The world has become a global village and thus the need to develop a mandatory framework that will enhance the protection and assurance of Human Rights across state boundaries. Although the United Nations and other regional organizations have made similar efforts to enhance human rights, getting a clear picture of the role played by the state to honor its obligation to the global citizen is still a significant challenge. Civil societies have made significant contributions to human rights development since they have a domain parallel to but separate from the government. As a result, this allows citizens to associate based on their interests in an impartial setup that provides proper watch on everything (Appiagyei-Atua 265). The thesis of this paper is that NGOs have made a significant contribution to human right promotion although it has led to sovereignty issues in non-western countries.
However, the challenge faced by a civil society organization is that within its structures, numerous actors exist that limit their ability to their primary mandate. Non-governmental organizations are by far the most dynamic and vibrant segment of the civil society community. (Appiagyei-Atua 265)However, the downside is that it also jeopardizes the sovereignty of a country (Appiagyei-Atua 266).
The increasing expansion and demand for NGOs over the past years have made them essential organizations within the community as their positions and roles are increasingly becoming significant to the general welfare of the society. NGOs advocating for Human rights have in the past made a significant contribution at both national and international platforms. In today’s economies, without the input and active involvement of NGOs, the government would commit extreme human right violations, and there would be no organization to stop it. NGOs perform numerous activities. All activities are performed to promote equity among global citizens regarding access to basic needs and rights. Some of the essential functions performed by NGOs include activities and strategies that enhance the enforcement of human rights such as public awareness, human rights investigation, monitoring, and documentation. Also, human rights GOs set standards and procedure as well as advocate, foster, and lobby for the process of development and democratization (Boli and George 173).
Aim
There is a considerable gap between norms of human rights and the implementation of those standards, which is where human rights NGOs come in to operate for the protection of human rights. Globalization has brought changes, which have strengthened the role of NGOs advocating for human rights. The expanded role of NGOs in the contemporary setup, however, raises significant concerns about their effectiveness in effecting their mandate especially regarding efficient protection of fundamental human rights (Marcinkutė 53). In this regard, another concern regarding the sovereignty of the state also arises as human rights. NGOs will sometimes hold a position that is contrary to the reasonable regulations and rules of a particular state. A country’s sovereignty is an essential factor that all administrations hold dear. It enables governments to have a monopoly on the decision regarding policies that guide the conduct of their citizens.
Nevertheless, the overall impact of non-state human right actors on the sovereignty of a country is a ripe area for research. There are still unanswered questions regarding the behavior of the state to influence from outside or non-state organizations. Also, there is a need for researchers to investigate the effect of NGOs activities crucial. This article aims to investigate the highlighted research questions. Also, the paper individually analyzes the role of non-government organizations that promote human rights to determine whether those roles are jeopardizing sovereignty or enhancing positive results.
Methodology
The information for this paper is obtained through a qualitative and comprehensive literature review on various human rights journals and publications using the search terms “Non-Governmental Organizations’, Human Rights and Women’s Rights.” Therefore, the primary source for the information is primarily from the civic groups dedicated to human rights and academic, scholarly works on the main subject. Literature searches have been undertaken within the databases CINAHL, national for commissions for human rights, United Nations Human Rights Commission, Informit, Google Scholar, and Factiva. Inclusion criteria included English written professional organizational white papers, literature reviews, and primary studies published both in local and foreign peer-reviewed electronic journals. On the other hand, conference abstracts unpublished research and opinion articles were excluded from the research criteria.
There no date limits set upon which the information gathered must fall into, as the scope of the topic is extensive and not limited to a specific region or time. Furthermore, historical information is necessary as well as current research on contemporary issues revolving around NGOs and their human rights mandate. The approach revealed that over the past decade there had been a noticeable increase in the volume of scholarly works related to human rights violation especially against women in developing economies and Asian continent in general. Besides the main articles, the citations used within the accessed texts were also explored. Also, spontaneously generated articles by the database and search engine during the literature review were examined.
Discussion
Women’s Rights
Over the years, conceptualization of human rights has not been factoring the lives of women including the encounters that they undergo such as routine violence, oppression, and discrimination. As a result, the experiences that women went through were not included in the framework of human rights. However, through the efforts of activists, the state itself, and some mechanisms human rights there has been a tremendous advancement in human rights especially in adjusting the framework such that it includes the gender-particular aspects of violations against women to offer better protection for women. Therefore, for civil societies, NGOs inclusive, to provide equality and indiscriminate protection of human rights, they need to have a comprehensive understanding of the various structures, power, and societal relations that describe and influence the ability of ability to enjoy their human rights. The reason being that power structures affect all aspects of life from export economic, to politics and social policy (Appiagyei-Atua 272).
The universality of Human rights
The Universal Declaration marked a significant mile in the history of human rights. Since its adoption by most countries, the impact has been a subsequent increase in emphasis on the indivisible and universal nature of human rights. At the promulgation of the Universal Declaration at the World Conference that occurred in Vienna, member states specifically agreed that the rights of women were part of the universal human rights and as such, women were recognized as equal to men (Marcinkutė 55).
This declaration would later be reaffirmed at the Women’s fourth World Conference. Human rights organization have been on the forefront holding governments to their promise according to the Vienna declaration and action program that explicitly outlines the relevance of eradicating all sorts of discrimination that generally arise when comparing the rights of men to that of women. This discrimination often puts women on the receiving end as traditionally, societies looked down on women. Therefore, the negative perception of treating women’s rights as inferior to men’s is caused by the adverse effects of various traditional or customary beliefs and practices, religious extremism, and cultural prejudices (Appiagyei-Atua 269).
However, despite most countries committing themselves to protect the universalism of human rights, various nations have always resorted to using culture as an excuse for their gross violation of the rights of women. Cultural practices in some countries that are discriminatory against women are protected in the laws of those nations. For instance, within the family, some cultures are violent towards women and advocates for dangerous practices such as honor executions of women, mutilation of female genital, prioritizing the son and witch hunting. These cultures still prevail even in this era of modernism and defended by the states under the pretext of being a cultural practice.
Cultural norms and stereotypes that force on females various prescriptive roles in the community adversely affect the ability of women to enjoy their rights like their male counterparts freely. For example, a parent’s failure to take their female children to school has been defended because a girl once married will work as wives and thus do not need any form of formal education. In areas such as Asian or Africa, the concept of universalism has faced a strong countenance from relativists who deem that such contexts are foreign and not compatible with their local cultural practices. However, it is worth noting that culture is not static but rather changes with the environmental and current realities that a particular community faces. In that sense, over a period cultural rights also change.
Impact of NGOs on Human Rights Promotion
Generally, non-governmental organizations are viewed as charitable institutions whose major operations are to improve the living conditions, especially for the disadvantaged communities. For that reason, NGOs are sometimes referred to as charitable organizations. Human rights NGOs work selflessly to prevent human rights abuses and freedom infringement. Most NGOs follow the guidelines outlined in the 1948 Human Rights’ Universal Declaration. In addition, some of the laws and policies guiding human rights NGOs are obtained from the 1966 Political and Civil Rights International Covenant and the Cultural, Social, and Economic Rights International Covenant of the same year. However, their actions are not limited to the provisions of these two treaties as numerous other international treaties also highlight universal policies on human rights. Thus, regional and national laws on human rights such as the European Convention for Human Rights Protection or the European Fundamental Freedoms amongst others are of great importance as well (Appiagyei-Atua 274).
Human rights NGOs use the national, international, regional rights norms as tools that help them achieve their objectives which is ensuring that individual freedom and rights for both men and women are respected across the entire globe the human rights and freedoms for everyone across the globe regardless of class or ethnicity. Nonprofit organizations dealing with human rights try to prevent violations and abuses against human rights and protect these rights and freedoms from being infringed upon by administrations or other actors who have power over the subject (Marcinkutė 63).
After the Second World War came to a halt and nations agreed to form the United Nations, Nonprofit institutions have become actively engaged in the development and implementation of standards on human rights. The initial preoccupation of non-state organizations was to integrate international norms to the local context. In turn, this will create a uniform set of human rights policies and regulations by which states can be judged or measured. The primary reasons why NGOs were formed were to measure the state's performance about the performance of human rights. In most cases, NGOs advocating for human rights initiate the human rights effort in a particular country but after consultations with local authorities and those in charge of setting up rules that either promote or disregard international or regional rules aiming to protect individual rights (Boli and George 175).
During the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights documents in 1948, NGOs played a crucial part. Over time, NGOs have been involved with various other significant regional and international treaties for human rights. NGOs also contribute to efforts of setting-up standards for human rights. Furthermore, NGOs have experts that assist in the process of drafting and writing international and regional laws and treaties (Marcinkutė 65). The legitimacy of NGOs ensures that their role in policy formulation increasingly becomes political as they can change and shape public opinion on international matters. NGOs also make significant contributions to the development and enactment of human rights laws with global outreach through the research and survey of public outcry and complaints. They also influence policies through intervening or instituting in cases as parties, international litigation, and testifying as witnesses.
NGOs and sovereignty of the state
Countries value their sovereignty as it allows them complete freedom over their internal affairs. States are meant to have sovereign, and for a long time, the concept has been considered sacred. Nations have had the privilege of acting on their own will devoid of pressure from outside or regardless of internal pressure. However, the global economy creates a complicated system as countries are becoming more dependent on each. Therefore, the action of one nation has a profound impact on the other. The operation and participation of NGOs in human rights activities across borders also threaten the sovereignty of the countries in which they operate since they develop and implement international policies and standards regardless of the rules, cultures, or norms of a particular country (Marcinkutė 54).
Usually, countries will always support the traditional concept of a nation’s sovereignty, which highlights that a country is not answerable to another state. Also, a state should have full and exclusive autonomy of decision making within its borders or jurisdiction. Therefore, the concept of sovereignty of a country creates barriers that restrict interference into its domestic affairs. Conventionally, the issue of human rights is regarded as an internal affair that requires internal interventions. This position is supported by claims that human rights issues arise from a cultural perspective that are unique to a particular country. For instance, the Government of China’s 1991 White Paper states that despite the availability of an international aspect in its policy, human rights policies still fall within the sovereignty of each country (Marcinkutė 54).
Administrations often violate human rights to effect a policy or implement a project. No government would like such human rights violations to be laid bare, as no business will consider investing in the country. Meanwhile, NGOs have a differing opinion concerning the sovereignty of a state as it views the concept to be more than a right to nonintervention. Also, sovereignty also requires a sense of responsibility by the administrations to provide its citizens (Boli and George 179).
When describing the impact of human rights non-governmental organizations, one tends to be torn between whether human rights NGOs are the primary human rights chief defenders or they are groups that jeopardize the sovereignty of a state. Analyzing the two concepts reveal that the answer is more complicated than one can imagine at first. Furthermore, the choice depends on various factors, for instance, the level of social, economic, and culture of the country. Also, factors such as political regime, traditions, as well as the attitude of the administration on NGOs spearheading human rights. Answering, the question would require factoring the activeness, size, power type, and of a nonprofit organization. This is because more powerful, credible, and active NGOs are better positioned to strong arm a government into changing its human rights policy. Meanwhile, smaller NGOs with minimal influence are limited in their ability to influence, change, or improve the state’s policies regarding human rights practices. Therefore, this serves to prove that as much human rights NGOs can positively influence the adoption of better policies regarding human rights, they also act as destroyers of the sovereignty of a state (Marcinkutė 53).
Nevertheless, all factors depend on the perception, which is consequently determined by various factors. Conventionally, the western democratic nations respect and advocate for human rights. Therefore, to these areas, NGOs dealing with human rights are welcomed as defenders of the society and are established to avoid abuse of an individual’s rights. On the other side, most of the non-western nations have authoritarian regimes, whereby human rights violations commonly occur frequently. These economies also have relatively low economic and social developments. Their civil society is either weak or is used by the administration. Generally, there are weak internal control structures and no democracy, which leads to massive violations of human rights and as such, active human rights. NGOs usually are viewed with contempt as they threaten the sovereignty and authority of the state (Marcinkutė 55).
Conclusion
The thesis of this paper was that NGOs had made a significant contribution to human right promotion although it has led to sovereignty issues in non-western countries. It can be concluded that NGOs have advocated for progressive human rights in light of the challenges and opportunities brought by globalization. One significant area that has witnessed improvement is the equality of human rights between bother genders. However, the activities of strong NGOs are usually viewed adversely even though they are intended for the general welfare of the community. However, principally both advocators of human rights, state administrations and NGOs, have a similar aim, which is to avoid human rights violations and abuses. Therefore, more research should be conducted to determine the preconditions necessary to enhance cooperation among NGOs and government with the aim of enhancing relevant human rights practices.
Works Cited
Appiagyei-Atua, Kwadwo. "Human rights NGOs and their role in the promotion and protection of rights in Africa." International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 9.3 (2002): 265-289.
Boli, John, and George M. Thomas. "World culture in the world polity: A century of international non-governmental organization." American sociological review (1997): 171-190.
Lauren, Paul Gordon. The evolution of international human rights: Visions Seen. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
Marcinkutė, Lina. "The Role of Human Rights NGO's: Human Rights Defenders or State Sovereignty Destroyers?." Baltic journal of law " politics 4.2 (2011): 52-77.
