Arizona State University mod 2 global justice discussion – Description
Discussion Topic for this Module:
1. Read through the report of Amnesty International 2020 report on China. It documents numerous violations of human rights. Among many other violations, it reports –
“In Xinjiang, since 2017 an estimated one million or more Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim peoples were arbitrarily detained without trial and subjected to political indoctrination and forced cultural assimilation in “transformation-through-education” centres. Documenting the full scope of violations remained impossible due to a lack of publicly available data and restrictions on access to the region. Despite having initially denied the existence of camps, authorities later described them as “vocational training” centres. Nevertheless, satellite imagery indicated that an increasing number of camps continued to be built throughout the year.”
Based on the insights you have gained from the readings (and referring to the theoretical frameworks that they offer), do you think the United States should boycott the 2022 Winter Olympic Games that take place in Beijing in February? Focus on the normative question (and leave aside strategic political calculations of domestic and international politics). Ask yourself (or the readings) what is the purpose of the language of human rights and when should it be used.
2. Now read the Amnesty report for The United States ( linkLinks to an external site. Among other violations, it includes the following:
“The federal government ended a 17-year hiatus and carried out 10 executions between July and December. The relentless pursuit of the executions showed contempt by the Trump administration for safeguards and restrictions established under international law and standards to protect the rights of those facing the death penalty, including the prohibition of executions while appeals are pending and of people with mental (psychosocial) disabilities.
“The federal government carried out more than three times the number of executions in 2020 than it had between 1977 and 2019 combined. State executions, however, slowed down, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since judicial killing resumed in the USA under revised statutes in 1977, a total of 1,529 people have been executed.”
“Under its flawed “global war” doctrine, the USA repeatedly resorted to lethal force in countries around the world, including using armed drones, in violation of its obligations under international human rights law and, where applicable, international humanitarian law. NGOs, UN experts and the news media documented how such strikes inside and outside of zones of active armed conflict arbitrarily deprived protected individuals, including civilians, of their right to life and may have resulted in unlawful killings and injuries, in some cases constituting war crimes.
The weakening by the US government of protections for civilians during lethal operations increased the likelihood of unlawful killings, impeded the assessment of the legality of strikes and prevented accountability and access to justice and effective remedies for victims of unlawful killings and civilian harm.
Despite calls by UN human rights experts and others for clarifications of the legal and policy standards and criteria the USA applies when using lethal force outside of the USA, the government continued to be neither transparent nor forthcoming.”
Imagine a European diplomat (say, from Britain, which has Links to an external site.
a would not require their government to boycott the United States too for its violation of human rights? How would you answer this question? (again, remember that the purpose of these questions is to apply the theoretical frameworks that are discussed in the readings).
Then, write replies to the posts of two other students. Make sure to engage their arguments and not just repeat your own (in particular, if you think that they did not understand the readings or your interpretation of the readings is different, make sure to point this out).
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