Page 64 - The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology

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SECURE, GENDERED POLITICS OF BELONGING 35

many millions of ‘people on the move’ glob- The original design of the UN members who
ally – documented and especially undocu- passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
in 1948 was to consolidate the rights listed in the
mented migrants as well as internally
declaration in a single treaty encompassing civil,
displaced people – who have any formal political, economic, social and cultural rights. USA
legal rights at all. The others become what lobbying resulted in the division of the covenant
Giorgio Agamben (1997) has called, follow- into two: an International Covenant on Civil and
ing Hanna Arendt (1943), ‘bare lives’, easy Political Rights and one on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (16 December 1966). From that
prey to extreme forms of exploitation and
time onwards, the official USA position has been
abuse. Furthermore, more and more states to relegate the latter rights to a lower status and
are now engaged in constructing ‘extra-ter- view them as something to be ‘achieved progres-
2
restrial spaces’, such as Guantanamo Bay sively’ rather than implemented immediately’.
and off-shore detention camps for asylum (Herman, 2002: xiii)
seekers, in which the states attempt to Therefore, during the Cold War, democ-
construct spaces where neither national nor racy and human rights became the banner, in
international laws apply. different ways, of both sides of the conflict.
The West placed more emphasis on the lib-
eral civil and political rights, while the Soviet
bloc presented itself as the friend of the
‘SECURITY’, ‘HUMAN SECURITY’, AND developing world, with industrialization and
THE POLITICS OF BELONGING economic development as their priorities.
The development of international aid can be
Terrorists or Al-Quaida people, on the one seen as one historical manifestation of the
hand, and asylum seekers from poor competition between the two blocs in the
Southern countries, on the other hand, are Third World and the open door to refugees
perceived, then, as major threats to Western in Western countries (who were then seen
states. The latter are seeking, in a variety of mainly as escaping from communist regimes)
ways to contain them and keep them outside has also been a direct effect of this.
their national borders, so as to keep their Since the end of the Cold War, which has
own citizens ‘secure’. As I mentioned at the been accompanied by the exacerbation of
beginning of the article, ‘security’ and local ethnic and national conflicts, there has
belonging are perceived to be closely related: been a massive increase of human rights dis-
Michael Ignatief, while Head of the Centre course and legislation – partly as a replace-
for Human Rights at Harvard University, ment for socialist discourse which had been
argued that belonging is about ‘feeling safe’ delegitimized. Another contributing factor
(2001). was the vision which, for a few years, offered
The development of international human the illusion that the world was progressing
rights discourse and legislation since the end towards a unified global democracy. This
of World War II can be interpreted as one vision was aided by a series of UN confer-
way of ensuring that people will have the ences with growing NGO participation, start-
right to feel secure, with their basic rights ing with the 1994 conference in Vienna on
respected wherever they are in the world. The human rights. At this time cosmopolitan dis-
Nazi experience made it evident that national course became more dominant again (e.g.
governments cannot be given a monopoly of Held, 1995; Kaldor, 2003; Pollock et al.,
guardianship of the rights of the people, 2002) and the discourse on ‘human security’
whether citizens or non-citizens, living under became a complementary (and for some a
their rule. The UN Human Rights declaration substitute) discourse to that of ‘human
aimed to create an end to ‘bare life’situations rights’.
as a basic mission of the UN, international I have no space here to summarize in detail
relations and law. the debates about human security (see, for