Human Rights as Myth and Ceremony? Reevaluating the Effectiveness of Human Rights Treaties, 1981–2007

Abstract

Much research has shown human rights treaties to be ineffective or even counterproductive, often contributing to greater levels of abuse among countries that ratify them. This article reevaluates the effect of four core human rights treaties on a variety of human rights outcomes. Unlike previous studies, it disaggregates treaty membership to examine the effect of relatively "stronger" and "weaker" commitments. Two-stage regression analyses that control for the endogeneity of treaty membership show that stronger commitments in the form of optional provisions that allow states and individuals to complain about human rights abuses are often associated with improved practices. The article discusses the scholarly and practical implications of these findings.

World Society and the Global Foreign Aid Network

“…Indeed, the regional fragmentation of these networks in a way that parallels divisions typical of a World Systems understanding of political and economic globalization directly contradicts the concept of a universal world culture spread by world society actors. Such universality and uniformity is also challenged by the notion of loose or full de-coupling states and other actors experience when applying world society norms/models (Clark 2010;Cole 2012;Cole and Ramirez 2013;Swiss 2009). As Clark (2010) illustrates, even in cases where developing states tacitly embrace world society norms, they are much more likely to be only loosely coupled to the intended application of such models.…”

Regulatory Theory

“…For example, states often announce human rights initiatives prior to their review, and mission staff in Geneva display a marked willingness to engage with civil society throughout the review process (Schokman and Lynch 2014). Scrutiny mechanisms such as the UPR can discourage states from undermining the legitimacy gained initially by signing on to international human rights instruments (Cole 2012). It is also possible that involvement over time in a cooperative regime leads to an internalisation, or socialisation, by participants of the regime's goals (Goodman and Jinks 2004).…”

Complying with Human Rights

“…She finds rather mixed effects when assessing whether such ratifications improve the human rights record of countries. Similarly, Cole (2012), Hill (2010), Landman (2005a), andNeumayer (2005) analyze the effect of different United Nations' human rights conventions such as the ICCPR and its First Optional Protocol; the CAT, including Articles 21 and 22; and the Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Englehart and Miller (2014) find a positive effect of ratifications of the CEDAW on women's rights.…”