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State Compliance with International Human Rights Treaties: The Importance of International Reputation for Guiding State Action
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ABSTRACT
State violations of human rights norms are often newsworthy around the world, and certainlybecome topics of conversation among diplomatic circles. Given that their violations are sure tobe noticed and discussed, what accounts for variation among states in their level of compliancewith international norms, specifically human rights norms? In this paper, we suggest that a statewill comply with international human rights norms when its international reputation is at stake.A state’s international reputation is key for attaining and maintaining an adequate bargainingposition within the international community, and for inclusion in the ‘big leagues’ of power play.In formulating their foreign policies, states consider their international reputations, and seek toimprove them as much as possible. Given this, we suggest that states will comply with humanrights obligations in order to improve their reputations in two primary instances. First, whenthere is a strong regional pressure to increase human rights commitment. This can occur eitherwhen a state is already a member of a regional organization which places strong emphasis onhuman rights and provides a mechanism for enforcement, or when a state seeks to join a regionalorganization which has compliance with human rights as a founding principle. Second, when astate seeks foreign assistance from a country or countries which place human rightsconditionality on the receipt and maintenance of aid. We test these hypotheses using a newmeasure of level of compliance, incorporating both formal and informal compliance, and usingstate compliance with the Convention Against Torture.
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| | Authors: Ramos, Jennifer. and Zartner Falstrom, Dana. |
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2
ABSTRACT
State violations of human rights norms are often newsworthy around the world, and certainly
become topics of conversation among diplomatic circles. Given that their violations are sure to
be noticed and discussed, what accounts for variation among states in their level of compliance
with international norms, specifically human rights norms? In this paper, we suggest that a state
will comply with international human rights norms when its international reputation is at stake.
A state’s international reputation is key for attaining and maintaining an adequate bargaining
position within the international community, and for inclusion in the ‘big leagues’ of power play.
In formulating their foreign policies, states consider their international reputations, and seek to
improve them as much as possible. Given this, we suggest that states will comply with human
rights obligations in order to improve their reputations in two primary instances. First, when
there is a strong regional pressure to increase human rights commitment. This can occur either
when a state is already a member of a regional organization which places strong emphasis on
human rights and provides a mechanism for enforcement, or when a state seeks to join a regional
organization which has compliance with human rights as a founding principle. Second, when a
state seeks foreign assistance from a country or countries which place human rights
conditionality on the receipt and maintenance of aid. We test these hypotheses using a new
measure of level of compliance, incorporating both formal and informal compliance, and using
state compliance with the Convention Against Torture.
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