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does not abdicate one from responsibility. The ability to act under R2P is also
limited, however, as it is enforceable only by the U.N. Security Council, whose
inability to respond is noted below.
3.2 Human Rights: State Versus Humanity
Albert Schweitzer believed “Ethics is nothing other than reverence for life.
Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that
good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life, and to destroy, to harm
or to hinder life is evil” (Schweitzer 1923). His views are largely based on his experiences while doing medical missionary work in colonial Africa, where he witnessed
some of the worst crimes against humanity in human history,
Oh, this ‘noble’ culture of ours! It speaks so piously of human dignity and human rights and
then disregards this dignity and these rights of countless millions and treads them underfoot, only because they live overseas or because their skins are of different color or because
they cannot help themselves. This culture does not know how hollow and miserable and full
of glib talk it is, how common it looks to those who follow it across the seas and see what
it has done there, and this culture has no right to speak of personal dignity and human rights…
And, “I will not enumerate all the crimes that have been committed under the
pretext of justice” (Schweitzer 1993).
Humboldt also saw the links between humanity, morality, and extended that into
our treatment of the natural world, “the natural world was linked to the ‘political
and moral history of humanity,’ from imperial ambitions that exploited colonial
crops to the migration of plants along the paths of ancient civilizations” (Wolfe
2015). He “looked at the plants in the context of the wider world and with a focus
on revealing global patterns, he connected colonialism, slavery, and economics” and
saw that, “colonialism was disastrous for people and the environment” because “it
was based on inequality” (Wolfe 2015). He understood that “everything was interrelated: climate, soils, and agriculture with slavery, demographics, and economics.
It was European barbarity that had created this unjust world” (Wolfe 2015).
From colonialism to war, and colonialism as war, from racism to nationalism,
many calls for ethical action have been the result of witnessing great harms against
humanity. The U.N. was created in 1945, after the atrocities of World War II, its
charter “reaffirmed faith in fundamental human rights, and dignity and worth of the
human person” and committed all member states to promote “universal respect for,
and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion” (Charter of the United Nations 1945).
Three years later, the U.N. detailed those human rights in the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), and the ICCPR and the ICESCR were seen
as a legally-binding, unpacking of those principles. In addition to these founding
human rights documents, other key agreements have highlighted the protection of
vulnerable peoples from the cruelty of mankind, covering discrimination, women,
children, migrant workers, and indigenous peoples. Most environmental treaties,
State Global Responsibility for Environmental Crises: The Ethical and Legal…
does not abdicate one from responsibility. The ability to act under R2P is also
limited, however, as it is enforceable only by the U.N. Security Council, whose
inability to respond is noted below.
3.2 Human Rights: State Versus Humanity
Albert Schweitzer believed “Ethics is nothing other than reverence for life.
Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that
good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life, and to destroy, to harm
or to hinder life is evil” (Schweitzer 1923). His views are largely based on his experiences while doing medical missionary work in colonial Africa, where he witnessed
some of the worst crimes against humanity in human history,
Oh, this ‘noble’ culture of ours! It speaks so piously of human dignity and human rights and
then disregards this dignity and these rights of countless millions and treads them underfoot, only because they live overseas or because their skins are of different color or because
they cannot help themselves. This culture does not know how hollow and miserable and full
of glib talk it is, how common it looks to those who follow it across the seas and see what
it has done there, and this culture has no right to speak of personal dignity and human rights…
And, “I will not enumerate all the crimes that have been committed under the
pretext of justice” (Schweitzer 1993).
Humboldt also saw the links between humanity, morality, and extended that into
our treatment of the natural world, “the natural world was linked to the ‘political
and moral history of humanity,’ from imperial ambitions that exploited colonial
crops to the migration of plants along the paths of ancient civilizations” (Wolfe
2015). He “looked at the plants in the context of the wider world and with a focus
on revealing global patterns, he connected colonialism, slavery, and economics” and
saw that, “colonialism was disastrous for people and the environment” because “it
was based on inequality” (Wolfe 2015). He understood that “everything was interrelated: climate, soils, and agriculture with slavery, demographics, and economics.
It was European barbarity that had created this unjust world” (Wolfe 2015).
From colonialism to war, and colonialism as war, from racism to nationalism,
many calls for ethical action have been the result of witnessing great harms against
humanity. The U.N. was created in 1945, after the atrocities of World War II, its
charter “reaffirmed faith in fundamental human rights, and dignity and worth of the
human person” and committed all member states to promote “universal respect for,
and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion” (Charter of the United Nations 1945).
Three years later, the U.N. detailed those human rights in the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), and the ICCPR and the ICESCR were seen
as a legally-binding, unpacking of those principles. In addition to these founding
human rights documents, other key agreements have highlighted the protection of
vulnerable peoples from the cruelty of mankind, covering discrimination, women,
children, migrant workers, and indigenous peoples. Most environmental treaties,
State Global Responsibility for Environmental Crises: The Ethical and Legal…