(This is an archived extract from the book Patterns of Power: Edition 2)
People’s concerns about aspects of human rights in other countries can be expressed in several ways:
· They can demonstrate outside embassies or at high-profile events. The impact of demonstrations is then amplified by the Internet and traditional media to put pressure directly on the politicians responsible, as with the Olympic torch protests in 2008 which put pressure on China.[1]
· Journalists know that people respond to news stories which excite moral indignation, so reporters are motivated to investigate and uncover human rights abuses. For example, in March 2012, reporting on the Internet and traditional news media put pressure on the government in Mauritania, by drawing attention to the continued existence of slavery there.[2]
· Concern about the working conditions of people in developing countries prompted the rise of the Fair Trade Foundation, which enables people to put economic pressure on suppliers by refusing to buy goods that they feel have been unethically produced.[3]
These are moral concerns in one country transformed into political and economic pressure on another.
People might also urge the use of force to protect people's human rights against a regime which is harming its own people, as when there were (unsuccessful) calls for intervention in Syria’s civil war in 2013.[4]
© PatternsofPower.org, 2014
[1] On 6 April 2008, the BBC published a report entitled Clashes along Olympic torch route, which was available in May 2014 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7332942.stm.
The Chinese reaction was reported on the Telegraph website, which was available in May 2014 at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1584224/China-condemns-vile-Olympic-torch-protests.html.
[2] CNN reported on slavery in Mauritania, both on its television news channel and as a blog which was available in May 2014 at http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/17/un-there-is-hope-for-mauritanias-slaves/.
The CNN story was then further reported in newspapers, such as the Washington Times, at http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/middle-class-guy/2012/mar/19/cnns-powerful-expose-slavery-mauritania/, and the Daily Mail at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121062/Secret-slaves-Mauritania-Mother-daughter-beaten-raped.html; these articles were available in May 2014.
[3] The Fair Trade Foundation’s website was at http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/ in May 2014.
[4] The Economist was one of several journals calling for military intervention in Syria. On 31 August 2013 it published an article under the headline Hit him hard, which was available in May 2014 at http://www.economist.com/node/21584329.