The Koreans of Japan: An Issue of Human Rights

Abstract

By 1965, Taiwan has changed from a labor surplus economy into a labor shortage economy. This article examines how rising demand for labor due to rapid economic growth in Taiwan has been met since 1965. This article attempts to answer 1) Where did the labor supply come from? 2) Has all of the potential labor supply been tapped and exhausted? 3) Is it possible for labor shortage and unutilized labor reserve to occur simultaneously? The authors hope that this study will lead to a better understanding of the limitation of the free market mechanism and help identify the proper public policies to enhance labor utilization.     

The Human Rights State: Justice Within and Beyond Sovereign Nations

The Human Rights State: Justice Within and Beyond Sovereign Nations. By Benjamin Gregg (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016). pp.viii + 283. US$59.95 (hb).     

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.     

Sino-African Relations and the Problem of Human Rights

China's political and economic activities in Africa are increasingat an exponential rate. Equally, they are attracting criticism,chiefly over Beijing's no-strings-attached stance on human rightsand governance. It is clear that many African states that enjoyChinese support not only trample on civil and political rights(as per Western ideas of human rights), but also subvert theircitizens’ economic and social rights (as per China's discourseon human rights). If whilst adhering to the principle of non-interference,Chinese activities actually make things worse for some in Africa,then Beijing's argument that basic socio-economic rights aremore important for the poor than abstract politicalrights is potentially problematic. This is because there isa danger that Beijing's engagement in Africa might be exploitedby autocrats on the continent for their own, well-understood,reasons. Doing no harm, rather than a studied disinterest, needsto be part of China's overall African policy, something thatBeijing is bound to recognize. The author gratefully acknowledges the British Academy, CarnegieTrust for the Universities of Scotland, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundationfor International Scholarly Exchange, and the Russell Trustof Scotland for financial support for fieldwork on Sino-Africanrelations, carried out in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Namibia, SierraLeone, South Africa, and Uganda. The ideas for this articlewere initially tested at seminars at Wilton Park, the Universityof Plymouth, the State Department, SAIS-Johns Hopkins University,and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I am gratefulto participants in these events, this journal's two anonymousreviewers, and Shaun Breslin for commenting and helping to crystallizemy thoughts. Any errors remain my own.     

Protecting Human Rights: The Legitimacy of Judicial System Reforms in EL Salvador

Abstract — Research on democratic transitions in Latin America often ignore the importance of judicial systems — and related institutions — in achieving 'liberal democracy' and effectively safeguarding human rights, as contrasted with the restoration of 'electoral democracy.' This proves especially problematic in the instances of the former military-dominated authoritarian regimes of Central America. This article examines the efforts at judicial system and related reforms in EL Salvador since the 1992 Peace Accords, and relates those reforms to popular perceptions, both of previous institutions and of the institutional reforms and new institutions that have been created as part of the peace-making process. The reported survey research results suggest that the reforms on which liberal democracy in El Salvador depends, while generally viewed positively in the abstract, still rest on shaky foundations.     

From Pariah to Power: The Berlin Election of 2001 and the PDS Question

In 2001 Berlin's grand coalition collapsed in dramatic circumstances, leading to a Land election which attracted unprecedented attention within the Federal Republic and beyond. The entire campaign was dominated by one question, namely could the post-communist PDS gain a share of power in the city that embodied the victory of the capitalist west over the communist east? This article outlines the background to the election, and examines the campaigns of all the main parties. It then analyses the results, with comparisons between the east and west of the city, and examines the process that finally resulted in the formation of a Red-Red coalition government. It concludes with a consideration of the significance of the election results for all the parties concerned and for German politics. Overall, the election suggests that 'inner unity' may well be unattainable in Berlin, and that an acceptance of the city's diversity may be the way forward for its politicians.     

The Limits of Normative Power Europe in Asia: The Case of Human Rights in China

In recent years an increasing number of works on EU international actorness have begun to focus on notions of “normative, value-driven external policy”. However, the majority of these works tend to uncritically analyse EU foreign policy without considering its internal complexity and the existing national, supranational and intergovernmental dynamics. This paper first sheds light on these issues by proposing an original theoretical and analytical framework to study European, rather than merely EU, normative foreign policy. Secondly, this paper attempts to empirically apply such a framework in the specific case of European human rights promotion in China. What emerges is that in the case of China, and Asia more broadly, Europe appears more as a normative trap, where the interaction of EU institutions and member states originate policies not in line with the EU human rights normative basis.     

Horizontal Accountability in Transitional Democracies: The Human Rights Ombudsman in El Salvador and Guatemala

Postwar El Salvador and Guatemala have undertaken to reform and democratize the state and to support the rule of law. Each country entered the 1990s hobbled by a legacy of authoritarian rule, while a corrupt and politicized judiciary offered virtually no check on the abuse of power. Because the judiciary has performed poorly as an institution of horizontal accountability, this article examines the performance of a new "accountability agency," the Human Rights Ombudsman. The article discusses the context in which the office was established and developed in each country, perceptions of its performance, and political responses as the office began to perform its function of holding public officials accountable in their exercise of power. Unfortunately, this new office may fall prey to the same weaknesses that have plagued older institutions in both countries.     

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。     

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.     

Genocide yet again: Scenes of Rwanda and Ethical Witness in the Human Rights Memoir

This article investigates three recent human rights memoirs that chronicle the Rwandan genocide of 1994: Emergency Sex (and other desperate measures): True Stories from a War Zone, Shake Hands with the Devil: the failure of humanity in Rwanda, and The Zanzibar Chest: a memoir of love and war. I use these memoirs to explore the complexities of bearing witness to ethnic violence and war as an autobiographical subject shaped by the memory of historical atrocity — as a besieged self in traumatic occupations of the UN protector (Roméo Dallaire), lawyer (Kenneth Cain), and war correspondent (Aidan Hartley). Finally, I suggest that the authors of these memoirs are secondary witnesses, claimants to ethical truths and writers of atrocity testimony that complicate the burgeoning life‐telling compulsion of what is and who can claim to be a genocide victim. “Your mind with time, in fact, doesn't erase things that are traumas. It makes them clearer. They become digitally clearer and then you are able to sit back and all of a sudden have every individual scene come to you instead of the massive blur of many scenes I saw every day. The accumulation of the spirits that would come to you at night in the form of eyes, thousands of eyes, some mad, some simply there, and others bewildered, innocent children and adults, all that accumulated to the fact that I simply totally broke down”. (Roméo Dallaire) “What's true is that we didn't understand at the time the full magnitude of what was happening. I was an ant walking over the rough hide of an elephant. I had no idea of the scale of what I was witnessing. And when I did become aware I discovered Rwanda was way beyond my limited talents as a correspondent”. (Aidan Hartley, The Zanzibar Chest) “I don't know who saved the honor of mankind during my time in the field, but I do know that an ancestral memory of tyranny commands me not to keep silent. There is no ambiguity here. I am a witness. I have a voice. I have to write it down”. (Kenneth Cain, Emergency Sex)