Deck 12: Human Rights

Question 1

What are human rights?

A)Rights that all individuals have,regardless of the country in which they live
B)Rights that are listed in the United Nations Charter
C)Civil liberties enforced by the International Court of Justice
D)Civil liberties observed in western Europe and the United States

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following is an example of a nonderogable right?

A)Freedom from torture
B)The right to form trade unions
C)The right to vote
D)Freedom to own property

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights can best be described as:

A)the first piece of hard international human rights law.
B)a common standard of achievement for all peoples.
C)the international bill of rights.
D)a key part of the UN Charter.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following is an example of a right guaranteed by the International Covenant on Economic,Social,and Cultural Rights?

A)Freedom of religion
B)Right to a minimum standard of living
C)Right to be free from torture and inhumane treatment
D)Freedom of movement

Question 5

Why did states write two separate treaties when translating the UDHR into hard international law protecting human rights?

A)States wanted the rights protected in one treaty to be hard law and the rights protected in the other treaty to be soft law.
B)The negotiation over hard international human rights law got caught in the Cold War politics of the United States and Soviet Union.
C)Some states did not view many rights guaranteed in the UDHR as universal human rights.
D)Civil and political rights were viewed as too ambitious to implement,and many states advocated placing them in a separate treaty.

Question 6

How did states and international actors react to apartheid?

A)They did nothing because they expected it to end eventually.
B)They offered to give South Africa foreign aid to change the policy.
C)They took progressively firmer stances against it.
D)They supported a military intervention of South Africa.

Question 7

Which of the following is an example of a prisoner of conscience?

A)An individual who lives in a state despite disagreeing with the government
B)An international organization that cannot get legal status within a particular country
C)An individual imprisoned for his or her nonviolent political beliefs
D)An individual imprisoned for taking up arms against the government

Question 8

Which of the following illustrates the limitations of human rights norms?

A)The treatment of terror suspects by the United States after the 9/11 attacks
B)The inclusion of human rights provisions in regional trade agreements
C)The number of states that are parties to the ICCPR
D)The international condemnation of abuses committed in Chile by the Pinochet dictatorship

Question 9

The United States declared the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)to be "not self-executing." This means the provisions:

A)would expire within a specified amount of time.
B)required enforcement by the World Court.
C)required constant monitoring by transnational advocacy networks (TANs).
D)did not take effect unless the government passed laws stating as such.

Question 10

In addition to the UDHR,the first international treaty to protect human rights covered:

A)freedom of movement.
B)freedom of speech.
C)asylum from persecution.
D)freedom from genocide.

Question 11

Which of the following is an example of a right guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights?

A)Free primary education
B)Freedom of assembly and association
C)The right to strike
D)Exploitation of child labor

Question 12

Why is there disagreement among states over when and how human rights should be protected?

A)There are few international treaties designed to protect human rights.
B)Human rights violations occur within states and they rarely affect the material welfare of other countries.
C)The United Nations Security Council does not have the authority to decide when and how human rights should be protected.
D)There are no international institutions designed to ensure protections of human rights abuses occurring within countries.

Question 13

Why is the effort to promote human rights uneven?

A)The International Criminal Court (ICC)is biased about which human rights cases it chooses to enforce.
B)States consistently violate the principle of sovereignty.
C)Human rights violations in one country significantly affect the populations in other countries.
D)There is disagreement about what constitutes a human right.

Question 14

What is the International Bill of Rights?

A)The UDHR,the ICCPR,and the ICESCR.
B)The UDHR.
C)The ICCPR and the ICESCR.
D)The ICCPR.

Question 15

What was apartheid?

A)The separation of religious groups in South Africa that occurred as a result of colonialism
B)The voluntary separation of races in South Africa
C)The term used by South African citizens when referring to their forced exile from the country
D)The policy of the South African government to segregate races and perpetuate inequality

Question 16

Which of the following is an example of the way in which the human rights guaranteed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)are monitored?

A)Norway submits a report to the Human Rights Committee on efforts taken by the French government to comply with the treaty every three years.
B)Amnesty International submits reports on all countries to the Human Rights Committee for review.
C)Sweden submits a report to the Human Rights Committee on their compliance with the treaty every three years.
D)The United States submits reports on the compliance levels of all UN member states to the Human Rights Committee every 3 years.

Question 17

Which of the following best describes the concept of natural rights developed by English philosopher John Locke?

A)The idea that people are by nature free and equal and possess certain basic rights
B)The idea that culture and custom dictate which rights people possess
C)The idea that in the state of nature,people live in a hierarchical society in which some individuals have basic rights,while others do not
D)The idea that in the state of nature,people possess civil and political rights,but not economic and social rights

Question 18

In what way have TANs been successful in changing state human rights practices?

A)TANs have pressured states to intervene militarily when human rights abuses are taking place.
B)TANs have provided resources to states to secure the protection of some human rights.
C)TANs have pressured states to adopt an International Human Rights Court.
D)TANs have contributed to the development of international norms by changing conceptions of rights and interests of individuals and states.

Question 19

Why has the UDHR been criticized?

A)Conservatives in the United States want to push for more rights for people throughout the world.
B)Few countries have been convinced to sign the agreement.
C)Countries in western Europe complain that the declaration's provisions are enforced too strictly.
D)It is seen as biased toward a Western conception of rights.

Question 20

Which of the following would most clearly be an example of Amnesty International's core mission?

A)Launching a campaign to free a Cuban citizen imprisoned for criticizing the government
B)Calling for the release of a Japanese citizen accused of murdering his neighbor
C)Lobbying for a new law in Pakistan guaranteeing 4 months maternity leave
D)Attempting to free a woman convicted of committing a terrorist act in France

Question 21

According to the "lock in" argument,which states are most likely to sign and ratify international human rights agreements?

A)Single-party autocracies
B)States transitioning to democracy
C)Consolidated democracies
D)States transitioning to autocracy

Question 22

Which of the following is an example of a rights violation due to a national security threat from domestic groups?

A)The Mexican government failing to provide safe and healthy working conditions for Mexican factory workers
B)United States placing approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans in internment camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the start of World War II
C)Bolivia failing to provide free primary education to everyone based on a lack of resources
D)United States troops abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq in 2003

Question 23

Which of the following represents a self-interested motivation for protecting rights?

A)The European Union is concerned about refugee flows from the Syrian conflict into Turkey.
B)Norwegian citizens empathize with the suffering of the Syrian people as a result of the conflict.
C)Belgian citizens lobby policymakers to protect minorities abroad because they want to ensure similar rights protections at home.
D)NGOs persuade Swedish citizens to defend human rights principles abroad.

Question 24

Which of the following is an example of states using linkage to get other states to sign international human rights treaties?

A)Argentina and Brazil signed a trade agreement that eventually led to the creation of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur).
B)The Mexican government pushed for an improved human rights situation in Guatemala in order to reduce the number of refugees crossing the border.
C)The United States insisted that countries sign bilateral agreements after the International Criminal Court (ICC)was created.
D)Poland had to agree to end the use of the death penalty in order to join the European Union.

Question 25

Why have democracies been LESS likely to sign international human rights agreements?

A)Democracies are more likely to violate human rights.
B)There have been fewer democracies than dictatorships in the world.
C)Democracies are more likely than dictatorships to resent interference in their domestic affairs.
D)Democracies have not thought it necessary to sign agreements because they already protect their citizens' rights.

Question 26

Which of the following would be an example of using a human rights agreement to "lock in" new institutions?

A)The government of Saudi Arabia negotiating to remove provisions from an agreement that would have required the country to allow women to drive cars
B)The government of France promoting a new medical rights agreement in order to guarantee Doctors Without Borders a larger role in international politics
C)The International Criminal Court (ICC)coming into existence when 60 countries ratified the treaty that detailed its provisions
D)The new democratic government of Brazil ratifying the ICCPR with the hope that the next government will also comply with its provisions

Question 27

States violate international human rights law for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that governments:

A)do not always have the capacity to comply with human rights commitments.
B)do not understand the implications of their human rights agreements.
C)may overreact when responding to national security threats from other countries.
D)may attack domestic opponents in order to retain power.

Question 28

Why might signing human rights treaties be associated with worse human rights practices?

A)Human rights law does not cause states to stop abusing their citizens.
B)States cannot enforce human rights law because of the self-help nature of international politics.
C)States sign human rights treaties to mask the fact that they actually commit human rights abuses.
D)The conflict over human rights treaties makes states commit more human rights abuses.

Question 29

Why would domestic labor groups promote international human rights standards?

A)Human rights standards are clearly the ethical norm for groups to support.
B)Adopting such rights would level the economic and political playing fields for workers.
C)Firms are reluctant to invest in other countries that have poor human rights practices.
D)Laborers want to make sure that their rights will be respected if they have to ever move to another country.

Question 30

During times of war states can suspend numerous human rights,but they CANNOT suspend ________ rights.

A)universal
B)first-generation
C)nonderogable
D)POC

Question 31

Which of these regimes is MOST likely to use violence against its citizens?

A)Single-party dictatorships are most likely to violate rights because the dictator can single-handedly order human rights abuses.
B)Multiparty dictatorships are most likely to violate rights because the political opposition is active and the dictator uses repression to suppress them.
C)Multiparty democracies are most likely to violate rights because elected officials are accountable to a public that supports rights.
D)Two-party democracies are most likely to violate rights because elected officials do not need to fully represent constituent interests.

Question 32

Countries sign human rights agreements for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

A)a government can try to ensure that its successor will continue to respect human rights.
B)governments think that supporting human rights is the right thing to do.
C)transnational advocacy networks can force countries to sign human rights agreements.
D)states may be required to sign human rights agreements in order to receive foreign aid.

Question 33

Why might it be costly for states to enforce human rights laws?

A)States are only compensated for military intervention if they are able to win the conflict.
B)Economic sanctions on states that violate human rights also reduce the incomes of exporters in the sanctioning state.
C)International organizations that enforce human rights require high dues payments from member states.
D)States have to reduce human rights abuses in their own territories before they enforce human rights laws in other countries.

Question 34

What has been the trend in human rights practices in recent decades?

A)Human rights abuses have mostly ceased occurring.
B)Human rights abuses have decreased.
C)Human rights abuses have not changed much.
D)Human rights abuses have increased.

Question 35

Which regime is most likely to sign the Convention against Torture and still engage in torture?

A)Multiparty dictatorships
B)Closed dictatorships
C)Democratizing states
D)Multiparty democracies

Question 36

Which of the following illustrates the behavior of a state signing an international human rights treaty for its expressive value?

A)A country doesn't sign an international human rights treaty because it already protects rights.
B)A rights-respecting country fails to sign an international human rights treaty because of domestic opposition.
C)A rights-violating country signs an international human rights treaty to take a position on human rights,with little intention to respect rights.
D)A rights-violating country fails to sign an international human rights treaty because it does not intend to follow through on its commitment.

Question 37

In which of these regions have human rights abuses declined the most in the past 25 years?

A)South America
B)Asia
C)Western Europe
D)Africa

Question 38

Why might governments be opposed to inserting human rights provisions into trade agreements?

A)Human rights provisions in trade agreements hurt labor unions.
B)Labor unions think human rights provisions in trade agreements harm the domestic economy.
C)Human rights clauses in trade agreements may be a form of trade protectionism and prevent freer trade.
D)Developed country workers do not want developing country workers to secure the same human rights provisions.

Question 39

According to Franklin Roosevelt and some modern international relations scholars,why would promoting human rights be in the interest of the United States?

A)It will slow down development and competition from other states.
B)It will allow the United States the right to monitor other countries and gather information.
C)It will give the United States the right to invade other countries for not respecting human rights.
D)It will undermine totalitarian states,encourage political representation,and perhaps bring peace.

Question 40

In what way has the public been socialized to identify with universal human rights?

A)The most powerful states in the international system support human rights,and other states support these rights to establish a good reputation.
B)NGOs,working through TANs,have played a key role in educating the public about human rights,and the public has been persuaded to accept human rights.
C)Trade agreements condition trade benefits on respect for human rights,making the public more supportive of human rights.
D)International organizations use the threat of sanctions to ensure that human rights are protected,and the public supports human rights as a result.

Question 41

Which of the following illustrates defining an issue as being "anticolonial" to try and gain support for the cause of human rights?

A)Describing the peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone as an attempt to reduce violence and human rights abuses
B)Describing the campaign against apartheid as a struggle of black Africans against white minority rulers
C)Calling for increased trade between African countries and their former colonial powers in order to remedy past exploitation and improve the living standards of Africans
D)Advocating acceptance of human rights treaties by African countries so these countries can have legal grounds to criticize the human rights records of former colonial powers

Question 42

Why might ICC involvement in conflict prolong violence?

A)The lack of precision in the ICC agreement reduces the likelihood of ICC activity in most states.
B)Leaders have incentives to fight longer because if they lose they face the risk of prosecution by the ICC.
C)Violence often continues during the long investigation and trial process at the ICC.
D)The risk of prosecution is low enough that leaders are not deterred by possible ICC activity.

Question 43

Which of the following is an example of transitional justice?

A)A state extraditing a former president who abused human rights
B)A new government setting up a truth and reconciliation committee
C)One government applying economic sanctions on another government over a territorial dispute
D)Invading another country to depose an existing regime that violates human rights

Question 44

All of the following are within the jurisdiction of the ICC EXCEPT if the:

A)accused is a citizen of a state that has ratified the treaty establishing the ICC.
B)crime in question took place on the territory of a state that has ratified the treaty establishing the ICC.
C)accused has already been tried and found innocent by the courts of his or her own country.
D)United Nations Security Council refers the case to the ICC prosecutor.

Question 45

Since the adoption of the UDHR and the twin covenants:

A)states have pulled back from issuing such strong human rights protections.
B)states have refused to enforce the provisions of the documents.
C)additional rights have been guaranteed through supplemental agreements.
D)many rights have been redefined as being nonderogable.

Question 46

Why have scholars recently changed their opinion on whether global human rights violations have increased or decreased over the past 35 years?

A)The United Nations has placed more emphasis on tracking human rights violations.
B)Few scholars were looking into human rights issues earlier than 2000.
C)Reliable statistics have only recently become available for the 1980s.
D)The definition for what counts as a human rights violation has expanded over time.

Question 47

Why does the proliferation of regional trade agreements (RTAs)encourage optimism about the reduction of human rights abuses?

A)The ease of travel across borders makes it easier to flee abusive governments.
B)Prosperity from trade leads to the elimination of human rights abuses.
C)Members of RTAs enforce human rights provisions in other member countries.
D)Nearly all trade agreements include provisions on human rights.

Question 48

Why is international enforcement of international human rights treaties more difficult than enforcement of other types of treaties?

A)International enforcement mechanisms are weaker than international law in other issue areas.
B)Cooperation gains that make other types of international law self-enforcing are small or nonexistent when it comes to respect for human rights.
C)Powerful states are not members of most international human rights treaties.
D)States sign international human rights treaties only when they intend to comply.

Question 49

Whereas we used to think that the rate of global human rights violations had ________ in the
Past 35 years,recent scholarship has indicated that it has ________.

A)decreased; increased
B)increased; decreased
C)stayed the same; decreased
D)stayed the same; increased

Question 50

Which of the following is an example of individual petition?

A)Nicaragua sued the United States in the World Court over U.S.mining of Nicaragua's port.
B)A Spanish judge issued an arrest warrant for former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
C)A Kurdish immigrant asked to be granted refugee status in Germany because of human rights abuses she suffered in Turkey.
D)A person with a same-sex partner filed a petition with the European Court of Human Rights alleging that her government had violated her rights.

Question 51

Why is it difficult to measure human rights abuses?

A)States lack sufficient resources to report on their level of respect for rights.
B)The only organizations that release annual reports on respect for human rights are usually biased.
C)There are few international nongovernmental organizations that work to track human rights abuses.
D)Governments carry out some abuses of human rights in private,making it difficult to find evidence of abuses.

Question 52

Why has the United States pursued bilateral Article 98 agreements to undermine the ICC?

A)Article 98 agreements require that ICC member states adopt strong domestic legal institutions,so as to make the ICC irrelevant.
B)Article 98 agreements stipulate that ICC member states must submit to the jurisdiction of the ICC on a case-by-case basis.
C)Article 98 agreements exempt a country from handing U.S.nationals over to the ICC.
D)Article 98 agreements specify a timeframe for states to withdraw from their obligations under the ICC.

Question 53

The ICC is a court established to:

A)coordinate prosecution of international criminal networks.
B)try individuals accused of committing serious human rights abuses.
C)try states accused of genocide.
D)craft a universal human rights law.

Question 54

All of the following are important ongoing innovations in international human rights EXCEPT:

A)bilateral negotiations.
B)individual petition.
C)transitional justice.
D)harnessing material interests.

Question 55

When are states most likely to take action on human rights?

A)When states have no self-interest in the country where abuses are taking place
B)When states can reconcile the principle of sovereignty with intervention in the name of human rights
C)When there is little public information on the abuses,so that states can encourage abusers to "save face" and stop violating their citizens' rights before the information becomes public
D)When there is no international court with jurisdiction to enforce human rights in the country where the abuses are taking place

Question 56

Why does the United States object to the ICC?

A)The ICC has consistently ruled against the United States.
B)Many U.S.personnel have committed acts that the ICC would consider serious human rights abuses.
C)U.S.legal procedure does not meet the standards required by the ICC.
D)Leaders in the United States think that the judges and prosecutors have too much independence.

Question 57

Which of the following is the best example of how a transnational advocacy network (TAN)can enforce human rights standards?

A)Multinational corporations arranged a coup in Guatemala to help protect their commercial interests from being infringed.
B)The United States,Great Britain,and other countries invaded Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein's abusive government.
C)International nongovernmental organizations caused the U.S.government to cut aid to Argentina by reporting on human rights abuses.
D)The Organization of American States suspended Cuba's membership after the communist revolution of 1959.

Question 58

All of the following represent cases where countries might be likely to take action against human rights violations,EXCEPT:

A)Large-scale human rights abuses are being committed in an oil-producing country.
B)Large-scale human rights abuses are being committed in a small island country.
C)Widespread human rights abuses are being committed in a country vital to the global economy.
D)Widespread human rights abuses are being committed in a country that is an important ally to major powers.

Question 59

What does it mean for the International Criminal Court (ICC)to be a court of last resort?

A)The United Nations must take a case to the Security Council for mediation before it can come before the ICC.
B)Only those who live in countries that have not ratified the ICC can bring cases.
C)The court will only hear a case if there is no other feasible method of resolving it.
D)It cannot act if a national judicial authority has already genuinely investigated or prosecuted the case.

Question 60

What is the most important role that TANs have in stopping human rights abuses?

A)Providing information that sparks public outrage about a country's human rights abuses
B)Creating boycotts that lead countries to stop perpetrating human rights abuses
C)Using the United Nations to force a government to stop committing human rights abuses
D)Blocking regional trade agreements between countries that have poor human rights records

Question 61

What is transitional justice? Why would a state opt for that approach toward human rights abuses rather than one that is more focused on direct punishment of offenders? Which approach do you believe to be superior?

Question 62

How have regional trade agreements (RTAs)harnessed material interests and encouraged better respect for rights?

Question 63

How effective is the ICC at deterring actors from committing human rights abuses?

Question 64

Has human rights law been effective? What has helped it be effective and what has prevented it from being more effective?

Question 65

Explain why states commit human rights abuses against their own citizens,even though their actions violate international human rights law.

Question 66

What are some reasons states sign international human rights agreements?

Question 67

Why does the self-interest of protectionist groups increase the effectiveness of RTAs in enforcing human rights law?

A)Protectionist groups would prefer to have free-trade agreements revoked,which makes them more vigilant in examining the human rights records of other member states.
B)Since protectionist groups approve of free-trade agreements only with democratic states,their governments tend to sign treaties with states that already have good human rights records.
C)Protectionist groups want trade agreements to succeed,so they advocate for more aid to help other countries avoid human rights abuses that would jeopardize their trading status.
D)Protectionist unions promote free-trade agreements so that other countries will become wealthier,which will lead to greater democracy and thus better political conditions for their fellow workers.

Question 68

Why are human rights controversial? What explains the lack of consensus on human rights internationally?

Question 69

What does it mean that "although all rights are equal,some rights are more equal than others"?

Question 70

Why has it been difficult to figure out whether the number of global human rights violations has been increasing or decreasing?

Question 71

How did the concept of human rights develop? What were some of the first international treaties that guaranteed the protection of rights,and what types of rights were included in these treaties?

Question 72

When are states most likely to take action on human rights abuses?

Question 73

How have TANs affected the adoption of human rights norms?

Question 74

Why and in what ways has the United States opposed the creation of the ICC?

Question 75

Why do states have interests in enforcing human rights law in other countries? Do they always have an interest in enforcing human rights law?

Question 76

How did transnational advocacy networks (TANs)affect the campaign against apartheid in South Africa?