Wednesday, May 18, 2011

April 2011: Responsibility to Protect and Human Rights Protection in the Ivory Coast

Editor's Introduction

The Case for Intervention in the Ivory Coast” by Corinne Dufka. Foreign Policy. March 25 2011.

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A Rights-Based Approach to Global Injustice

by Brooke Ackerly, Vanderbilt University

“There has already been a military response to the Ivory Coast. Should we wait to reflect on global injustice until we see the graphic images of genocide and tragedy elsewhere, or can we use a rights-based lens to care about global injustice as part of our everyday lives?”

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Pandora’s Box of Humanitarian Intervention

by Edzia Carvalho, University of Mannheim

“It seems that while states are often slow to react to egregious violations of human rights, they can be moved to action when the domestic and international costs and foreseeable risks of such interventions are low and the benefits are high. Domestic and international non-state actors, particularly NGOs and human rights lobbies, could help alter these calculations and make it more feasible for states to intervene to prevent human rights violations.”

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Double Standards Demystified

by Jonas Claes, U.S. Institute of Peace

“In an ideal world, these considerations would be subordinate to the urgency and gravity of a humanitarian crisis. But a world in which the risk of atrocities automatically triggers a strong response seems far off. Double standards are an unpleasant reality that sprout from the nature of international politics, and will remain part and parcel of the international response to man-made humanitarian crises in the foreseeable future.”

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A Structural Solution to Africa’s Wayward Presidents

by Devin Joshi, University of Denver

“Of course, any international response to this crisis should aim to restore and keep peace and to bring Laurent Gbagbo and other perpetrators of these atrocities to the International Criminal Court. Yet, it would also be wise to deal with some of the structural factors that have led to violent conflict in Cote d’Ivoire’s past and which continually plague the region. While there are many problems that need attention, one approach that should be given consideration is restructuring the government from a presidential to a parliamentary republic.”

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