Nov 29, 2009 | Development, Human rights, North-South, Passage au crible (English)
By Josepha Laroche
Passage au crible n°6
Source: YouTube
The international Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted on November 20, 1989 and has since been ratified by all the countries of the world excepting the United States and Somalia. This text recognizes “the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development” (article 32). Nevertheless, in 2009, a billion children have their most elementary rights trampled upon on a daily basis, while more than a million are still victims of the slave trade. Amongst the many forms of violence against children, we shall examine those concerning the labour they are forced to undertake, mainly in the developing countries. In its 2004 report, the ILO (International Labour Organization) estimated that worldwide there are currently more than 360 million children aged 5 to 17 who work, that is one in four of the global child population.
> Historical background
> Theoretical framework
> Analysis
> References
Historical background
This is not a new phenomenon linked to the process of globalization. In the Occident, children worked from the Middle Ages, thus participating in the domestic economy. Outside the family circle, they were subjected to rental contracts, providing docile, inexpensive even free labour. Later, the Industrial Revolution marked a historical turning point since they worked in the mines, mills, metal works and large factories. But the priority was always the same – adjusting and reducing costs while disposing of particularly vulnerable and submissive workers. It was only at the end of the 19th century – notably thanks to compulsory schooling – that developed countries moved towards regulation and later abolition of child labour.
On a global level, the ILO – with its 181 member states – has set the minimum age for employment at 15. In 1976, this institution adopted a treaty specifically dealing with child labour: convention 138. This convention bans work before the end of compulsory schooling in each country and in all cases before the age of 15. Above all it totally prohibits all activity which “is likely to jeopardise the health, safety or morals of young persons” aged less than 18. However, this text has only been ratified by 150 countries, even if, in 1992, the ILO initiated an international program for the elimination of child labour (IPEC) funded by certain developed countries.
Theoretical framework
Two interdependent principles are at work.
1. The intensification of the North-South divide. This exploitation is due to socio-economic destitution and the deficiency of the educational systems existing in the countries of the South. The industrialized countries often accuse developing countries of social dumping. On the other hand, the developing countries consider that the imposition of Occidental norms – such as the banning of child labour – represents a concealed form of protectionism the only aim of which is to prevent them from being competitive in global marketplaces; Occidental manufacturers thus being indirectly protected by what is denounced as the ideology of human rights. To be specific, the developing countries stigmatize this position which they define as an unfair attack, destined to make them lose a comparative advantage.
2. The global mobilization of non-state actors. Inter-state organizations (the UNO itself or certain of its specialized institutions such as the ILO and UNICEF), NGOs and the networks of citizen-consumers participate – through their incessant interventions – In the modification of state policies and the strategies of transnational firms concerning this issue.
Analysis
The 1980s were marked by an awakening of public awareness of child labour and its exploitation. Since then, networks made up of thousands of humanitarian NGOs, unions and consumer organizations have been mobilized and committed to actions in the field. For its part, UNICEF supports the most innovative actions such as those in the Philippines, Cambodia or Columbia. Other bodies have launched awareness campaigns targeting international organizations – the IMF, the World Bank, and the ILO – and governments, while, at the same time, putting constant pressure on economic decision-makers.
Good conduct codes have thus been established in the wake of public campaigns at the initiative of OXFAM and the European Fair Trade Association, for instance. Numerous companies have thus come to understand the necessity – and above all the economic impact in terms of image and commercial policy – of adopting charters through which they have committed to respecting the rights of the child in their production process and accepted the principle of independent monitoring. For the moment, taking all categories into consideration, there are several hundred such agreements, of which half explicitly mention child labour. However, adoption of a charter is no guarantee of effectiveness: it may merely be an instance of show-casing. Nevertheless, economic operators can no longer ignore that 250 million children currently work in inhumane conditions, particularly for subcontractors. In particular, this sheds light on the true conditions of production which were concealed until now. This brings consumers to increasingly question the reasons explaining the abnormally low prices of certain manufactured goods coming from the developing countries.
For these reasons, certain consumers have implemented a buying ethic and created alternative circuits of ethically correct manufacture and consumption which correspond to conditions such as the respecting of human rights and, a fortiori, the rights of the child. This Fair Trade aims to support the development of the countries of the South, particularly through the implementation of social certifications, as an ethical mark on the product label, such as Ringmark or Step, which was created in 1995 by Caritas Swissair.
As for boycott campaigns, they underline the debate which exists between abolitionists and non abolitionists. With the support of consumer NGOs, such as the National Comsumers League or the Child Labor Coalition network, they have lead to certain firms such as Nike, Gap and Disney undergoing international scrutiny. Undeniably, this strategy has positive effects. However, it can also lead to perverse effects – unemployment, prostitution – and lead to merely displacing the problem; the children moving to other, hidden and worse employers. These mobilizations remain a double-edged weapon. Admittedly, they fire a warning shot and often modify the production strategy of transnational firms, which are very sensitive to the state of public opinion and attentive to the voice of consumers. Nevertheless, they cannot, in themselves, settle the inequalities in development and the social discrepancies which exist within the developing countries themselves.
References
Fombrun Charles, Reputation: Realizing Value from the Corporate Image, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1996.
Hirschman Albert, L’Économie comme science morale et politique, translation, Paris, Seuil, 1974.
Landrai Ndembi Denise, Le Travail des enfants en Afrique subsaharienne, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2006.
Manier Bénédicte, Le Travail des enfants, Nouv. Éd., Paris, La Découverte, 2003. Coll. Repères (265).
Winston Morton, “NGO Strategies for Promoting Social Responsibility”, Ethics and International Affairs, 16 (1), 2002, pp. 71-88.
Nov 16, 2009 | Digital Industry, Passage au crible (English), Structure of knowledge
By Alexandre Bohas
Passage au crible n°5
Located in Mountain View, California, the Google Company imposed the supremacy of its search engine on the Internet within a few years. While it launched a mass digitization of books five years ago, it declared in October 2009 that it would commercialize them with the support of 30,000 publishers.
> Historical background
> Theoretical framework
> Analysis
> References
Historical background
In December 2004, the creation of Google Edition triggered a lot of controversy in the international culture milieu. With the collaboration of Western universities, this firm has digitized 10 million books of which only 1.8 million belonged to the public domain. This mercantile approach to intellectual property has provoked strong opposition in North America, Europe and China.
Theoretical framework
Google Edition raises numerous questions about the commoditization, the monopolization and the de facto hierarchy among the global public goods to which books belong. Being at the heart of what Susan Strange termed « the structure of knowledge », the activity of the non state actor, Google, deals with the vectors of practical knowledge which continuously influence preferences, perceptions, opinions and collective behaviors. Thus, every potential hold on their genesis constitutes a fundamental stake in the structuring of the international scene which is as crucial as questions of security and production. And yet, in the area of virtual literature, Google has already realized a major breach. By mastering its means of diffusion, the Californian Company contributes to the consolidation of the American preponderance.
This asymmetrical situation provoked many reactions, mainly gathered by the Frenchman, Jean-Noël Jeanneney, and former Director of the National Library of France. All these reactions refer to cultural diversity, a principle which had already been used during the negotiations on free trade in the motion picture sector. These supporters of cultural pluralism are of the opinion that books just like films must not be submitted to the rules of the market. Indeed, according to them, books and films do not constitute ordinary products. On the contrary, cultural goods should be regulated by a regime which is different from free trade, which allows the less famous and competitive to be saved.
Analysis
With its offer of 2 million books, Google constitutes a strong competitor to traditional publishers, thus questioning the cultural autonomy of States. It also reveals the technological advance and the financial power of Google.
Wishing to remain in the lead of the search engine race, this company has presented the book world as a fait accompli with its proposed free access to excerpts of books. Although it accepts to withdraw the excerpts upon request of their legal owners, Google has obtained the commercialization of numerous copyright-protected books after negotiations with the representatives of the book sector. Consequently every reader will soon be able to acquire a licence the incomes of which will be shared between Google (37%) and the copyright owners (63%).
As first to move, Google has formed the critical mass which should deter likely competitors, such as Microsoft, from entering this new market. All the more so as any new competitor will be legally obliged to obtain the approval of all the copyright owners to carry out digitization according to the October 28th 2009 decision of the U.S. tribunal of New York. Some publishing houses which wish to benefit from greater Internet visibility such as Vrin or L’Harmattan in France have already accepted to make excerpts of their series public.
Google has become a key player on the Web in competition with Amazon, the foremost digital bookstore. It has quickly constituted a virtual library by simply collecting masterpieces of world literature. In other words, this company has established a central position at the global level by colossal investments and an aggressive penetration of the literary sphere. This position guarantees Google the internet traffic of numerous readers as well as advertising revenues. The latter come in addition to the commercialization of the future licences. However, we should note that this library forms more a vast maze of scans, made available through mercantile logic, than an organised set of knowledge structured according to cognitive and didactical principles.
Yet, alternative undertakings of digitization with much lower funding are reduced to look for financial and technological assistance from Google. As for the Europeana and Gallica projects are concerned – which represent 4 million documents in 26 languages – they remain at the state of mere prototypes. All this underlines the vulnerability of cultural-diversity advocates in this domain. Indeed, although Europeans agree on the necessity of constituting a digital legacy with independent operation, they are now confronted with a dilemma owing to their lack of reactivity. Either they are condemned to marginality on the web; or they must submit to market laws imposed by Google. In other words, Google Edition represents not only the successful offensive of a private and transnational operator but also one of the vectors of American preponderance.
It should be underlined that Google shapes the act of reading and the reader through their practical knowledge by the choice of scanning some books and not others. The commoditization of content which it offers on numerous back-ups, contributes for example to the transformation of reading, which becomes more segmented, fragmented and discontinuous. In addition, as operations of digitization are mostly undertaken in the United States in collaboration with universities, they also favour a specific vision of the world. The latter appears notably in the hierarchy of references, their classification and their order of appearance. Moreover, it hallows the dominant use of the English language since half the references are in English. Finally, this logic systematically favours the first scanned works since Google algorithms classify using the criteria of the number of links and amount of fame.
One could think that the ongoing digitization undertaken by Google consists only in a modernisation of data processing. But, in fact, this digital coup reinforces above all the symbolical domination of the United States. As a result, the New World Republic of Letters – which Robert Darnton regards as emerging – will be structurally American, contrary to what the theorists of American decline annunciate.
References
Chartier Roger, « L’avenir numérique du livre », Le Monde, 26 oct. 2009, p. 20.
Darnton Robert, « Google & the Future of Books », The New York Review of Books, 12-20 Feb. 2009, pp. 9-11.
Jeanneney Jean-Noël, Quand Google défie l’Europe. Plaidoyer pour un sursaut, 2ème éd, Paris, Mille et une nuit, 2006.
Mattelart Armand, Diversité culturelle et mondialisation, Paris, La Découverte, 2007. Coll. Repères.
Strange Susan, States and Markets An Introduction to International Political Economy, 2ème éd., Londres, Pinter, 1994.
Nov 9, 2009 | Bipolarity, Cold War, Diplomacy, Europe (English), Human rights, Passage au crible (English)
Nov 3, 2009 | Defense, Passage au crible (English), Publications (English), Security
By Jean-Jacques Roche
Translation: Davina Durgana
Passage au crible n°3
The annual summit of the International Peace Operation Association (IPOA) brought together in Washington from October 25th through 27th more than 400 participants on the topic of support from the private sector for operations of regional stabilization in Afghanistan. In this instance, it was equally about diffusing the image of a consortium that brought together today 72 PMC’s (Private Military Companies) and to emphasize their involvement in the operations of the NATO Coalition in Afghanistan.
> Historical background
> Theoretical framework
> Analysis
> References
Historical background
Founded in 2001, the IPOA was prominently in the news in 2003, when Kofi Annan threatened to resort to their services if the Western powers did not get involved in the Congo. Since then, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have constituted a source of continued expansion for the PMC’s. According to the information released by the American Congress in 2008, the United States has injected into the sector 89 billion dollars between 2003-2007, for the single Iraqi theatre (of which 22 billion dollars went towards logistics and 6-10 billion dollars for strictly security operations). Thus, the Blackwater organization (today renamed Xe) has received 832 million dollars from 2003-2007 to ensure the protection of American diplomats. An investment a priori profitable, as no one diplomat was killed since the beginning of the invasion. With 25.000-30.000 armed men deployed in the country, the contingent of PMC’s represent at this time, the second strongest armed force on the territory. One could think that this choice of the Bush administration was challenged by the new President. In fact, the desire demonstrated by Barack Obama to accelerate the American retreat, coupled with his will to amplify the fight against the Taliban through the dispatch of 10.000 additional men, has yet entailed a tremendous boosting of these businesses. Obviously, the last recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize does not have the same state of mind concerning private security. Between January and June 2009, the retreat of Iraq and the needs of the surge in Afghanistan were conveyed in the increase of 20% of armed civilian personnel employed by the Department of Defense, which would be 13.232 men for Iraq and 5.198 for Afghanistan (statistics provided by the US Central on June 30th, 2009)? In total, 24.500 armed employees have henceforth arrived through the licensed PMC’s to the Afghan theatre.
Critical minds could argue that this American propensity to outsource an increased number of military posts is not shared by their allies of the Coalition, beginning with France. Again, common sense catches out since the French Minister of Defense is on the point of granting the technicians of DCNS military status, which already benefits – since October 6th, 2009 – the personnel of Dassault and Thalès present on foreign theatres. The reason of this sudden generosity of the State seems clear. It is meant simply to avoid considering these employees as stakeholders of the wars conducted by the governments for which they maintain materials, as was the case in Karachi in May 2002. The law of April 14th 2003 forbade the activity of mercenaries, which had already been made the object of an extended interpretation last autumn, when it had been decreed that nothing in this text forbade the French army from resorting to services of French PMC’s. From henceforth, furthering the logic of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), this new status of technicians of industries of armament must allow them to benefit from the status of veterans, while providing their companies with coverage comparable to those of their Anglo Saxon competitors. As Philippe Chapleau has pointed out in Ouest-France October 17th-18th 2009, one could from now on envisage that a society specializing in maritime safety could participate in the anti-piracy fight off the coast of Somalia.
Theoretical framework
1. The qualification of security and its stake. If it is neither a public good, nor a completely commercial good, would it not be desirable for economists to invent a category of intermediary goods for which it qualifies? From a theoretical point of view, this debate has the advantage of raising, in an original form, the recurrent debate on the decline of the State.
2. The disengagement of the public power. For the Realist School, that is to say state-centered, the delegation of the implementation of security missions would not undermine the monopole through this decision. One renewed power must therefore reinvent their powers of arbitration towards private actors of which emancipation remains guaranteed by the public guardianship. Conversely, the more liberal approaches sometimes have difficulty accepting that State power is abandoned to the monopole in the matter of security. Thus, it is not shocking to see a Transnationalist author, such as Susan Strange, forget the security in her analysis on the Retreat of the State.
Analysis
It is high time to analyze the privatization of security by the measurement of a modernized frame of reference where the State has stopped to be omnipotent and benevolent. In this instance, it is regrettable that the decisions of this magnitude could be taken secretly. The activities of the IPOA at least allow the avoidance of these backslides. How far could one go in the externalization of security missions? To some extent, is the privatization of security the corollary of the professionalization of armies? At what point in time will the monopole of legitimate physical violence attributed to the public power be challenged? Is security a commercial good or a public good? These questions are not secondary and it is precisely because they focus on the essence even of the Social Pact, which must be made the subject of an open debate. Continuing to refer to the ideal model of the State as the holder of the monopoly on legitimate physical violence seems now more problematic than that the State itself originally dismembered its sovereign functions.
One of the principal characteristics of this new market of security consists, in effect, of confronting a private offer with a public need. In trusting the guard of the Military School to a private company, has the French State given a clear image of its responsibilities? Additionally, in considering that public enforcement could not be used to apply their decisions for justice in the case of troubles to the public order, is the State not the first actor to deny the idea that security could be a common good? If the security of a minority could not be assured against the risk of harm to a great degree, then it no longer constitutes a public good and must be, on the contrary, considered as a commercial good.
References
Chapleau Philippe, Sociétés militaires privées, Paris, Éditions du Rocher, 2005.
Roche Jean-Jacques (Éd.), Insécurité publique, sécurité privée ? Essais sur les nouveaux mercenaires, Paris, Economica, 2005,
Roche Jean-Jacques, Contractors, mode d’emploi, http://www.cedoc.defense.gouv.fr/Contractors-moded’emploi
Jean Scahill Jérémy, Baker Chloé, Blackwater – L’Ascension de l’armée privée la plus puissante du monde, Paris, Acte Sud, 2008.
D’une manière générale on pourra se référer au site http://www.privatemilitary.org
Oct 26, 2009 | Human rights, International Justice, Passage au crible (English), United Nations
By Josepha Laroche
Translation : Naïma Carthew
Passage au crible n°2
On 14th October 2009, the prosecutor of the ICC (the International Criminal Court seated in The Hague) decided to initiate “a preliminary examination” of the brutally deteriorating situation in Guinea.
On 24th December 2008, shortly after the death of President Lansana Conté who had been in power since 1984, the military perpetrated a bloodless coup. They vowed to tackle corruption, nepotism and drug trafficking in the country. Above all, they pledged to ensure a democratic transition pursuant to which they would relinquish power to the civilians. However Captain Dadis Moussa Camara, the chief of the junta, has since refused to step down and is considering standing for election in the polls which have now been delayed until January 2010. A demonstration was duly organised by opposition protesters on 28 September 2009 at Conakry, during which the army committed serious human rights violations. Although the number of casualties has yet to be officially assessed, many observers – including foreign diplomats, journalists and human rights organisations – claim the number of people killed may have been higher than 150 and that more than 1,200 were injured.
The following events have contributed to the international context in which the ICC’s intervention takes place: 1) Karel de Gucht, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, has requested on behalf of the European Union that the principal leader of the coup “be held accountable for his acts before a court for a crime against humanity”. 2) France has suspended its military cooperation as well as its bilateral assistance and has advised French nationals to leave the country. 3) The ECOWAS (the Economic Community Of West African States) has appointed the president of Burkina Faso as “facilitator in the Guinean crisis”. 4) The United States have called for the junta to resign as well as for free elections and an international investigation into the incidents. 5) Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, has named an international commission of inquiry “with a view to determining the accountability of those involved”.
> Historical background
> Theoretical framework
> Analysis
> References
Historical background
The concept of universal jurisdiction was evoked as early as 1872 by Gustave Moynier, co- founder of the Red Cross. It subsequently resurfaced at the end of the First World War with an attempt to prosecute the Kaiser Wilhelm II but this attempt was thwarted after the Netherlands refused to extradite him. The mass extermination by the Nazis of millions of people and the war crimes committed by the Japanese led to the International Military Tribunal being created at Nuremberg in 1945 and the Tokyo Tribunal in 1946, although both courts ceased to exist after they rendered their judgements. The advent of the Cold War as well as the States’ inability to codify crimes and to reach consensus on the definition of aggression led to the concept of universal jurisdiction being eclipsed for a further half century. In the 1990’s the United Nations established temporary international criminal tribunals: 1) The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993, 2) the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in 1994, and 3) the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in 2002. However these remain ad hoc arbitration proceedings and as such the jurisdiction of these tribunals is circumscribed (rationae loci and rationae temporis).
The ICC is therefore the first permanent international court to be created. Governed by the Rome Statute, which was adopted by 120 States on 17 July 1998 and entered into force on 1st July 2002 after the required ratification by 60 countries, the ICC’s legitimacy is reinforced by the fact that it is independent from both the United Nations Security Council and the States.
That investigation may be opened in Guinea in the near future or even that its leaders may be held accountable for crimes and subsequently tried and punished by the ICC is made possible by the fact that Guinea is one of the 110 States currently party to the Rome Statute. Had this not been the case, the United Nations Security Council, whose resolutions are binding on all its members, would have had to remand the case to the prosecutor, failing which the court’s jurisdiction would have had to be expressly accepted by Conakry.
The ICC has initiated similar preliminary examinations since its creation, notably in Afghanistan, Colombia, Ivory Cost, Kenya and Palestine. However the undertaking of such proceedings does not necessarily lead to an investigation being opened to ascertain whether crimes against humanity have been committed, particularly since the definition of such crimes, as set out in Article 7 of the Statute, is very specific. The ICC prosecutor may only exercise jurisdiction in those cases where the national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute the perpetrators of the crimes. To this effect, the principle of complementarity clearly establishes that the ICC’s purpose is to complement national criminal justice systems and not to act as a substitute thereof.
Theoretical framework
Two notions are of a particular relevance:
1. ICC has the power of an international court vested with supranational authority; its decisions
are binding on the State Parties and restrict their sovereignty.
2. On a wider scale, the ICC’s power demonstrates a slow and deep-rooted trend toward
adjudication of international relations with an increasing number of rules and regulations established to fight against impunity, and further evidenced by the ever rising restrictive power of public international law.
Analysis
Although the ICC is the result of an interstate agreement, a considerable amount of preliminary work was undertaken by an international coalition of humanitarian NGOs. These NGOs played a crucial role in the ICC’s inception by ceaselessly working to overcome the States’ reluctances and even obstructions. Their significant contribution to the drafting of the Statute is ratified in the official text. In this respect, the fundamental principles advocated by the ICC evidence the erosion of national interest as a concept. This does not affect the normative quality of the NGOs’ role or their vigilance as they assist the victims and continue to shape public opinion; nevertheless their primary purpose is to support the ICC’s work by preventing its exploitation or regression under any form. Regarding the ongoing repression in Guinea, the FIDH (the International Federation of Human Rights) is conducting its own investigation in situ and has called for France and the USA to “react firmly”. In the fight against impunity the work is now divided in an unprecedented manner between the ICC, the NGOs and the States. For the moment, however, the ICC is examining the information it has received in order to determine whether crimes falling under its jurisdiction have been committed. This could lead the ICC to indict Guinean leaders, and possibly a head of state, as in the case of Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir.
References
Cassese Antonio, Violence et droit dans un monde divisé, Paris, PUF, 1990.
Delmas-Marty Mireille, Cassese Antonio (Ed.), Juridictions nationales et crimes internationaux, Paris, PUF, 2002. Delmas-Marty Mireille, Fronza Emanuela, Lambert Abdelgawad Elisabeth, Les Sources du droit international pénal : L ́expérience des Tribunaux Pénaux Internationaux et le Statut de la Cour Pénale Internationale, Paris, Société de Législation Comparée, 2005.
Garapon Antoine, Des Crimes qu’ ́on ne peut ni punir, ni pardonner : pour une justice internationale, Paris, Odile Jacob, 2002.
