intro to human rights violations and victims' rights

BASIC CONCEPTS AND BRIEF OVERVIEW OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND THE RIGHT TO

AND EFFECTIVE REMEDY

Aug 11, 2008

Unit presented by: Angela Contreras-ChavezCourse: Truth and Reconciliation: Politics and Possibility of Memory

Theme: Introduction to Human Rights

Interfaith Institute for Peace, Justice, and Social MovementsBurnaby, BC

Objectives

1. Recognize a human rights violation in the basis of the UNDHR, UN International HR Treaties, and other relevant HR instruments.

2. Name the groups at higher risk of becoming victims of HR violations.

3. Name basic rights and needs of victims of HR violations.

WHAT IS A HUMAN RIGHT?

Human rights are universal legal guarantees protecting individuals and groups against actions of state and non-state actors which interfere with fundamental freedoms and human dignity (UN, 2000)

BASIC CATEGORIESOF HUMAN RIGHTS

• Right to Dignity

• Fundamental Freedoms

• Right to Equality

• Political Rights

• Fair Trial (due process)

• Solidarity Rights

• Protection of Groups at Risk

INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATION:IHRL and IHL

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1948

International Covenant in Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

(ICESCR -1966)

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Optional Protocols

(ICCPR – 1996)

Four Geneva

Conventions 1949

&Two

AdditionalProtocols (1977)

GenocideCrimesAgainst

Humanity

WarCrimes

Grave Breaches

Of Geneva

Conventions

PROTECTION OF HR

BCHR

Code

CDNHRAct

CDNCharter

ofRR and FF

IHRL & IHLUN Charter of HR

HAVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED DISCRIMINATION?

WHAT IS DISCRIMINATION?

When an individual, or a group of

individuals, have been singled out and treated adversely or differently than others due to group characteristics such as race, colour, religious belief or sexual orientation, then discrimination has likely occurred. (BC HR Coalition)

YOUR RISK OF BECOMING VICTIM OF HR VIOLATION?

• Minorities• Children• Women• Elderly and Persons with Disabilities• Refugees

Groups Protected from Discrimination

BC HR Code

• Race• Colour• Ancestry• Place of origin• Political beliefs• Religion• Marital status• Family status• Physical or mental disability• Sex• Sexual orientation• Age (19 and over)• Criminal and summary conviction• Source of income

CDN HR Act

• Race • National or ethnic origin • Colour • Religion • Age • Sex• Sexual orientation• Marital status and family status• Disability • Conviction for an offence for which

a pardon has been granted

HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES

..

.

• FORCED DISAPPEARANCE

• KIDNAPPING

• TORTURE

• RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

• SUMMARY EXECUTION

• RAPE

• GENOCIDE

ONE VICTIM

CRIME– CRIMINAL (offender)

STATE (offended) Legal system concern: protecting the rights of the

offender (punishment, rehabilitation)

Criminal Justice System

WHAT ABOUT THE VICTIM? Concern for victims’ rights and needs (protection,

compensation)

Victims’ Rights System

“Victims should be treated with compassion and respect for their dignity. They are entitled to access to the mechanisms of justice and to prompt redress, as provided for by national legislation, for the harm they have suffered.”

– U.N. Victims Declaration,1985 paragraph four

What’s the international definition of “victim?”

Art 1 UN Victims Declaration 1985:

Victim of crime is any person, or group of persons, that individually or collectively, has suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws operative within Member States, including those laws proscribing criminal abuse of power.

What about indirect victims?

Witnesses, dependants of a direct victim, friends and other relatives, non-governmental organizations (juristic persons)…

UN Basic Principles and Guidelines (2005):

And then, there are more definitions of victim• Victims of Crime Act [RSBC 1996] (BC) / Crime Victim Assistance Act. [SBC

2001] CHAPTER 38. Assented to August 27, 2001 (BC)

• Mandate for Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Canada)• Guatemala’s Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH)

• Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power --Adopted by General Assembly resolution 40/34 of 29 Nov 1985

• UN Basic Principles on Victims’ Right to Remedy and Reparation ---The right to restitution, compensation and rehabilitation for victims of grave violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms --------- E/CN.4/RES/2002/44 - 23 April 2002

• U.N. Declaration of Basic Principles for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power (“the Victims Declaration”)

• U.N. Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law ----------A/Res/60/147 21 Mar 2006

Identifying a Victim of Human Trafficking

Sample Screening Questions:

• What type of work do you do? • Are you being paid? • Can you leave your job? • Can you come and go as you please? • Have you or your family been threatened? • What is your working and living condition like? • Where do you sleep and eat? • Do you have to ask permission to eat/sleep/go to the bathroom • Are there locks on your doors/windows that you cannot unlock? • Has your identification or documentation been taken from you?

(Copied from the Rescue and Restore, HHS, "Look beneath the Surface“question card; US. Department of Health and Human Services Website, 2006) http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/07/HumanTrafficking/IdentVict/ib.htm#Defining

Report Application EvidenceVictimization (Report) Application Evidence

VICTIMS’ RIGHTS "[I]n honouring the victims' right to benefit

from remedies and reparation, the international community keeps faith and human solidarity with victims, survivors and future human generations, and reaffirms the international legal principles of accountability, justice and the rule of law" Preamble, E/CN.4/2000/62

VICTIMS’ RIGHT TO COMPENSATION

- Common Law + Civil Law +/- International Law: + UDHR +/- UN Specialized Treaties:

+ Convention Against Torture (CAT) Redress; + International Convention for Protection of Rights of

Migrant Workers and their Families (1990); + Convention Against all Forms of Racial

Discrimination; +/- International Covenant on Economic/Social/Cultural

Rights (ICESCR)

REDRESS

IN CLOSING

VICTIMS RIGHTS …. AND NEEDS!

REQUIREMENTS FOR A VICTIMS’ RIGHTS SYSTEM

CompensationRedress TestimonyTruth

Acknowledgement Memory

Reparation Justice

Reconciliation Prevention (Never Again!)

JUSTICE