“Globalization and Human Rights: It’s a Small World after All”

“Globalization and Human Rights:It’s a Small World after All”

Understanding the connections between the various forms of globalization and human rights conditions is key to building a small

world worth living in

Human rights are universal principles affirming the inalienable dignity and equality of persons

Three generations of human rights:• protect individual life, liberty & body from

persecution and discrimination• social & economic rights

• counter threats to survival & self-determination

Although previous waves of globalization have occurred, the current era is distinguished by the strength and combination of four elements:

Connection

Cosmopolitanism

Communication

Commodification

Connection means greater traffic in bodies, goods, services, and information across borders

Cosmopolitanism describes the growth of multiple centers of power and influence above, below, and across national governments: international organizations, grassroots groups, and transnational bodies from Microsoft to Greenpeace

Centers of Power:http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5773880/Centers_of_Power

Communication is an increase in technological capacity that strengthens transnational networks of all kinds (from multinational corporations to nongovernmental organizations [NGOs] to terrorists) and diffuses ideas and values more quickly and broadly

Commodification is the expansion of world markets, and the extension of market-like behavior across more states and social realms. Increases in global capital flows, privatization of formerly state-owned enterprises, and increasing employment of children are all examples of commodification

Human-Rights Response

using global communications to capture the hearts and minds of global publics

campaigns provide information on global suffering, affecting images that promote identification with victims and the formation of solidarity networks

construct cosmopolitan institutions at multiple levels, including global, regional, and sectoral organizations - from the International Criminal Court to the Organization of American States Human Rights Commission to the World Medical Association

actively promote the rule of national and international law