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121. Who Intervenes and Why it Matters: The Problem of Agency in Humanitarian Intervention

Author:
Eric A. Heinze
Publication Date:
08-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights Human Welfare (University of Denver)
Abstract:
The debate over humanitarian intervention has tended to focus on the conditions under which the resort to armed intervention is permissible while paying less attention to which actors are best suited to engage in such a complicated and demanding undertaking. The purpose of this paper is to explore characteristics that affect the ability of potential agents of humanitarian intervention to effectively undertake this operationally and politically demanding task. While the military wherewithal of the intervener is fundamental, I argue that a potential intervener's legitimacy as an agent or enforcer of humanitarian norms is also crucial in determining whether and the extent to which it is a suitable agent. In other words, the efficacy of a potential intervener depends not only on its military wherewithal, but also on certain non-material factors than can affect its ability to effectively exercise this power. Using a consequentialist ethical framework, this paper examines the various material and non-material factors that can militate either for or against the suitability of certain actors undertaking humanitarian intervention in various parts of the world. I ultimately use this framework to examine the suitability of various possible agents of a potential humanitarian intervention in Darfur, Sudan.
Topic:
Genocide, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Africa and Sudan

122. Darfur and Beyond: What is Needed to Prevent Mass Atrocities

Author:
Lee Feinstein
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
The killing and destruction of national, ethnic, racial, or religious groups is a historical reality. So, too, is the dependable failure of the rest of the world to do much about it. Slow-motion ethnic cleansing in western Sudan is the most recent case of a state supporting mass atrocity and the rest of the world avoiding efforts to end the killing. Preventing and stopping such mass atrocities faces four reinforcing problems.
Topic:
Genocide, Human Rights, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Africa and Sudan

123. Anti-Corruption Challenges in Post-Election Democratic Republic of Congo

Author:
Muzong W. Kodi
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
Now that the Democratic Republic of Congo has held a series of elections that mark the end of the long transition period, new institutions are being put in place at the national and provincial levels. The paper retraces the enduring legacy of mismanagement, corruption and human rights violations which was left by Mobutu Sese Seko's regime (1965-97) and was deepened during the following six years of conflict and three years of the transition period. This paper shows that a culture of impunity compounded by an inversion of moral values persists and will be among the many challenges confronting the leaders of the new regime.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Civil Society, Demographics, Government, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo

124. The Carter Center News Fall 2007

Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
My original concept for The Carter Center was a place for mediation, a place where leaders of countries or regions in conflict could come to resolve their differences. Looking at the work of the Center today, with programs that have touched lives in more than 70 countries promoting peace and good health, it is safe to say that the Center has far exceeded Rosalynn' s and my initial dreams.
Topic:
International Relations, Human Rights, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa

125. The Carter Center News Spring 2007

Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
Six-year-old Ruhmam Issah cries as a health worker slowly removes a long, spaghetti-like worm from her swollen ankle. Beside Issah, here in dusty Savelugu, Ghana, is former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, providing comfort to the girl by way of gentle pats and kind words. President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, visited the hospital in northern Ghana where Issah was being treated to meet with dozens of Guinea worm disease patients receiving care in a national effort to eradicate the disease by this time next year.
Topic:
International Relations and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo

126. Darfur's New Security Reality

Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
The Darfur conflict has changed radically in the past year and not for the better. While there are many fewer deaths than during the high period of fighting in 2003-2004, it has mutated, the parties have splintered, and the confrontations have multiplied. Violence is again increasing, access for humanitarian agencies is decreasing, international peacekeeping is not yet effective and a political settlement remains far off. The strategy the African Union (AU)/UN mediation has been following cannot cope with this new reality and needs to be revised. After a highly publicised opening ceremony in Sirte, Libya, on 27 October 2007, the new peace talks have been put on hold. The mediation should use this opportunity to reformulate the process, broadening participation and addressing all the conflict's root causes.
Topic:
Security, Genocide, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Africa and Libya

127. New Strategies for Darfur

Author:
David Smock
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
On April 4, the U.S. Institute of Peace convened its Sudan Peace Forum to discuss new strategies for dealing with the ongoing crisis in Darfur. This USIPeace Briefing summarizes the discussion, which was conducted on a not-for-attribution basis. It was written by David Smock, the vice president of USIP's Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution. It does not represent the views of USIP, which does not advocate specific policies.
Topic:
Ethnic Conflict, Human Rights, and International Law
Political Geography:
Africa and United States

128. Genomics, Insurance and Human Rights: Is there a Place for Regulatory Frameworks in Africa?

Author:
Vincent O. Nmehielle
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
African Journal of Legal Studies
Institution:
The Africa Law Institute
Abstract:
This article examines the human rights dimension of genetic discrimination in Africa, exploring the place of regulatory frameworks while taking into account the disadvantaged position of the average African. This is in response to the tendency of insurance companies toward making health insurance decisions on the basis of individual genetic information, which could result in genetic discrimination or health insurance discrimination based on a person’s genetic profile. The author considers such questions as the intersection between human rights (right to life, health, privacy, human dignity and against genetic discrimination) in relation to the insurance industry, as well as the obligations of state and non-state actors to promote, respect, and protect the enjoyment of these rights. The article argues that African nations should not stand aloof in trying to balance the competing interests (scientific, economic and social) presented by the use of genetic information in the health care context and that ultimately it is the responsibility of states to develop domestic policies to protect their most vulnerable citizens and to prevent entrenched private discrimination based on an individual’s genes.
Topic:
Development, Government, Human Rights, and International Law
Political Geography:
Africa

129. The Carter Center News Fall 2006

Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
Marcel Wetsh'okonda fights for human rights laws to be passed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country where 1,000 people die each day from disease, hunger, and vio-lence. It is no easy task.
Topic:
International Relations, Democratization, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo

130. Viewing the "New" South Africa. Representations of South Africa in Television Commercials: an Experiment in Non-directive Methods

Author:
Ebrahim-Vally Rehana
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
Abstract:
Apartheid was based on particular perceptions and hierarchical classifications of the human body. It aimed at separating people with different physical appearances in order to preserve the purity of the “white race” and its domination in South Africa. To understand the changes that have taken place in South Africa since 1990, to go beyond the surface of observable events and reach the social representations of these transformations that have developed among South Africans, the body, or more precisely images of the body, provide a good point of departure. The present study presents an experimental small scale survey aiming at uncovering social representations of the “new” South Africa shared by young South Africans at the dawn of the 21st Century. It argues that studies of social representations require, at least in their initial stage, the use of non-directive collective interviews; it shows that images of the body as displayed in TV commercials can be used as efficient prompts to start discussions about the present state of South African society. The survey used four commercials taped on South African TV in 2003; these clips were used as prompts in three non-directive collective interviews with young South Africans, to which was added a test group consisting of French students. TV commercials were analysed using methods in spired by the semiology of cinema; the transcripts of the interviews were analysed using methods borrowed from the French school of political sociology. The results of this experimental survey show that, if the transition from apartheid to a democratic nonracial society is considered positive, it is perceived with ambivalences and sometimes contradictory feelings: the future of South Africa may at the same time be envisioned with great optimism and heavy anxieties; relations between South Africans can be described as harmonious and be lived amidst acute tensions. Ambivalences and tensions, which remain very often untold, are precisely the dimensions of the representations of the “new” South Africa among young South Africans that non-directive collective interviews help to apprehend more clearly.
Topic:
Apartheid, Human Rights, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa