Final examination: Human Rights

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Question 1
What is the difference between the “military model” and the “criminal justice
model” of fighting terrorism?
A. The military model is used when terrorists are acting on their own, and
the criminal justice model is used when terrorists are sponsored by a state
B. The military model treats terrorist groups like opposing military forces,
while the criminal justice model treats terrorists like ordinary criminals
C. The military model authorizes international intervention to help fight
against terrorism, while the criminal justice model sees the role of the
international community as limited to providing international criminal
tribunals
D. The military model sees terrorist groups as “terrorists”, while the
criminal justice model sees terrorists as “freedom fighters”

Question 2
Which of the following civil and political rights is absolute and non-derogable?
A. The right to privacy
 B. The right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment
C. The right to freedom of assembly
D. The right to vote

Question 3
Human rights are held by:
A. Only by women and children
B. All human beings and other animals
C. All human beings
D. Only by society’s most vulnerable groups

Question 4
Economic, social, and cultural rights are traditionally thought of as:
A. First-generation rights
B. Third-generation rights
C. Fourth-generation rights
D. Second-generation rights

Question 5
Equality in law or formal equality is:
A. An equality that treats everyone the same, regardless of their
circumstances
B. An equality that treats every person as they would like to be treated
C. An equality that gives women extra assistance to improve their status
vis-à-vis men
D. An equality that treats some people differently, depending on the
relevant social, historical, or cultural context

Question 6
What is the role of international criminal law in transitional justice?
 A. International criminal trials are never useful for societies transitioning to
a post-conflict situation
B. International criminal trials are prohibited unless undertaken in self-
defense or authorized by the Security Council
C. International criminal trials are required by international law
D. International criminal trials can play a useful role in some transitional
justice situations

Question 7
“Collective” or “group” rights are also known as:

A. First-generation rights
B. Second-generation rights
C. Fourth-generation rights
D. Third-generation rights

Question 8
Jus ad bellum governs:
A. The conduct of states toward individuals under their jurisdiction at all
times
B. The conduct of individuals during wartime
C. The conduct of states toward opposing forces, civilians, and non-
combatants during wartime
D. Whether a war is “just”, meaning legally begun

Question 9
The International Criminal Court was established by:
A. The Geneva Conventions
B. The International Bill of Human Rights
C. The Rome Statute
D. The UN Charter
Question 10
The body that oversees the implementation of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is:
A. The Human Rights Committee
B. The CEDAW Committee
C. The UN Security Council
D. The UN General Assembly

Question 11
The International Bill of Human Rights is composed of which three treaties?
A. The UN Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW)
B. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
C. The UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
D. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW)

Question 12
Typically, UN human rights treaty bodies can do all of the following EXCEPT:
A. Receive individual communications
B. Authorize armed intervention
C. Issue general comments
D. Consider state parties’ reports
Question 13
Which of the following is NOT one of the five permanent members of the
Security Council?
A. United States
B. Russia
C. France
D. Germany

Question 14
The civil and political rights protected by the Universal Declaration include:
A. The right to rest and leisure
B. The right to work
C. The right to freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment
D. The right to social security

Question 15
The UN Charter prohibits the use of force in all cases EXCEPT:
A. In self-defense, when the force is authorized by the Security Council, or
whenever a country is acting in defense of human rights
B. In self-defense only
C. When the force is authorized by the Security Council only
D. In self-defense or when the force is authorized by the Security Council

Question 16
Which of the following is NOT a treaty body in the UN system?
A. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
B. The Committee on the Rights of the Child
C. The Committee on the Elimination of Chemical and Biological Weapons
D. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
Question 17
Some feminists have argued that:
A. The gap in enforcement between civil and political rights and economic,
social, and cultural rights harms men
B. Economic, social, and cultural rights are not important for women
C. The gap in enforcement between civil and political and economic, social,
and cultural rights reflects the divide between women and men in society at
large
D. Only economic, social, and cultural rights are important for women

Question 18
International criminal law places limits on the behavior of:
A. Regions
B. States
C. Individuals
D. The international community

Question 19
Which of the following treaties is the oldest international human rights
document to be signed, predating the UDHR by several months?
A. The American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man
B. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
C. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
D. The African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights

Question 20
The Yogyakarta Principles are:
A. A binding international treaty providing protection for LGBT persons
B. A non-binding set of human rights principles for transnational
corporations (TNCs)
 C. A regional human rights agreement assigning human rights obligations
to non-state actors (NSAs)
D. A non-binding set of human rights principles on sexual orientation and
gender identity

Question 21
The Security Council is made up of:
A. 25 Member States – 10 permanent and 15 non-permanent
B. 15 Member States – five permanent and 10 non-permanent
C. All Member States in the UN
D. Five permanent Member States only

Question 22
Which of the following is NOT a function that may be performed by NGOs?
A. Investigating and reporting on abuses of individual human rights
B. Issuing legally enforceable judgments against states that
violate human rights
C. Lobbying states to implement their treaty violations
D. Educating individuals about their human rights

Question 23
All of the following are current issues in the field of human and rights and
technology EXCEPT:
A. Censorship
B. Intellectual property
C. Privacy
D. Gender equality

Question 24
Special Rapporteurs are:
A. Appointed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights to coordinate
human rights activities performed by the regions
 B. Appointed by the Human Rights Council to investigate particular human
rights topics or situations
C. Appointed by the Security Council to conduct inquiries into particular
military situations
D. Appointed by the General Assembly to preside over the Secretariat

Question 25
The right to peace is:
A. A binding obligation included at both the global and regional levels
B. Not yet established at the global level
C. Not yet established in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
D. A binding obligation included in the international bill of human rights

Question 26
The “internal” component of the right to self-determination is:
A. The right to a representative government within an existing state
B. The right to form national and international advocacy bodies
C. The right to be free of colonial rule
D. The right to secede from an existing state

Question 27
Non-state actors include all of the following groups EXCEPT:
A. Transnational corporations (TNCs)
B. Terrorists
C. UN treaty bodies
D. NGOs

Question 28
Civil and political rights include all of the following EXCEPT:
A. The right to participate in the cultural life of the community
 B. The right to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment
C. The right to freedom of association
D. The right to vote

Question 29
The international human rights system is:
A. A broken system that gets worse and worse with every passing day
B. A perfect system that is impossible to improve upon
C. A new system with many strengths and weaknesses that continues to
grow and change
D. Old and set in stone – nothing can change it now

Question 30
Which of the following is NOT an intergovernmental organization or
specialized agency of the UN?
A. Amnesty International
B. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
C. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
D. The International Labour Organization (ILO)

Question 31
A state’s “minimum core obligations” are:
A. The obligation of a state to participate in international human rights
treaties
B. The set of rights from which states may not “opt out”
C. The set of obligations that constitute the minimum essential level of a
right
D. The state’s responsibility with respect to protecting citizens from rights
violations by private actors
Question 32
All of the following are vulnerable groups that receive additional protection
under international human rights law EXCEPT:
A. NGOs
B. Children
C. Indigenous peoples
D. Women

Question 33
The two types of organs that make up the UN system of human rights
protection are:
A. National and treaty based
B. National and regional
C. Regional and charter based
D. Charter based and treaty based

Question 34
Which of the following is NOT a treaty in the UN human rights system?
A. The Convention on the Elimination of Chemical and Biological Weapons
B. The International Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers
C. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
D. The Convention on the Rights of the Child

Question 35
Advantages of international criminal trials include:
A. Their ability to try every single violator of international criminal law in a
conflict
B. Their impartiality and expertise in international criminal law
C. The fact that they are highly efficient, with the average case taking only
three weeks to be completed
 D. The fact that they are much less expensive than the average domestic
trial

Question 36
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) contains:
A. Neither civil and political, nor economic, social, and cultural rights
B. Economic, social, and cultural rights only
C. Civil and political rights only
D. Both civil and political and economic, social, and cultural rights

Question 37
With collective rights, the right-holder is:
A. An individual
B. Everyone
C. A group or people
D. No one

Question 38
What does it mean to say that “human rights norms have historically had no
horizontal effect under international law”?
A. Human rights norms have been enforceable “vertically”, between states
and the UN, but not “horizontally”, between two states
B. Human rights norms have been enforceable “vertically”, between an
individual and the state, but not “horizontally”, between one individual and
another
C. Human rights norms have been enforceable “vertically”, between an
individual and the state, but not “horizontally”, between two states
D. Human rights norms have been enforceable “vertically”, between the
regional human rights systems and the UN system, but not “horizontally”,
between two regional systems

Question 39
Civil and political rights are traditionally thought of as:
 A. Negative rights
B. Neutral rights
C. Positive rights
D. Group rights

Question 40
The principle of non-refoulement is:
A. The principle that states must grant asylum to any person who requests
it
B. The principle that states may not send refugees back to a country where
their life or freedom would be in danger
C. The principle that states may not send economic migrants back their
country of origin
D. The principle that states must grant citizenship to all refugees, so long
as they are not HIV positive

Question 41
International criminal law applies in which of the following circumstances?
A. In all non-international, but not international armed conflicts
B. Only where a state has not violated international humanitarian law
C. Only where a state has not violated jus ad bellum
D. In all wartime situations

Question 42
All of the following are recognized “group” or “collective” rights EXCEPT:
A. The right to freedom of religion
B. The right to development
C. The right to a healthy environment
D. The right to self-determination
Question 43
All of the following were early human rights movements that appeared prior
to World War II EXCEPT:
A. The development of international humanitarian law
B. The movement to protect religious and ethnic minorities
C. The movement to protect disabled persons
D. The movement to abolish the slave trade

Question 44
Non-governmental organizations are:
A. Individuals who are paid by the government to perform state-directed
research and advocacy tasks
B. Civil society organizations formed by private individuals or groups for the
purpose of promoting a particular goal
C. Government-sponsored foundations that promote a government’s
interest in international fora
D. Lobbying groups formed by businesses for the purpose of advertising
their products and increasing profits

Question 45
Which of the following is NOT generally a power of treaty-bodies such as the
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights?
A. Receiving state-to-state complaints
B. Issuing general comments
C. Conducting inquiries
D. Imposing economic sanctions

Question 46
The primary aim of international humanitarian law is:
A. Assisting in transitional justice in post-conflict situations
B. Preventing the use of force in international relations
 C. Protecting noncombatants and restricting the means and methods of
warfare
D. Prohibiting certain conduct and punishing individuals who commit war
crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide

Question 47
Why might it be beneficial to think critically about human rights?
A. It is not helpful to think critically about human rights – critical thinking is
merely an impediment to real action
B. Because human rights are never helpful, and it would be best if we got
rid of them
C. Because understanding the limitations of the human rights approach
helps us to make better choices and avoid potential problems
D. It is not helpful to think critically about human rights – human rights
always provides the best framework for thinking about every problem

Question 48
Under the Westphalian system of state sovereignty:
A. Both states and individuals were addressed by international law
B. Only individuals, not states, were addressed by international law
C. Only states, not individuals, were addressed by international law
D. Neither states nor individuals were addressed by international law

Question 49
All of the following are goals of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) EXCEPT:
A. To encourage states to adopt special measures to reverse historical
trends of inequality
B. Taking rights away from men in order to promote gender equality
C. To modify or abolish existing laws, customs, and practices that
discriminate against women
D. Promoting equality in law and equality in fact
Question 50
Which of the following is NOT a component of the right to development?
A. Ending the use of chemical weapons
B. Promoting universal primary education
C. Promoting gender and racial equality
D. Ending poverty