Human Rights In Canadian Foreign Policy PDF Download

The relationship between human rights and Canadian foreign policy has traditionally been a tenuous one. In principle, policy makers express a great deal of support for a foreign policy agenda in which human rights objectives are a key priority. In practice, human rights concerns all-too-often remain on the periphery of the foreign policy agenda, as other key priorities take precedence. Canada continues to address human rights concerns in a case-by-case fashion. Policy makers argue that such an approach is necessary in order to account for the unique circumstances surrounding human rights violations in other nations. Unfortunately, this reliance on an ad hoc approach to human rights protection and promotion has resulted in inconsistent, and often ineffective, policy responses in multilateral and bilateral contexts. In addressing the issue of human rights, this thesis builds upon the tenets of neoliberalism in order to account for the growing interlinkages between states and the need to develop solutions based on cooperation and consensus rather than Cold War notions of power politics and the inviolability of state sovereignty. Through a critical examination of Canada's foreign relations, this thesis asserts that policy makers must incorporate the principles of consistency and coherence into the development of human rights policy. That is not to say that Canada must take a similar course of action in response to violations or threats to certain core rights, but that a threshold point, beyond which action is required, must be established in order to address such challenges.