the powers who had cried out most loudly against them. Clearly concern with human rights or atrocities was of secondary importance to considerations of international power politics; and if no one was willing to suddenly declare Pol Pot a bulwark of the Free World against Godless Communism, the atrocities over which he had presided tended to be implicitly forgiven as his role in an anti-Vietnamese coalition was emphasized.     

Treaties and Intergovernmental Relations in Australia: Political Implications of the Toonen Case

This article explores the political implications of the Toonen case for studies of Australian federalism. The case involved a finding by the United Nations Human Rights Committee that Tasmania's anti-gay laws breached Australia's human rights obligations, and the subsequent passing of the Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act 1994 (Cth) designed to override sections of Tasmania's criminal law.
The Commonwealth's use of the external affairs power to ratify international treaties is outlined, and some questions regarding Commonwealth and state responsibilities and areas of concern flowing from treaty ratification are examined. The Privacy Act is discussed, and the character of intergovernmental relations and cooperation in this instance analysed.
The case raises the question of whether the Commonwealth's capacity to use and expand its powers is subject to effective checks and balances, or is limiting or eroding the powers of the states to the extent that the division and sharing of powers no longer represents that of a federal system. The article concludes that Australian federalism is dynamic and flexible, and reaffirms that a differentiation between the process and outcome of intergovernmental relations will enhance our understanding of its machinations.     

The Shift of the World Centre and its Impact on the Change of the International System

The shift of power engendered by the rise of China will not only change the current international configuration, but will likely lead to a shift of the power centre of the world from Europe to East Asia. Nevertheless, neither the change of the international configuration nor this transfer of the power centre of the world will inevitably bring about the change of the international system. The international system consists of three components including international actors, international configuration and international norms. If a qualitative change of one of these components were treated as a qualitative change of the system, it would not be possible to distinguish the difference between the components and the system nor to determine the relationship between them. A minimum of a qualitative change of at least two components must be observed to be defined as a qualitative change in the system. Because the rise of China is the main engine changing the international configuration, it will be faced with increasing pressure from the system. Thus, China has to adopt a foreign strategy in accordance with its international status and policy for wining more strategic partners and constructing new international norms.     

The role of African universities in the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples: A development agenda

Before the emergence of the United Nations at the end of the Second World War, human rights were generally scantily recognised in international law and, even under the UN Charter of 1945, indigenous peoples received merely tacit reference. Since the 1970s, however, several normative instruments have been adopted to give recognition to the rights of indigenous peoples as a distinct component of international human rights law. With the further adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the UN General Assembly in 2007, the subject has assumed new dimensions with the possibilities of new vistas. What, for instance, is the role of African universities in the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples as critical agents in the global human rights and development agenda? The purpose of this article, among others, is to synthesise the strategic approaches to the rights of indigenous peoples and to accentuate a more informed conceptualisation of what the role of African universities on this subject ought to be, and must be, in the light of the dynamic opportunities of the post-2007 era.     

论美国《外国人侵权法令》诉讼中的管辖权

建国初期,美国国会制定《外国人侵权法令》,授予联邦法院对违反国际法或美国缔结的条约的侵权诉讼行使管辖权,希望新生的美国赢得外交尊重。20世纪60年代,美国民权运动蓬勃发展,涉及外国的国际民事纠纷成倍增长。在人权利益团体的努力下,加上美国法律制度中方便原告起诉的具体规则等因素,《外国人侵权法令》引起美国学界和司法界的广泛讨论。总体而言,《外国人侵权法令》对人管辖权和事项管辖权的范围一直不断扩张,美国联邦法院愿意执行国际法尤其是国际强制规范,但联邦法院倾向于非自动执行条约理论而不执行大多数国际人权公约或条约。     

欧洲与中国的人权观差异

在欧中关系中,人权问题最为敏感,分歧最大。在对人权的理解上,双方不仅官方立场存在分歧,而且公众的人权观念也存在重要差异。欧洲人通常认为,更多的人权有助于经济发展,或者经济发展将导致更多的人权,并期望或假设随着中国经济的持续发展,中国人对人权和民主的需要也将不断上升。但是,本文对大量调查数据的分析说明,欧洲人的这种预期是不切实际的。实际上,欧洲与中国有关人权的观念差距可能在日益扩大。     

国际秩序与中美战略竞争

当今国际格局的最显著变化,就是新兴市场国家和发展中国家的群体性崛起以及中国与世界主要国家间力量对比的变化。就中美当前的实力地位和国际影响力而言,中美战略竞争中短期内还难以决定性地改变当前的国际秩序。中国即便对美国的贸易霸凌主义和在亚太地区的霸权主义军事及安全行动采取斗争的回应方式,也并不意味着两国无法合作、或中美关系已进入国际秩序变革的主导权之争。中美战略竞争的同时,经贸往来和必要的合作仍会发展。中美战略竞争会影响权力、观念和行为方式的调整变化,其走势将在相当程度上影响国际秩序的稳定和变革。但未来国际秩序的变革并非只取决于中美,世界主要国家间的互动关系和战略选择,将决定性地影响中美战略竞争的走势和未来国际秩序的演变进程。     

The evolving narrative of denial: the Fraser government and the Timorese genocide, 1975–1980

As research by the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor documents, the years 1975–1980 constituted the worst period of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, during which grave human rights took place involving a high loss of life. In Australia, the government headed by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser (1975–1983) sought to present itself as a supporter of human rights and the international rule of law. It also prioritized relations with the Suharto regime, which it saw as key to its policy position in Southeast Asia. These two positions came into conflict due to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. The Fraser government therefore worked to propagate a narrative concerning East Timor which denied the seriousness of the situation, distorted the historical narrative, deflected blame from Indonesia, and depicted the Australian position as principled and realistic. This paper examines the development of this narrative as events progressed and information concerning the crisis in East Timor came to the attention of the outside world. It also examines how the Fraser government employed this narrative internationally in order to protect the Suharto regime from scrutiny.     

中国与东盟关系:现状和前景

在 2 0 0 1年 ,世界上发生了 4件大事 ,它们是 :布什上台后 ,对美国的对外政策进行了一系列重大调整 ;“9·11”事件爆发 ,美国在全球范围内开展反对国际恐怖主义的斗争 ;中国正式加入世界贸易组织 ;中国与东盟领导人同意用10年左右的时间组建中国———东盟自由贸易区。这 4件大事正在或者将要对中国与东盟关系产生重大影响 ,而中国与东盟关系如何发展 ,向什么方向发展 ,也将对亚太地区乃至全球产生深刻的影响。