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Rhoda Howard-Hassmann

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Papers by Rhoda Howard-Hassmann

Research paper thumbnail of Should the USA Offer Reparations to Africa for the Transatlantic Slave Trade?
Society, Feb 24, 2022
This article begins with background information on the international social movement for reparati... moreThis article begins with background information on the international social movement for reparations for the transatlantic slave trade. I then propose that the USA ought to offer reparations, including participation in and financing of a truth commission on the slave trade; apology for the harms caused by the trade; and symbolic financial assistance to establish monuments to the slave trade, museums exhibits, and educational programs. The article concludes with a discussion of whether the USA would have the political will to offer reparations to Africa.
Research paper thumbnail of The “Quebec Values” Debate of 2013: Minority vs. Collective Rights
Human Rights Quarterly
This article investigates the debate in the province of Quebec, Canada in 2013 over the Charter o... moreThis article investigates the debate in the province of Quebec, Canada in 2013 over the Charter of Quebec Values introduced by the separatist ruling party, the Parti Québécois. It relies in particular on government documents, debates in Quebec's National Assembly, and editorials in the French-language press. It relates the Charter to the preceding Bouchard-Taylor Commission Report in 2008 on accommodation by public bodies of particular religious requests. The debates concerned the right to manifest one's religion, the rights of (particularly Muslim) women, and the rights of the collectivity as opposed to the minority. Part of the debate was about Quebec's particular policy of interculturalism, as opposed to Canada's policy of multiculturalism. The article concludes by advocating multiculturalism grounded in liberal human rights over coercive integration of minority groups into the pre-existent collectivity.
Research paper thumbnail of Official Apologies
Transitional justice review, 2012
Research paper thumbnail of Moral Integrity and Reparations to Africa
HUMAN RIGHTS IN …, 2001
This paper presents some very preliminary thoughts on reparations due to Sub-Saharan Africa, incl... moreThis paper presents some very preliminary thoughts on reparations due to Sub-Saharan Africa, including acknowledgment, apology, and financial compensation. 2 I am a political sociologist, a specialist in international human rights with a background in African studies. Focusing on the Afactual@ history of Africa, I consider the possibility of arguing a case for Western compensation for racial discrimination. I also consider the case for acknowledgment, apology and compensation drawn from the need to recognize the moral integrity of Africans. Moral integrity implies Africans= moral value and competence. From the point of view of universal human rights, the moral value of each individual African is equal to the moral value of any other human being, white or nonwhite, rich or poor. Moral competence is the capacity of any C or most (allowing for various forms of disability) C human beings to distinguish right from wrong, and to make active decisions about moral issues. Acknowledgment of moral competence implies respect for the judgment of others, even when the observer disagrees with their conclusions. Acknowledgment of the moral integrity of an individual requires acknowledgment of how that individual can be damaged or hurt by past wrongs. It also requires acknowledgment of the value to the individual of the community in which he or she lives, and how destruction of that community can also constitute an individual wrong. Acknowledgment of moral integrity, then, requires that outsiders listen carefully to insiders= accounts of the wrongs they have suffered. In the case of Africa, this requires careful attention to accounts of wrongs suffered because of the slave trade, colonialism, neo-colonialism, and various forms of Western incursion into Africa in GHC Working Paper 02/1 3 the present. However, this need to respect Africans= accounts of their own histories does not require that the outsider suspend her or his own judgment. Trudy Govier argues that we do not always have to believe others= claims; rather, we can Atake an interest, listen respectfully, and reflectively consider claims made by other people without believing or accepting them.@ 3 When acknowledgment, apology or compensation are at issue, it is legitimate to apply a careful lawyer=s or historian=s consideration to theAfacts@. Historical evidence for the charges of collective or individual hurts should be pursued. The outsider is not required automatically to accept narratives and claims for reparations as truths. Nor is the outsider obliged to absolve from responsibility those from within the claiming community who are responsible for wronging each other. Claims for reparations for past wrongs require sympathetic and respectful hearing, but no automatic reparatory action. Below is my own very preliminary position on the question of reparations to sub-Saharan Africa. I have no legal training: this paper does not argue in any way a legal basis for reparation. 1) The Afactual@ case for global financial compensation is unprovable, based as it is on a series of counter-factual assumptions of what Amight have happened@ in Africa had there been no slavery, colonialism, or neo-colonialism. 2) The case for regarding the European incursion into Africa as a result primarily of racial discrimination is weak, but can be made. 3) Theoretically, rather than trying to calculate financial compensation from past historical relations, a better strategy would be to balance universal economic human rights with universal Hassmann: Moral Integrity and Reparations to Africa 4 obligations to fulfill these rights. Unfortunately, this is most unlikely to occur. 4) Regardless of the factual cases for compensation, acknowledgment of past suffering is a necessary step to present recognition of the moral integrity of Africans. 5) Apologies are also a necessary step to recognition of the moral integrity of Africans, and the creation of an international moral community. 6) It may be possible to establish some bases for financial compensation to Africans, to be sought from, and payable by, governments, private corporations, and some private social institutions. 7) Even if there is no other reason for acknowledgment, apology or compensation, a realist view of international relations might wish to consider them as a foundation for trust-based relations between the West and Africa in the future. QUESTIONABLE HYPOTHESES ABOUT COLONIALISM AND UNDER-DEVELOPMENT The Declaration of the African Regional Preparatory Conference for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held at Durban, South Africa in September 2001, asks for historical justice. 4 The Declaration lays particular stress on the right to financial compensation, in Recommendation 2, which calls for an "International Compensation Scheme for victims of slave trade, as well as victims of any other transnational racist policies and acts...@. Any attempts to calculate just compensation would encounter numerous obstacles, not least of which are incomplete knowledge and counter-factual assumptions about what Amight have happened@ in Africa had there been no periods of slavery, colonialism or neo-colonialism. The implied assumption is that, absent these incursions by the outside world, Africa Awould have@
Research paper thumbnail of Official Apologies
I am grateful to all of them. I also thank Kwan-Sen Wen for his research assistance, and the Cent... moreI am grateful to all of them. I also thank Kwan-Sen Wen for his research assistance, and the Centre for International Governance Innovation for appointing Mr. Wen as my research assistant. I am grateful to the Canada Research Chairs program for the funds and time to write this chapter, and to Wilfrid Laurier University for appointing me to my Chair.
Research paper thumbnail of Assessing national human rights performance: A theoretical framework
Human Rights Quarterly, 1988
Methods Used to Document Human Rights," Human Rights Quarterly 8 (November 1986), 731-770. 4. We ... moreMethods Used to Document Human Rights," Human Rights Quarterly 8 (November 1986), 731-770. 4. We are particularly troubled by the tendencies in the recent literature on measuring human rights to use arbitrary definitions and to make questionable use of data developed for other purposes. For example, David L. Banks ("The Analysis of Human Rights Data Over Time," Human Rights Quarterly 8 [November 1986]: 654-655) claims to be talking about human rights but in fact simply takes "political freedom" to be equivalent to human rights without providing any argument at all. Kenneth A. Bollen ("Political Rights and Political Liberties in Nations: An Evaluation of Human Rights Measures," Human Rights Quarterly 8 [November 1986]: 567-591) advocates use of his political democracy index, developed for other purposes, although the link between this index and internationally recognized human rights remains obscure. The use of the PQLI (Physical Quality of Life Index) as a general measure of economic and social rights performance (see, for example, Kathleen Pritchard, "Comparative Human Rights: An Integrative Explanation," Policy Studies Journal 15 [September 1986]: 110-122) also is troublesome, because the variables included in the measure are strongly intercorrelated; it does not measure distributional inequalities in a society; and it is only vaguely linked to internationally accepted human rights. For a good review of problems in measuring human rights performance, especially with data gathered for other purposes, see Robert Justin Goldstein, "The Limitation of Using Quantitative Data in Studying Human Rights Abuses," Human Rights Quarterly 8 (November 1986): 607-627.
Research paper thumbnail of Getting to Reparations: Japanese Americans and African Americans
Getting to Reparations: Japanese Americans and African Americans
Social Forces, 2005
... to use a word usually connected to European anti-Semitism, but an accurate description of thi... more... to use a word usually connected to European anti-Semitism, but an accurate description of this event) became a public issue in the 1990s, Rosewood victims and their descendants were awarded $US 2.1 million in compensation (Wharton 2002). In 1921, a "race riot" in the ...
Research paper thumbnail of Reparations to Africa and the group of eminent persons
Cahiers d'études africaines, 2004
In the last ten years, a worldwide movement has emerged for reparations to various previously sub... moreIn the last ten years, a worldwide movement has emerged for reparations to various previously subordinated groups for past wrongs. This paper discusses the movement for reparations to the continent of Africa. It begins with a discussion of the United Nations-sponsored World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in Durban, South Africa, in September 2001. It then traces the discussion of reparations to Africa back to the Group of Eminent Persons (GEP) established in the early 1990s by the Organization of African Unity to pursue reparations for slavery and (perhaps) other wrongs perpetrated on Africa. Only three members of this group are still active: they are J. F. Ade Ajayi, Ali A. Mazrui, and Dudley Thompson. The present author interviewed all three in December 2002. An essay by J. F. Ade Ajayi is included in this volume. After discussion of the GEP, this essay looks at precedents for the demand for reparations to Africa. It closes with an assessment of the likelihood that a large social movement for reparations will develop. The Durban Conference against Racism At the Durban Conference against Racism, it was suggested that the Western world owed reparations to Africa. These reparations would be for the slave trade and colonialism, and even for the post-colonial era. The Declaration issued as the Final Document of the Conference stated: "We acknowledge that slavery and the slave trade... are a crime against humanity, and should always have been so, especially the transatlantic slave trade, and are among * The author is grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for the funds enabling her to carry out research for this article. She is also most grateful to her research assistants, Anthony Lombardo and Dan Milisavljevic.
Research paper thumbnail of Second Great Transformation: Human Rights Leapfrogging in the Era of Globalization, The
Human Rights Quarterly
Vol. 27 2 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY same path to protection of human rights that the Western world f... moreVol. 27 2 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY same path to protection of human rights that the Western world followed. No international law obliged the West to protect human rights during its own era of economic expansion. Thus, the West could practice slavery, expel surplus populations, and colonize other parts of the world. Genocide and ethnic cleaning were not prohibited.
Research paper thumbnail of Second Great Transformation: Human Rights Leapfrogging in the Era of Globalization, The
Human Rights Quarterly
Vol. 27 2 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY same path to protection of human rights that the Western world f... moreVol. 27 2 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY same path to protection of human rights that the Western world followed. No international law obliged the West to protect human rights during its own era of economic expansion. Thus, the West could practice slavery, expel surplus populations, and colonize other parts of the world. Genocide and ethnic cleaning were not prohibited.
Research paper thumbnail of Statelessness in the Caribbean: The Paradox of Belonging in a Postnational World, by Kristy A. Belton
New West Indian Guide
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the prevailing CC-BY-NC license at ... moreThis is an open access article distributed under the terms of the prevailing CC-BY-NC license at the time of publication.
Research paper thumbnail of Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World by Samuel Moyn
Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World by Samuel Moyn
Human Rights Quarterly
Research paper thumbnail of Rightlessness in an Age of Rights: Hannah Arendt and the Contemporary Struggles of Migrants by Ayten Gündoğdu
Rightlessness in an Age of Rights: Hannah Arendt and the Contemporary Struggles of Migrants by Ayten Gündoğdu
Human Rights Quarterly
Research paper thumbnail of Faminogenesis: State Policies That Undermine the Right to Food
Faminogenesis: State Policies That Undermine the Right to Food
Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
Research paper thumbnail of The West Bank and Gaza
The West Bank and Gaza
State Food Crimes, 2000
Research paper thumbnail of North Korea
North Korea
State Food Crimes, 2000
Research paper thumbnail of Liberal Democracies and the Right to Food
Liberal Democracies and the Right to Food
State Food Crimes, 2000
Research paper thumbnail of Communist Famines
Communist Famines
State Food Crimes, 2000

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