Does Global Profit Outrank Human Rights – Women’s Rights?

Shirin Ebadi 2006 memoir, "Iran Awakening"

Shirin Ebadi released her book, "Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope," to a Western audience in 2006

ML: “How many declarations do we need?,” said Ebadi. “If Muslims are allowed to draft their own, we will have a Christian Declaration and a Hindu Declaration… We will have as many declarations as there are faiths. It would be impossible.” How do you react to this?…

JBK: That’s the problem – it’s NOT so universal. The pretense at least is that most of the world has had a say in these major documents, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and if it is just a matter of one group’s dogma versus another group’s dogma there is no end to that.

ML: What age do you think we are in now? Do you think that we are in a more selfish era than (ones) previously? For example, there was the age of enlightenment during the Industrial Revolution, the Age of Reason, the Age of Discovery or Exploration, the Great Awakening…

JBK: I would say we are in the age of denial.

It’s certainly not the age of reason. In some ways, it’s an age of greed. I think most people go along with the idea that greed can override (reason), but I don’t think most people are greedy. Most people accept (the concept of the) empire. But I don’t think most people are hegemonic. However, most people will settle for denial — trying to survive however they can and to “not notice,” because they don’t feel empowered to challenge what they see.

ML: That’s really what your book, “The Politics of Human Rights Protection – Moving Intervention Upstream with Impact Assessment,” is all about, trying to get past that (denial). Do you think it’s just a matter of time before those who implement (knowledge) with the politics of human rights and human rights protection until they are not vilified? Or before they are seen as someone who “misses” the importance of global industry or economics? Or before they are seen as “too sensitive”?…

JBK: I never seem to remember who said what, but I think it was Solomon who said a prophet is not without honor save in his own country. We don’t mind being reminded that somebody else way far away is being abused or abusing other people — we just don’t want to know that it’s right here — because we don’t know what to do about it and we don’t want to feel responsible for it.

So, how do we stop the vilification (of human rights protectors)?

Instead of backing off and disassociating from people who have the nerve to tell the truth, we should protect them. We should give them honors. We don’t. We have laws that are supposed to protect whistle-blowers, but they don’t (work), because most people understand that it’s dangerous to be a whistle-blower and it can be dangerous to be associated with whistle-blowers.

We just have it upside down and backwards. We bestow more honors on military leaders who bomb villages than we do the people who might have tried to point out ahead of time that if you drop that bomb you are going to destroy the village.

If you can get people to listen and think about it, maybe you can help them understand, that caring about what your country is doing is patriotic and taking responsibility is perhaps even more patriotic.

We’re not led to think that way. We’re led (to think) that blindly following people right off a cliff is the way to go. The kind of twist we need to get to another way of thinking is so huge.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZUYTtw56m0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1]

Women in many global regions are afraid to “speak out” to expose human rights violations an abuse. In September 2009, World Pulse magazine sat down with Cambodia MP and women’s rights activist Mu Sochua in Berkeley, CA, just before she returned to Cambodia, where Sochua feared new charges of treason and prison for her fight against corruption. This video was reported and produced by Rhyen Coombs for World Pulse.
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For more information on this topic:

“Corruption and Human Rights – Making the Connection,” International Council on Human Rights Policy with Transparency International, 2009
“On the Margins of Profit – Rights at Risk in the Global Economy,” CHR&CJ – Center for Human Rights & Global Justice – NYU School of Law with Human Rights Watch, 2008
“Multinationals and Anti-Sweatshop Activism,” Ann Harrison – Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Berkeley with Jason Scorse – Graduate School of International Policy Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies, 2009

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WNN Foreign Policy writer, Maria Lewytzkyj, earned her MA in International Policy with expertise in US foreign policy with Russia. She is also an expert in human rights, global conflict and victim redress, along with multilateral negotiations.

Jan Knippers Black (JKB) is a respected doctoral Professor of International Studies currently teaching at the Graduate School of International Policy Studies at Monterey Institute of International Studies. Professor Black’s international experience includes Senior Associate Membership at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University; Fulbright, Mellon and other grants and Fellowships in South America, the Caribbean, and India; on-site or short-term teaching and honorary faculty positions in several Latin American countries, and extensive overseas lecturing and research. She was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chile and a faculty member with the University of Pittsburgh’s Semester-at-Sea program.

This interview has been edited by WNN editorial news intern, Katherine Rea.

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