As former United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, Mary Robinson has witnessed the far-reaching effects of globalization on the developing and transitional nations of the world. She spoke yesterday on the ethics of globalization, stressing the need for both good governments and responsible private groups in the furthering of human rights.
Although the words "ethics" and "globalization" are antithetical to many people, Robinson, who also served as Ireland's first woman president, strongly believes that it is possible to incorporate them, and exceedingly necessary in the modern world.
"We need to rethink what belonging means and what community means," she said.
The U.N. Millennium Summit, which set goals for the following 15 years, posed as its central challenge to "ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world's people," but according to Robinson, this objective has not come to fruition.
Target goals such as universal primary education have slipped and will require wealthy nations to drastically increase the amount of foreign aid to be reached in a timely manner, Robinson said, adding that "It's not just about money. It's also about good governments."
Robinson discussed the successes of several agreements which provide international frameworks for dealing with human rights issues, including civil and political rights, the elimination of torture, economic, social and cultural rights, women's right and rights of the child. The U.S. ratified agreements dealing with civil and political rights and advocated the abolition of torture but remains the only U.N. member nation not to ratify the agreement dealing with children's rights.
When questioned about why the United States didn't ratify the other agreements, Robinson suggested that the United States may be concerned with preserving its own sovereignty.
Robinson said that the U.S. Constitution has been successful at protecting its citizens from grave abuses of human rights.
"But the U.S. also needs this international framework and can then give true leadership," she said. "The U.S. has the burden of being the superpower. It's being looked at on how to address human rights issues."
These various agreements have all been successful at furthering human rights interests by establishing ways for public and private groups to work together and critique each other, even in nations such as China where private organizations do not usually flourish, Robinson said.
Having also served as the President of Ireland, Robinson has always felt that each individual has a role and an obligation to serve the community. Without fulfilling this role, she said, people cannot reach their full human potential.
"If we're going to change, it won't be by rhetoric," Robinson said. She then advocated legal methods of enforcing responsibility. One of her primary concerns is the mutual checking of accountability between private organizations and the government.
Addressing the Dickey Center and the Center for Asia and the Emerging Economies, Robinson praised the goals of Dartmouth's internationally-based interest groups, but wished that they -- like other organizations with large bases of power and influence -- would become more directly active in the fight for human rights.
"Think of what would happen if the business world and the academic world really got interested in this subject," Robinson said. "This is just a matter of what we care about, of what we want to do. We can shape globalization (into) a globalization that affirms that human concern doesn't stop at national borders."
