Unit 7 - International institutions and human rights (Jack Rigby)

International organisations are big institutions that have a wide role in matters such as defence, human rights and economics. These organisations include:

·         The United Nations (NU)

·         The European Union (EU)

·         The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

·         The World Bank

·         The Red Cross

·         Greenpeace

·         Amnesty International

·         Liberty

P1, M1 & D1:

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – NATO rose because of the growing power of the Soviet Union after the Second World War because of the part the country played in defeating Germany. NATO was originally designed to defend Europe against Russia and it’s allies. The threat from the Russia had gone by the end of the 1980’s so another role was given to NATO in defence against terrorist threats to the US, Canada and Europe.                                 Because Britain has a big part in NATO this means that the British government has to be prepared to send our armed forces wherever NATO thinks there is a need for them.

The World Bank – The World Bank is not an actual bank where money is kept, it is made up of two organisations:

·         The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

·         The International Development Association(IDA)

It’s owned by 186 nations and was created at the same time as NATO after the Second World War. Today it has more than 10,000 employees all over the world. The main purpose of the World Bank is to decrease global poverty by giving loans to countries to develop in areas such as agriculture, healthcare, education, industry and environmental development.

Amnesty International – Amnesty International is a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Their main focus is:

·         To free prisoners of the death penalty

·         To ensure fair and trials for political prisoners

·         To get rid of the death penalty

·         To stop extra-judicial executions

Greenpeace – The Greenpeace Environmental Trust is a NGO. It uses non-violent protests to highlight global problems. It was set up to examine the effect of human activities on the environment, make information known to the public and help get rid of illness and pain of humans and animals caused by the environment.

Liberty – Liberty, similar to Amnesty International only Liberty only operates in England and Wales. It was created with the purpose of protecting civilian liberties and promoting human rights.

Rights are certain things that an individual is entitled to based on fairness and justice. In many countries basic rights are written down in a constitution but in others such as ours we have them defined by legislation. Many organisations look into human rights and look at how people are treated across the world such as Liberty and Amnesty International. There are also many agreements that set out the rights that countries should afford their citizens.

P2 & M2:  The Geneva Convention – The Geneva Convention was set up to protect agencies and wounded soldiers from further attack during the Second World War. So the society of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Geneva Convention were established.

The first and second Geneva Conventions had similar purposes:

·         To care for sick and wounded

·         Both sides must treat enemy casualties as if their own

·         The dead should not be left to rot

·         The dead should be identified and their possessions kept

·         Health facilities should not be attacked

The Third Geneva Convention told us what should happen if a member of the armed forces gets captured by the enemy becoming a prisoner:

·         To not give away any unnecessary information

·         Treated humanely

·         To be able to tell the Red Cross and next of kin of their situation

·         To be allowed to contact family

·         To be supplied with food and clothes 

·         To get medical treatment

The Fourth Geneva Convention dealt with the protection of civilians in the time of war, the main points were:

·         To be treated humanely

·         Entitled to respect for religious practices and family

·         Allowed to practise religion

·         To not be discriminated because of race or religion

·         Not to be forced to give information

·         Not to be used to shield military operations

·         To not be raped, assaulted

·         To not be punished for crimes not committed

Universal Declaration of Human Rights – The UN declaration was created to make countries treat prisoners with fairness and dignity in times of peace and conflict. The declaration stated the importance of civil, political, economic and social rights to all people regardless of colour, religion, nationality, gender or sexuality. The declaration is important world-wide and is probably one of the most important documents ever written. Nations are measured by the standards set out from the declaration.

European Convention on Human Rights - This treaty was created by members of the council of Europe in 1950. EU nations must abide by it; it was designed in the Second World War and was set to help encourage EU nations to comply. It contains rights that are included under the Human Rights Act which I will now come on to.

Human Rights Act 1998 – This law was designed to include everything out of the ECHR and put them into British law. Which basically means that everything stated in the ECHR  can now be put into actions in British courts. These include:

·         The right to life

·         No torture or mistreatment

·         Freedom from slavery

·         Right to liberty

·         Right to a fair trial

·         No punishment without law

·         Right to respect private and family life

·         Right to freedom of thought

·         Right to freedom of expression

·         The right to marry and have a family

·         The right to property

·         The right to an education

·         The right to free elections

The major effect of the act was to individual human rights at the centre of public life, people could now take action if they felt their human rights had been violated. This had a huge impact on the public services because they are described as a public authority in the human rights. This means that the police and other agencies that are described as a public authority can now be challenged in courts over their behaviour and they conduct themselves in a day to day environment.

P3: Human rights are abused in every nation such as torture, genocide, war crimes etc. They even happen in places like the UK and the USA. When human rights breaches happen there are actions put into place by the international community to catch the people responsible. The UN has to do something about the matter, one of the rights they have to put sanctions with the hope of maintaining peace and also security. For example they can cut off a certain supply of materials being shipped into a country which they may need in order to grow food and hopefully this will make they comply to the UN rules on a certain issue.

Conclusion: I conclude that human rights are very important as they give us the basic privileges of life. During the Second World War and before they didn’t have these privileges and it was only recently that they were put into effect and made into a law. That said there are still violations of human rights today and there are many things being done to try and stop this.

English civil war (1215-1217)

English civil war (1215-1217)

•King john was  forced to sign Magna Carta 's peoples rights by the baronial rebellion

•King john was not respected by most of his  men during his 17-year reign from 1199-1216

•The barons captured  King John in London in April 1215 without resistance, John had to evade the baronial force of 2,000 knights for two months as it followed him around the south of England

•On 15 June, the two sides met at Runnymede and negotiated the Magna Carta, a document that conceded most of the baronial demands and limited the king's exclusive right to rule

• John had no intention of agreeing by its terms. He viewed the charter to give him time to assembled a bigger military force. Heavily dependent on borrowed money and hired mercenaries, John resumed fighting in September 1215.

•John's problems was made worse when Louis, the French king's son and heir, arrived in England (21 May 1216)

•Louis was welcomed by the citizenry of London, and crowned king of England.

•Shortly afterwards, on 23 October 1216, John died at Newark and his nine-year-old son Henry III took his place, who was more popular than his father.

•The primary responsibility for leading the war now fell on the two people, William Marshal and Hubert de Burgh

•Marshal proved himself, winning the allegiance of many of the rebel barons. When Lord Fitzwalterraised a rebel army of 600 knights and 20,000 French soldiers, Marshal retreated to Nottingham and waited for reinforcements

•While he had the bigger army, he laid siege to the rebel stronghold of Lincoln Castle, and secured a significant victory (23 May).

•This defeat, combined with the dislike of the French naval fleet off Sandwich in Kent, forced Louis to accept peace terms

•In return for a payment of 10,000 marks, the French dauphin agreed to abandon his claim to the English throne and to restore Normandy. Neither promise was fulfilled.

•Although Henry went on to rule England until 1272, the issue of regal versus baronial rights was never resolved during his reign. The most enduring legacy of the civil war was undoubtedly the Magna Carta, which inspired supporters of individual freedom long after the memory of the rebel barons had faded.

Powhatan War (1622 – 1644)      The Indian Massacre which took place 1622 too place in the English Colony of

     Virginia, which is now owned by the United States, which occurred on the 22nd 

      March 1622. Captain John Smith 'came unarmed into our houses with deer, turkey, fish, fruits and other supplies to sell us.' Suddenly Powhatan took any tool in which they could find sand killed any English which they seen, which of both genders at any age.

King Williams War(1688 -1697)

King William's war started in the year of 1688

and portrayed until late 1697, the war was also

known as the Second Indian War. The war was

fought between New France and New England

along with their respective Native allies before

Britain eventually defeated France IN North

America in 1763.

King William's War, England neither France decided to weaken their position in Europe, to help the war strength in North America.  France andWabanaki Confederacy were able to prevent New England's growth into Acadia, who border New France demarcated as the Kennebec River in the southern Maine.   

Magna Carta 1215

Magna Carta was a king in 1215 AD. The name Magna Carta in Latin means 'Great Charter'. The magna Carta was one of the most important documents which was wrote in  that time.

This document was signed by the royal seal and King John.

What the document was, was a series or written promises between the king and his people. The king would govern England and look after his fellow people  with their according custom of feudal law.

It was wrote to set rules for each person some people had rights within their own civilisation, it gave people jobs, freedom to speak and their rights to be treat like people, not slaves.

This is what started the proper human rights.

 Petition of right 

1628

PETITION OF RIGHT - 1628, Legislative declaration of the liberties and rights of the people, agreed by Charles the first in the beginning of his time in power (1628) he considered this document not as important as Magna Charta.

The petition included:

•that no freeman should be forced to pay any tax, loan, or benevolence, unless in accordance with an act of parliament

•that no freeman should be imprisoned contrary to the laws of the land

•that soldiers and sailors should not be billeted on private persons

•commissions to punish soldiers and sailors by martial law should be abolished.

British Bill of Right 1689

The Bill Of Rights 1689 – This is the original Act of the English Parliament it has been protecting by parliament since its been made. The Bill firmly established the principles of frequent parliaments, free elections and freedom of speech withinParliament. This bill includes no right of taxation without parliaments agreement this bill also can't be tampered with by government. The main points of the bill of rights are still enforced today particularly in legal cases, it was also used as a template for the US Bill of Rights 1789. it also has influenced other documents such as the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Germany 1914

1914:

1.       Germany invades Belgium.

2.       Britain declares war on Germany- because the Germans have invaded Belgium they feel like there too close for comfort.

3.       Japan joins the Allied forces: Ottoman Empire soon joins the Central Powers.

4.       War spreads to the seas.

Germans invade Belgium                                          Britain declares war on Germany

1915

1.    Women take up men's jobs.

2.    Stalemate continues on the Western Front- warfare in tense’s as poisons gas is used to break the western line.

3.    The Lusitania passenger liner is sunk, with 1,200 lives lost.

4.    London attacked from the air by German Zeppelins.

Women take up men’s jobs                     Lusitania ship sinks with 1,200 people dead

1916

1.    Conscription for men aged between 18 and 41.

2.    A million casualties in ten months: Germany aims to 'bleed France white'.

3.    At sea the Battle of Jutland takes place.

4.    Armed uprisings in Dublin: the Irish Republic is proclaimed.

sea battle of Jutland                                                                

  armed uprising in Dublin

1917

1.    German Army retreats to the Hindenburg Line.

2.    United States joins the war and assists the Allies.

3.    Tank, submarine and gas warfare intensifies.

4.    Royal family change their surname to Windsor to appear more British.

U.S. joins the war to help assist the allies                  Germans retreat to the Hindenburg line

1918:

1. Germany launches major offensive on the western front- despite the minor Intel the Germans had failed to break the allied lines and in effect this meant that the war was coming to its end game.

2. Allies launch successful counter-offensives at the Marne and Amiens.

3. Armistice signed on November 11, ending the war at 11am.

4. In Britain, a coalition government is selected and women over 30 succeed in gaining the vote. 

Armistice signed on November 11th        major offensive on western front