Human rights in European politics

Essay from the year 2001 in the subject Politics - Topic: International Organisations, grade: 1.3 (A), University of Leeds (POLIS), language: English, abstract: Europe has got a long tradition of human rights. Actually, the idea of 'the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family' as laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations is said to have its historic origins in ancient Greek philosophy and Roman law. The first official declarations of human rights, starting with the English Bill of Rights of 1688, all stand in this tradition. Hence, it is not far-fetched when Europeans see themselves as defenders of human rights principles on the international scene. Especially the European Union's self-perception has moved in this direction. With the end of the Cold War, the right time seems to have come for politics that increasingly take into account, defend and even fight for such values: the war of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation with Yugoslavia is only one example of this tendency. But it is a good example, because the 'humanitarian catastrophe' that was triggered by Western air-strikes also highlights the fact that the 'new Europe' is far from being an examplary place where human rights are widely respected. The essay examines in a critical way the extent to which politics in the pre-9/11 'new Europe' were actually characterised by human rights principles. The foundations of these principles in the 'old Europe' will be considered, as well as the double challenge to politics brought about by the fall of the Berlin wall and how this challenge has been met in the 1990s by political institutions (EU's internal and external human rights policies, NATO). The essay concludes with a discussion of the universality claim of human rights in an Western-dominated and internationalised world. The essay critically reviews facts and fiction of European human rights policies on the pre-9/11 international scene.