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Radhika Ganesh Prabhu February 24, 2009 International Organizations Professor James Vreeland

“Justice Lost! The Failure of International Human Rights Law to Matter Where Needed Most” ( Hafner-Burton, Emilie Marie, and Kiyo Tsutsui. 2007 ). Radhika Ganesh Prabhu February 24, 2009 International Organizations Professor James Vreeland. A Lesson in Commitment?.

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Radhika Ganesh Prabhu February 24, 2009 International Organizations Professor James Vreeland

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  1. “Justice Lost! The Failure of International Human Rights Law to Matter Where Needed Most”(Hafner-Burton, Emilie Marie, and Kiyo Tsutsui. 2007 ) Radhika Ganesh Prabhu February 24, 2009 International Organizations Professor James Vreeland

  2. A Lesson in Commitment? Source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/mba/lowres/mban935l.jpg

  3. Is seeing believing?

  4. REPRESSOR STATES: WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET! Source: http://www.miketodd.ca/web/archives/000816.html

  5. Key Findings of Authors Governments, including repressive ones, frequently make legal commitments to human rights treaties Commitments mostly have no effects on the world’s most terrible repressors even long into the future Change does not happen on the margins Realistic institutional reforms will probably not help solve this problem. (Hafner-Burton, Emilie Marie, and Kiyo Tsutsui. 2007 )

  6. Policy Implications: Why should we care? • Is the bare minimum the litmus test we are going for? • Are we teaching governments they can get their cake and eat it too? • Why are so many Northern governments, concerned with ratification? Hafner-Burton, Emilie Marie, and Kiyo Tsutsui. 2007

  7. Treaties they consider: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) International Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT)

  8. Two Models of the Paper MODEL 1: • Do repressors sign on as frequently as those that are “reasonably protective”? MODEL 2: • After a year, do the treaties make a difference for those that ratified them? (Hafner-Burton, Emilie Marie, and Kiyo Tsutsui. 2007)

  9. Findings Hafner-Burton, Emilie Marie, and Kiyo Tsutsui. 2007) “Repressors” commit to treaties as do “protectors” Repressors certainly aren’t afraid to ratify. Commitment, but no follow through. “Democratic” repressors - is that an oxymoron? YES! What will happen in a decade and a half? If you are a repressor state, pretty much nothing. What happens when you make a deeper commitment to human rights treaty law, (ratifying the CCPR Optional Protocol)?

  10. Strengths • Provides a comprehensive overview of literature that supports the pros and the cons of the HR regime. • Addresses real world applicability • Provides robust statistical evidence

  11. Weaknesses • CAT and CCPR are not the only treaties… • “Don’t get married” advice • Reform is not the only end goal of the treaties • No counterfactual • Indirect effects (Bashir and the ICC) • Do not define protectors as strictly as do repressors

  12. Realism vs. Constructivism • “Constructivism fails” • Treaties do not reform the countries • Socialization is how people claim reform takes place only there is no evidence to show socialization works! • Repression pays so leaders continue doing it! • Why does the North push for the “legal regime”? • Norms or Power? • This is an open ended question that the authors do not answer (perhaps to entice us to read their next article!)  Hafner-Burton, Emilie Marie, and Kiyo Tsutsui. 2007)

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