That Iam afraid is utiopism.
The UN is an institution controlled by a group of states that happen to
control the economic flow of the world. The questions isn't, hence, why the
UN does not do more? but rather, how come does it manage to do something in
spite of its nature?
And the answer to this is because it also provides a resonance box for the
world poores. Hence it is an instirument of limited capacity for those who
donot control the economic flow, including those who living in opulent
societies realise the imperial machinery they happen to inhabite.
The international agreements require a number of state signatures to become
international law/ They are optional, becase the laws are based on
persuation of the superior morality of a validity claim, unlike, state laws,
which are based on (democratic-media controlled) power.
Why is it important to create international law, in spite or in oposition of
the world superpowers? Because it eventually would be inforced even to such
superpowers, via customary international law.
The pathway is, I am afraid, very long, but since Cain imposed Abel his
'superiority' with a brutal blow, the 'humanity' has not be allowed to
invent other form to domesticate its nature.
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Arnold" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 11:42 AM
Subject: Re: UN Generl Assembly Passes Optional Protocol Economic, Social &
Cultural Rights
> Everything in the UN is optional except paying the fatcats who run it. It
> is
> an institution whose time has gone, who have failed to secure any
> meaningfull objectives in the last century riven by wars some of which are
> continuing into this century.
>
> What about Gaza? What about Dafur? What about Zimbabwe, what about all the
> other places where the most basic human rights do not exist for the
> majority
> never mind economic equality.
>
> Until the UN is stronger than the strongest nation, and democratic to boot
> answerable to populations not diplomats nothing is going to happen.
>
> Larry
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John
>> H Noble Jr
>> Sent: 03 January 2009 23:12
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: UN Generl Assembly Passes Optional Protocol
>> Economic, Social & Cultural Rights
>>
>> So what good is the protocol if it's "optional"?!! The
>> offenders typically won't sign on to a protocol that will
>> constrain their actions. This is more feel-good activism.
>> --JHN
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>> Frank Hall-Bentick
>> Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 4:19 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: UN Generl Assembly Passes Optional Protocol
>> Economic, Social & Cultural Rights
>>
>> UNITED NATIONS
>>
>> Press Release
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------------
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> xxxxxxxxxx Closing a historic gap in human rights
>>
>>
>>
>> xxxxxxxxxx
>>
>> The UN General Assembly has achieved an important
>> goal to strengthen international protection of human rights
>> as it celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration
>>
>> NEW YORK - The United Nations General Assembly
>> adopted an important new human rights instrument to
>> strengthen the protection of economic, social and cultural
>> rights during its plenary sessions commemorating the 60th
>> anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, on
>> 10 December, 2008.
>>
>> "The approval of the Optional Protocol to the
>> International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
>> Rights is of singular importance by closing a historic gap,"
>> stated the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi
>> Pillay, in her address to the General Assembly
>>
>> Under the Protocol, individuals will be able to
>> complain to an independent human rights body at the
>> international level about violations of rights enshrined in
>> the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
>>
>> Apart from providing a voice to victims of human
>> rights violations, the Protocol also "makes them better
>> equipped to enlist the international community's help to
>> address their plight", Pillay said.
>>
>> The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant
>> on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights represents a
>> milestone in the history of universal human rights, making a
>> strong and unequivocal statement about the equal value and
>> importance of all human rights and the need for strengthened
>> legal protection of economic, social and cultural rights.
>>
>> "The Universal Declaration wisely chose not to rank
>> rights. On the contrary, it recognized the equal status of
>> political and civil rights with economic, social and cultural
>> rights, and underlined that all rights are inextricably
>> linked," Pillay added. "Violations of a set of rights
>> reverberate on other rights and enfeeble them all."
>>
>> As the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted, the
>> recent food emergencies, the degradation of the natural
>> environment, the current financial crisis and the unrest that
>> they engender all underscore that those who are at the
>> frontlines of hardship are also likely to be the victims of
>> the ripple effects of human rights violations.
>>
>> The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant
>> on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a key step forward
>> towards a unified vision of human rights of the Universal
>> Declaration. Importantly, it will enable victims to seek
>> justice for violations of their economic, social and cultural
>> rights at the international level for the first time.
>>
>> The Protocol adopted by the General Assembly on 10
>> December, had been approved by the Human Rights Council in
>> June and by the Third Committee last month. It will now be
>> opened for signature during 2009 and enter into force once it
>> has been ratified by ten States.
>>
>>
>> ____________________________________________________________________
>>
>>
>> ATTAHCED IS UN GA THIRD COMMITTEE TEXT OF OPTIONAL
>> PROTOCOL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL &
>> CULTURAL RIGHTS.
>>
>>
>> ____________________________________________________________________
>>
>>
>> UN International Covenant on Economic, Social &
>> Cultural Rights
>> http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cescr.htm
>>
>>
>> ____________________________________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> The Optional Protocol to the UN Covenant on Economic,
>> Social & Cultural Rights, will make it possible for
>> individual, groups or organizations acting on their behalf to
>> seek justice at the international level for violations of
>> economic, social and cultural rights by submitting complaints
>> to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
>> The adoption of the Optional Protocol also provides support
>> to efforts to get greater recognition of economic, social and
>> cultural rights in domestic law and before courts, and will
>> strengthen our monitoring role, as civil society
>> organizations.The NGO Coalition for the Optional Protocol
>> Steering Committee
>>
>> _____________________________________________________________
>>
>>
>> http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/(httpNewsByYear
>> _en)/91C1D8EE6
>> 730CD72C125746C00548987?OpenDocument
>>
>> HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ACHIEVES MILESTONE, ADOPTING OPTIONAL
>> PROTOCOL TO COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
>>
>> 18 June 2008
>> The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
>> Louise Arbour today congratulated the Human Rights Council on
>> its adoption of an important new human rights instrument to
>> strengthen the protection of economic, social and cultural rights.
>>
>> "This is a highly significant achievement", she said. "The
>> Protocol will provide an important platform to expose abuses
>> that are often linked to poverty, discrimination and neglect,
>> and that victims frequently endure in silence and
>> helplessness. It will provide a way for individuals, who may
>> otherwise be isolated and powerless, to make the
>> international community aware of their situation."
>>
>> The Optional Protocol will allow persons to petition an
>> international human rights body about violations of rights
>> guaranteed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social
>> and Cultural Rights. Adopted by the Human Rights Council on
>> 18 June, the Protocol is expected to get the final approval
>> by the United Nations General Assembly later this year.
>> Thereafter, the Protocol will enter into force once it has
>> been ratified by 10 States.
>>
>> "Since the adoption of the two core international human
>> rights covenants in 1966, the lack of a complaint procedure
>> for economic, social and cultural rights has been a missing
>> piece in the international human rights protection system"
>> Arbour said. "As we are celebrating the 60-year anniversary
>> of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Optional
>> Protocol reaffirms our commitment to a unified and
>> comprehensive vision of human rights, sending a strong,
>> unequivocal message about the equal value and importance of
>> all human rights."
>>
>> With its adoption of the Optional Protocol, the Human
>> Rights Council brings to fruition a process set in motion by
>> the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights prompting
>> the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights to
>> prepare a first draft optional protocol in 1996 and leading
>> to the commencement of intergovernmental negotiations in 2004.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------------
>> ----
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________End of message________________
>>
>> This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the
>> Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds
>> (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies).
>> Enquiries about list administration should be sent to
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> Archives and tools are located at:
>> www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
>> You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to
>> this web page.
>>
>> ________________End of message________________
>>
>> This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the
>> Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds
>> (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies).
>> Enquiries about list administration should be sent to
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> Archives and tools are located at:
>> www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
>> You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to
>> this web page.
>
> ________________End of message________________
>
> This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for
> Disability Studies at the University of Leeds
> (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies).
> Enquiries about list administration should be sent to
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Archives and tools are located at:
> www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
> You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web
> page.
>
________________End of message________________
This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies).
Enquiries about list administration should be sent to [log in to unmask]
Archives and tools are located at:
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web page.
|
