One of the foremost discursive aspects of today’s post-industrial living is the fact that, as time goes on; the universalist approach to ensuring people’s ability to enjoy the full scope of their human rights is being increasingly deprived of its conceptual validity. This simply could not be otherwise, because; whereas, the concept of human rights implies that, regardless of what happened to be the particulars of their ethnocultural affiliation, people are being equally comfortable with the notion of a secularized living; this is far from being the actual case. Hence, a certain paradox – in order for many individuals (which tend to perceive the surrounding reality through the lenses of their ethnicity/religion) not to suffer from the abuse of their human rights, they have no option but to adopt a strongly negative attitude towards the universalist assumption of people’s legal/social equality. However, given the fact that this assumption serves a theoretical foundation, upon which the concept of human rights is based, it presupposes that it is specifically by denying the validity of the concept in question that many people may take a de facto advantage of their endowment with constitutionally guaranteed social rights and freedoms – whatever ironic it may sound. In my paper, I will aim to illustrate the validity of this suggestion, in regards to the controversy, surrounding the law that forbids Muslim women to wear face-concealing burqas (hijabs) in public places, which was passed by the French Senate on September 14, 2010, and came into a legal effect on April 5, 2011 (Britton 2011).
Analytical part
There can be few doubts, as to the fact that the passing of the earlier mentioned law does exemplify a conflict between universalism and cultural relativism. After all, forbidding French Muslim women to wear burqas was motivated by the considerations of protecting democracy in France. Hence, the essence of legal reasoning, behind the introduction of the ‘burqa ban’, “Given the damage (the full-face veil) produces on those rules which allow the (democratic) life in community, ensure the dignity of the person and equality between sexes, this practice, even if it is voluntary, cannot be tolerated in any public place” (Heider 2012, p. 97). Apparently, those French politicians that legislated the ‘burqa ban’ never doubted the validity of their assumption that the concept of democracy represents a universally recognized social value.
French Muslims, however, have a different point of view, in this respect. This is because, unlike what happened the case with highly secularized Whites, who regard religion as merely an additional comfort in life, they consider their religion of Islam to be the actual way of life (Parvez 2011). In its turn, this suggests that, from the perspective of French Muslims, the earlier mentioned ban accounts for a blatant violation of their human rights, as French citizens. The provisions contained in the U.N. 1949 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), support the full legitimacy of such a claim, on the part of French Muslims. After all, this Declaration does point out the fact that the people’s ability to exercise their freedom of religion does represent one of their foremost human rights, which cannot be restricted. According to the UDHR’s Article 18, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to… manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance” (UDHR Article 18 2001, para. 1). In other words, while passing the infamous ‘burqa ban’, the French Senate acted in striking opposition to the UDHR’s provisions. However, because the UDHR is considered a general assembly international resolution, it does not impose any legally binding obligations on state signatories to adjust the functioning of their legal systems to be fully consistent with the humanitarian principles it promotes.
Thus, as of today, there is only one legal instrument that French Muslims can resort to while striving to ensure the French Government’s compliance with the UDHR – the so-called European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the provisions of which are being actually enforced by the European Court of Human Rights” (Besson 2012). Just as is being the case with the UDHR, the European Convention establishes an unrestricted right for EU citizens to practice their religious beliefs (ECHR Article 9 1953, para. 1). Nevertheless, the ECHR also contains the list of circumstances, under which it is being permissible for the European countries’ governments to introduce bylaws, potentially capable of restricting the citizens’ right to enjoy their religious freedom. Essentially, the restriction of people’s religious freedoms in the EU can only be deemed legally justified if it serves the purpose of advancing a legitimate state-aim or promoting the values of democracy. However, the ECHR makes it clear that, while assessing the validity of human rights abuse claims, concerned with the matters of religion, the European Court of Human Rights may never cease evaluating the legal appropriateness of the applied restrictive measures, in regards to what appears to be the concerned country’s cultural background (Bratza 2012). This provides us with a clue, as to what should account for the line of legal reasoning, regarding the illegality of the ‘burqa ban’, on the part of French Muslims in the European Court of Human Rights.
First, it can be well-argued that forbidding French Muslim women to wear burqas cannot be possibly referred to as such that serves a legitimate state-aim, due to the clearly identifiable discriminatory essence of this legal measure. Apparently, those French policy-makers that voted in favor of enforcing the ‘burqa ban’, were utterly unaware of the simple fact that, in order for the passing of a particular law/bylaw to be considered discursively appropriate, the law in question cannot target a specific category of citizens, especially if the affected people happened to emanate their visually observed ‘otherness’ (Cherti 2010).
Second, the introduction of the ‘burqa ban’ cannot also be defined as such that serves the cause of promoting democracy in France. The reason for this is apparent – the notion of democracy is synonymous with the notion of a ‘majority rule’. Yet, the qualitative essence of demographic trends in today’s France suggests that it is being only a matter of a decade or two, before Muslim Arabs and Blacks (with French passports) will attain the majority status in this country (Westoff & Frejka 2007). Therefore, there can be very little rationale in continuing to believe that it is specifically the French Whites/Christians, who are being in a position to enforce their vision of ‘democracy’ upon others.
Third, the French ‘burqa ban’ is being thoroughly unobservant of what accounts for the specifics of a cultural climate in France. This climate’s foremost specific is being concerned with the existence of racially/religiously secluded conclaves in just about every French city, exclusively populated by Muslims, where French secular laws simply do not apply de facto. The validity of this statement can be well illustrated in regards to the 2005 racial riots in France, during the course of which French police officers were ordered not to venture into the ‘Muslim territory’, in order not to provoke rioters even further (Brown 2007; Schneider 2008).
Apparently, the reason why the European Court of Human Rights continues to remain ignorant of the fact that the French ‘burqa ban’ violates basic human rights, on the part of French Muslims, is that the Court’s juries remain largely unacknowledged of the specifics of a cultural climate in France. Therefore, in order for French Muslims to be able to prove an anti-constitutional nature of the ‘burqa ban’, they must be willing to apply an additional effort into prompting the EU’s bureaucrats to recognize the legal implications of the ‘multiculturalism’ policy, the implementation of which they have been so eager to support. In other words, French Muslims should act in such a way that even blind French citizens would be left with no option but to acknowledge their presence, and consequently, their entitlement to take pride in their religious affiliation with Islam. The best way for French Muslims to go about pursuing their agenda, in this respect, is to simply disregard the ‘burqa ban’ while setting cars on fire and looting department stores because only this can provide the European Court’s juries with powerful enough incentives to acknowledge the specifics of a cultural climate in today’s France. In its turn, this would make them more likely to pass the verdict that would force the French Senate to delegitimize the earlier mentioned discriminatory law. Apparently, people’s constitutionally guaranteed rights are not given but taken. In this respect, the French Muslims’ right to exercise freedom of religion is not different. Thus, just as it was implied in the Introduction, it is specifically by denying their legal equality with the rest of French citizens, while insisting on being ‘other’, that French Muslims may achieve the removal of discriminatory restrictions on their right to believe in Allah and to follow His commandments.
Conclusion
I believe that the provided line of argumentation, in regards to the discussed subject matter, is being fully consistent with the paper’s initial thesis.
References
Besson, S 2012, ‘The extraterritoriality of the European Convention on Human Rights: Why human rights depend on the jurisdiction and what jurisdiction amounts to’, Leiden Journal of International Law, vol. 25 no 4, pp. 857-884.
Bratza, N 2012, ‘The “precious asset”: Freedom of religion under the European Convention on Human Rights’, Ecclesiastical Law Journal, vol. 14 no. 2, pp. 256-271.
Britton, D 2011, ‘Lifting the veil: France’s new crusade,’ Boston College International & Comparative Law Review, vol. 34 no. 1, pp. 117-145.
Brown, B 2007, ‘God and man in the French riots’, American Foreign Policy Interests, vol. 29 no. 3, pp. 183-199.
Cherti, M 2010, ‘The politics of Muslim visibility in Europe’, Public Policy Research vol. 17 no. 3, pp. 157-161.
The European convention on human rights. n.d. Web.
Heider, J 2012, ‘Unveiling the truth behind the French burqa ban: The unwarranted restriction of the right to freedom of religion and the European Court of Human Rights’, Indiana International & Comparative Law Review, vol. 22 no. 1, pp. 93-129.
Parvez, Z 2011, ‘Debating the burqa in France: The antipolitics of Islamic revival’, Qualitative Sociology vol. 34 no. 2, pp. 287-312.
Schneider, C 2008, ‘Police power and race riots in Paris’, Politics & Society, vol. 36 no.1, pp. 33-159.
UDHR: Article 18. n.d. Web.
Westoff, C & Frejka, T 2007, ‘Religiousness and fertility among European Muslims’, Population and Development Review, vol. 33 no. 4, pp. 785-809.
Impacts of Contemporary Human Rights Reforms and Current Arab Reality
All human beings have rights that protect them from harm and give them freedom of expression. They are granted to all individuals despite of their sex, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, and language. They vary from the most basic, the right to life, to those that give our life worth. They include the right to education, work, food, and health. Since human evolution and progress, different perspectives have been developed concerning the nature of humanity. The scientific, agricultural, and language themes have influenced how people view life. This research paper discusses the contemporary human rights reforms in the Arab World and their effects. Further, the concept of democracy and the current Arab world reality is examined.
In modern history, the theme of human rights reformations in the Arab World has been influenced by the French and America Revolutions. European movements influenced the first appreciation of a human being as a citizen In the Middle East (Al-Jabri 95). Initially, an individual was viewed as subject to the Sultana. Colonization by the European paved the way for western ideas, and the concept spread to other regions. The people developed new methodologies of doing things and dealt away with traditions. Positive impacts were felt as the evolution of humankind could be seen. Long-term effects were seen like the human mind, which became more creative. Among the most crucial principles observed were democracy and human rights.
Contemporary Human Rights Reforms
Most countries in the Arab World have preserved the dignity of human beings by considering their rights from different perspectives. For example, European experiences have made them adopt constitutions where the rights have been written. Everybody is supposed to obey these laws and preserve the humanity of people. Conditions of people, whether sick or mentally challenged, should not create platforms for discrimination. Breaking the set governing rules and standards leads to fines and even imprisonment. Human privacy and dignity should be respected to protect their self-esteem, especially in public.
The government protects them from amendments where those in authority can use them to gain illegal power. Evils means such as corruption, where individuals are given money in favor of a certain candidate, should be abolished. The constitutions emphasize the mandatory respect and preservation of the principles. In the process of democratization, the will of the people and regimes should be the main agenda. Additionally, both the international and internal levels should adopt this legitimizing force for the benefit of the citizens. This creates universal protection of human rights and eliminates cases of racism. Immigrants have been discriminated against in some nations because of their color and language.
Several conventions and treaties have been signed by the Arab countries. On May 22, 2004, an Arab charter on Human Rights was adopted by the Arab League, and it was enforced on March 15, 2008 (Al-Jabri 110).
The agreement policy includes the right to own individual property, security, prevention from torture, and freedom of association and free assembly. Inhuman, cruel, and degrading punishments for lawbreakers have been prohibited. Individuals found guilty should be underlined in a court of law where fines or favorable punishments are given. Cases of human murder as a form of behavior regulation must be banned as they go against the sentiments of life preservation. An Islamic perspective concerning affirmations and human rights has been mentioned in the declaration. It states that all the mentioned rights are subject to Islamic law.
Establishing Monitoring Bodies and Defense Mechanisms is another important reform in the Arab World. However, each country has a different body governing its operation. It sets policies and guidelines which govern the mode of operation. All the leaders and government officials must obey the policies as they are subject to arrest in case of breaking them. There has been increased Judicial control by the Constitutional Councils and High Courts in countries like Tunisia, Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, and Morocco. The main goal is to examine the relevancy of laws with constitutional requirements.
Separation of power between the judiciary and other bodies has been prohibited since they are not in favor of human rights. This may lead to contradicting views on different issues, which need critical analysis and decision-making. A uniform constitution used by the government and other supporting bodies creates unity in the organization. Easy decision-making is realized as there is no need for continuous consultations from the members in the higher rank. In ensuring continuous and firm protection, the bodies have gained popularity through their extension services. For instance, in 1996, Algeria designed a new Mediator in the Republic to give citizens freedom and protect their rights through administrations from the public and normal functioning (Al-Jabri 201). Similarly, in Egypt, the National Council for Human Rights was established in 2004.
Judicial norms have replaced cultural relativism, which seems to have contradicting views on collective rights. Most traditional governments lacked complicated setups as a leader was known by their qualities. Organizing people into different communities with unique laws made national unity difficult. With the colonization, change brought the need for a centralized government and supporting leaders (Kim-Vick et al. 12).
Regimes have therefore retained their position in power where they are given authority to set emergency laws. These principles can be modified to reflect prevailing cultural developments. This enables them to go beyond constitutional standards for people’ rights (Baldwin and Cave 176). Cases arising like arbitrary arrest and censorship call for the application of such laws. Denial of basic human rights can occur where illegal acts need a verdict.
Effects of Human Rights Reformation
Recent reforms in human rights have impacted the Arab World in various ways. The emerging issues on the minority group have been solved, and policies addressing their violence and oppression have been dealt with. Women’s rights have been given power where equality between all sexes and gender have been emphasized. Existing stereotypes affecting women and negative mentalities contribute to their disrespect from the public (Al-Jabri 223). Most societies view the woman as a housewife who takes care of the children. Access to education has been limited due to the view of weak potential in the past. However, after the reforms, they were given equal chances to learn and explore different careers.
The elimination of forced labor has been eliminated in the Arab World through the development of adoption of the fundamental International Labor Organization conventions. Its role includes the promotion of social justice to all individuals without discrimination. Forceful recruitment of individuals to perform jobs they lack preferences is not allowed. This has led to improved working conditions where progress, prosperity, and peace are the desired outcomes. It is responsible for formulating international policies that promote the international security of human rights.
The concept of child labor has also been abolished, and all children have been given equal opportunities to free education. This aims at prioritizing knowledge acquired for a brighter future. Only acceptable and light duties, such as helping with house chores, are allowed at different stages of development and ages. The principle runs from formal employment to informal economic activities where unacceptable and bulk tasks are performed. The governments have implemented this law by setting specific ages when individuals can acquire civil jobs. Social and economic statuses determine parents’ ability to provide basic needs to their children for conducive learning.
State of emergencies declared in various countries led to abuse of human rights to life. Many individuals died when reported engaging themselves in illegal acts such as planning government attacks by Islamic troops like the Al-Shabaab. In some scenarios, the movement of people was restricted, and searching for individual homes could be done randomly without notice. Others were prohibited from receiving healthcare services until proven unguilty. Death sentences were also prescribed to criminals whose offensive acts exceeded law requirements.
Economic development has been realized through the high sales of oil, a natural resource in the country. This has further led to improvements in the infrastructure due to huge exports. International trade has also been realized through oil sales to many countries. Economic progress has improved citizens’ living standards by creating job opportunities. Employment in processing and mining companies has allowed many youths to earn income.
Democracy and the Current Arab Reality
The Arab countries under colonial control developed desires to be independent. This led them to devise methodologies to use to be free from oppression. After the Second World War, most countries became self-governed. Arab regimes have been influenced by forms of authoritarian rule. Additionally, increased educational levels and per capita income have influenced economic status. The Arab groups and intellectuals interested in political reforms have condemned the rule and lack of democracy in the countries.
Democracy gaps resulting from oil and conflicts are the major current Arab realities. The disagreements began when Arab countries stopped exports to Europe and America. A body known as the organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, supported by the soviets, increased the price of crude oil (Al-Jabri 245). This resulted from member countries’ agreement leading to the global crisis of energy. Currently, the Ukraine war is creating a great threat to the world economy leading to the collapse of oil prices.
Despite success in democratic achievements and defense for human rights in Arab countries, most females are being discriminated against in various social agendas. Reports indicate that their school attendance rate has been the lowest (Kim-Vick et al. 10). Issues such as polygamy, fertility rate, per capita income, and corruption have highly contributed to the school-going decline. Further, most well-paying jobs are accredited to men since society has developed a negative mindset toward ladies. This has hindered their inner potential, ideas, abilities, and innovations. Research indicates that if women are given enough support and opportunities in the workforce, they will strengthen productivity growth and development.
The increased gender gap in the examination of the status of employed women reveals a change in their employment structure. Many women are in low job classes as support workers (Mojahed 36). The governments have made efforts to include them in the working schemes, but their ratio, compared to men, is still very low. Many occupations like plant and machine operators, craft, and assemblers have experienced high feminization rates. The working hours for both genders are similar, but differences in wage payment differ. This is attributed to the belief that most women are concentrated on domestic chores dedicating less effort to other work. Additionally, maternity leaves require less working period hence lower salary.
The threat from ethnic violence and militant Islamic groups is a common reality. Terrorist groups exist and make secret plans to cause mass destruction of people to take revenge. Contrary to Egypt and Algeria nations where cases of religious violence have reduced, other regions like the gulf deal with criminals. This daily issue has forced the affected nations to develop countermeasures to protect their territories. Slow democratic change is realized where regimes can feel the declining rate of reforms. This is due to the need for the government to put more effort into dealing with terror and maintaining national security.
Repression in the Arab World emerged after uprisings that occurred in 2011. They led to the reassessment of the nature of politics in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Authoritarian regimes were not received by the citizens due to the effects they could create on democracy. In the early 2000s, levels of repression were rising significantly in the MENA (Al-Jabri 105). This trend has evolved through the years and can be felt presently. For instance, in Egypt, individual protests have challenged the government, which is the power source.
Higher mobilization has resulted in peaceful protestors moving from one place to another. They sometimes trigger violent responses to any troops of individuals who go against their demands. The target groups vary according to whom is seen as a threat to them. They can belong to a given ethnic group, protestors, cultural, or ideological views (Blagojevic 2842). On the other hand, leaders in power use this concept to preserve their positions. Conflicts that may occur from foreign interference are solved by international peacemakers.
Despite economic, social, and political developments in the Arab countries, some communities have been marginalized. They present themselves through ethnic and religious differences, which give contradictory views. Examples include the Copts in Egypt and the Kurds in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey (Alonso-Bolaños 58). Some have been represented in power by hierarchies that give them financial support. This enables them to maintain their status quo in society in general. Languages such as Arabic have also felt the effects of marginalization, where it is not preferred by some countries.
Works Cited
Al-Jabri, Mohammed Abed. Democracy, Human Rights, and Law in Islamic thought. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009.
Baldwin, Robert, and Martin Cave. “Regulating Digital Platforms.” Taming the Corporation: How to Regulate for Success, Oxford University Press, 2020, pp. 170–188.
Blagojević, Jelisaveta, and Radenko Šćekić. “The Arab Spring a Decade on: Information and Communication Technologies as a Mass Mobilization Tool.” Kybernetes, vol. 51, no. 9, 2021, pp. 2833–2851. Web.
Kim-Vick, Jihyun, and Ui-Jeen Yu. “Impact of Digital Resale Platforms on Brand New or Second-Hand Luxury Goods Purchase Intentions among U.S. Gen Z Consumers.” International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 2022, pp. 1–13. Web.
Mojahed, Amera, et al. “Intimate Partner Violence against Women in the Arab Countries: A Systematic Review of Risk Factors.” Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, vol. 23, no. 2, 2020, pp. 390–407. Web.
The ACT Human Rights Act (HRA) of 2004 was noted as an extremely vital step in the right direction towards forging a formidable human rights foundation in Australia. It is also imperative to mention that it was the first-ever bill of rights adopted by the legislature in Australia. Hence, this Act offered some form of constitutional model that could be embraced in other geographical locations. Moreover, the 2004 Act added much-needed momentum in establishing a fundamental human rights legislation that was previously missing in Australia (Hilary 2008, p.78).
Needless to say, one of the irrefutable strengths of the Human Rights Act (2004) is that it has been a relatively flexible legal document and not static in nature. As such, it has permitted the process of carrying out necessary amendments regularly. It is worth mentioning that any valid constitutional instrument should be dynamic enough to accommodate the changes phases of mankind and civilization.
The Human Rights Act (HRA) of 2004 also laid a firm foundation especially among public authorities who are mandated by the law to adhere to its contents to the letter. For instance, any possibility of breaches to the HRA was minimized in 2009 when an amendment was done in order to empower the Supreme Court to prosecute individuals who contravene it.
The human rights protection and the associated dialogue model have also been observed in the operations of HRA since it was enacted in 2004 (Andrew, Hilary & Gabrielle 2009, p.54). In spite of the growing doubts that HRA would occasion a gross surge in the litigation process, the policy and legal successes of the bill of rights have been more profound than the expected appeals in the Supreme Court. Needless to say, the key objective of this Act has been to improve the standards of legislation processes in the region.
However, the success of HRA has been partially hampered by the high level of bureaucracy. The latter tends to weaken the basic human rights platform. For instance, within the first year of its operation, all categories of the bureaucracy had not been penetrated. Hence, it was evident that capacity building and training were lacking in the implementation of the Act. This proved to be one of the core weaknesses of HRA. The Act did incorporate a training clause that would be used to offer civic education to public servants.
in addition, the ACT community has also been observed to be lagging in terms of a well-enhanced culture of human rights. This weakness has been compounded by inadequate systematic education among public officials.
The dialogue surrounding HRA has also been less substantive than it was initially expected. There seem to be no enforceable laws that can be engaged to compel courts to be proactive. So far, the latter has largely remained dormant thereby jeopardizing the full implementation of the HRA. The Supreme Court hardly takes serious prosecution steps whenever cases are filed against offenders. So far, HRA has no legal capacity to generate significant dialogue especially among the three organs of the government namely the executive, legislature, and the court’s system (judiciary). If the Act is to be successful in terms of implementation, then it will demand whole cooperation and goodwill among the key organs in the Australian government. For instance, bureaucracy cannot be eliminated by the HRA per se if the individual public servants assume the following role in its implementation (Gabrielle 2006, p.23)
References
Andrew, B., Hilary, C & Gabrielle M 2009, Australian Bills of Rights: History, Politics, Law, UNSW Press, Sydney.
Gabrielle, M 2006, “An Opportunity Missed?” Canberra Law Review Vol. 9 no.4, pp. 21-30.
Hilary, C 2008, Bills of rights, national, OUP, Oxford.
Indigenous peoples can live as separate peoples in liberation, peace, and security. Tribes also possess fundamental collective human rights. NARF focuses on upholding legal requirements for equal protection and freedom from job discrimination, voting, schooling, and religion. Following are some strategies for addressing Indian citizens’ unique status, ways in which the fundamental right of Indians adheres, the practice of civil rights, the right to ownership of water, the right to be allowed to participate in gaming, and the need to protect children’s welfare.
The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental freedoms that safeguard human life. Indians have enmeshed ownership rights and assets for which the US is obligated. The liberty to engage in any vocation, the right to free speech, the right to an unrestricted right to peaceful assembly, the right to association, the right to freedom of movement within their own country, and the right to live and work anywhere in India are all examples of civil rights. The Indian Casino Regulatory Act, a federal law of the United States, established a governmental structure governing Indian gaming. At last, looking The National Indian Child Protection Association assists tribal communities in developing the capacity to prevent abuse and neglect through their families, communities, and cultures.
Indian Hunting Right
Although the federal government did not end a tribe’s hunting for the original reservation area, they may still have hunting rights when their reserve has been significantly reduced. Native Americans’ off-reservation rights have been criticized by state environmental agencies on the basis that excessive hunting can jeopardize the protection of wildlife species. Even though these places are on private property, the Supreme Court has recognized the off-reservation hunting privileges given by a treaty. The Court has also ruled against the registration of Native Americans to obtain hunting licenses in treaty-designated regions. Three cases involving the Indian group’s hunting privileges were examined by the Supreme Court (Neier, 2020).
The first ruling stated that as long as there was no discrimination, the state’s interest in protecting wildlife permitted it to control members’ hunting activities. The idea of a fair distribution of hunting between Native Americans and non-Native Americans was at issue in the second case. According to the ruling of the court, a fair apportionment entails that tribes having treaty hunting rights are entitled to a specific amount of hunting.
The Supreme Court determined that treaty rights only ensure a quantity of hunt that is necessary to sustain a tribe’s moderate standard of living, not more than that amount, and set the upper limit for a fair allocation at 50 percent. According to the Court, tribal hunting on reservations could be included in the calculation of each party’s hunt share. Following the cases and subsequent rulings, states are not permitted to limit tribe rights to hunt unless they can demonstrate that the restriction is fair and necessary for conservation purposes and that it also applies to Native Americans. There must be any discrimination against Native Americans in any laws. States may, however, establish neutral, purely regulatory limitations that are essential for conservation, such as those that affect the manner and timing of hunting off reservations.
Indian Water Right
For Indian communities and the members of those tribes to grow economically, culturally, and spiritually, water is a necessity. Negotiations necessary for economic settle Indian water rights as opposed to litigation regarding a Ministry of the Interior policy. In addition to gaining access to water through facilities and other associated costs, these agreements allow tribes to measure their water rights on paper. States, water localities, and individual water users participated in the settlement negotiations. The Gila River Indian Community successfully negotiated and won congressional approval for one of the largest settlements for Indian water rights claims in American history. The settlement also met the tribe’s future and current water needs by securing the necessary water supply.
The Rancho California Water District, the Eastern Municipal Water District, and the Metropolitan Water District were all parties to the comprehensive settlement agreement negotiated on behalf of Pechanga. Pechanga received water rights under settlements equivalent to those outlined in the federal court’s initial ruling on the tribe. The accord and federal policy protecting Lake Meade’s water levels resulted from extensive negotiations involving parties from Arizona, New Mexico, and California (Yardas, 2019). The settlement supplied 5.5 million acres of agriculture with irrigation, 40 million Americans with drinking water, and communities throughout the American West with more than 4,000 megawatts of carbon-free hydropower.
Water shortages and a lack of federal funding for water settlements affect all Indian communities. The financing opportunities, the measures considered in Congress, and the significance as they ensure that the interests of the tribes are represented by the offices of the appropriate members of the U.S. In additionally, with a thorough awareness of the intricacies of water law, as well as a wealth of experience in issues has involved in the Restoration of Water Settlements Fund and in the critical business concerns that have an impact on Indian water rights.
Civil Rights and Unique Status of Certain Indian Groups
Due to their dual citizenship, American Indians have a special connection with the American government. This interaction about legislation about the protection of civil rights. Indians born in the nation were granted citizenship under the Indian Citizenship Act. Many Native Americans’ citizenship status was unclear before the Citizenship Act. Before the Civil War, persons with half or less of Indian heritage were not eligible for citizenship.
Native Americans were only given citizenship in certain situations, such as marriage to a citizen of the United States, military service, or through treaties. The Voting Rights Act forbade segregation based on race and color, and its 1975 extension gave language minorities more protection and support. This measure was necessary because, despite Indians being eligible to vote under the Indian Citizenship Act, several states still imposed poll taxes and literacy tests as voting restrictions.
After Congress heard testimony about the power of Indian tribes and found instances of abuse by the tribal governments, the Indian Civil Rights Act was enacted in 1968. The statute is frequently referred to as the “Indian Bill of Rights” because parts of the law match the Bill of Rights; it provides some but not all rights. Congress’s attempt to strike a balance between upholding American Indians’ civil rights and respecting the authority of tribal governments may be seen in the Indian Civil Rights Act. As a Native American advocacy organization, the American Indian Movement was established in 1968. It raised awareness of racism, living circumstances, and treaty rights.
The 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act permits government organizations to work with Indian tribes on contracts and delegate management of the monies to the tribes. The Religious Freedom Act of 1978 was passed to safeguard the traditional religious freedoms of American Indians and the use and possession of holy objects. Therefore, it is an agreement that American Indians have special rights as dual citizens.
Indian Gaming
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act established the National Indian Gambling Association as the legal foundation for Indian gambling in the United States. As a way to raise money for their tribal governments, many Indian tribes have started to engage in gaming activities on their grounds. According to federal courts that have determined that section 81 of this title mandates a Secretarial review of management contracts, including Indian gambling, one of the fundamental goals of national Indian policy is to promote tribal economic development, ethnic self-sufficiency, and strong tribal governments.
For instance, gambling is practiced in a State that does not prevent it as a matter of criminal law and public opinion. In that circumstance, the exclusive authority to regulate gaming on Indian lands belongs to the Indian tribes. The formation of independent Federal compliance jurisdiction for gambling on Indian territory and the development of Federal gambling standards are policies that Indians have adopted. (Jorgenson, 2020). Several Indian gaming strategies are listed below, including how to give strong tribal governments, self-sufficiency, and cultural and economic progress a legal foundation. Establish a legal framework that enables an Indian tribe to regulate gambling while safeguarding it from organized crime and other compromising factors.
Indian Child Welfare
The removal and relocation of American Indian children outside of their homes are governed by the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, a federal statute. After observing the removal of American Indian children from their homes and communities at a considerably higher rate than non-Native children, the federal government passed the ordinance. To safeguard the best concerns of Native American children and maintain their ties to their families, the law set Federal standards for the abduction and disposition of Native children and the dissolution of parental rights (Barker et al., 2019).
Following the practice of habitually removing Native American children and placing them with non-Native families —often without any indication of abuse or neglect, which would constitute grounds for removal—the child welfare act was passed. For instance, it makes clear that Tribes have exclusive jurisdiction and sovereignty over their members who live on Tribal land and sets a procedure for shifting cases to Tribal court in other circumstances. The law is one of the most critical components in protecting the traditions and rights of American Indian and Alaska Native children and families.
Conclusion
Therefore, having looked at how fundamental right is practiced and abused, people understand that every country and commission should ensure that their fellow citizens are free from an abusive life. The right to ownership of water is an essential basic requirement in homes. The civil right that every citizen should be allowed to practice irrespective of their color, where everyone should have the privilege of full participation in where they live. Right to enjoy gaming either in the traditional way or as part of making money. Finally, the children’s welfare act should be adhered to protect every child’s rights since they must stay with their parents or even enjoy their place of schooling.
References
Barker, B., Sedgemore, K., Tourangeau, M., Lagimodiere, L., Milloy, J., Dong, H., Hayashi, K., Shoveller, J., Kerr, T., & DeBeck, K. (2019). Intergenerational trauma: The relationship between residential schools and the child welfare system among young people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada. Journal of Adolescent Health, 65(2), 248–254. Web.
Jorgenson, J. G. (2020). Gaming and recent American Indian economic development. American Nations, 468-479. Web.
Neier, A. (2020). The international human rights movement: A history. Princeton University Press.
It is impossible to ignore the fact that the ESG trend can significantly affect the sphere of human rights in the energy sector. The rationale behind this statement is that the letter S stands for a social component, meaning that this issue can affect the people in the industry. Sufficient scientific evidence can demonstrate that the businesses representing the energy sector draw adequate attention to ensuring that their operations and supply chain management practices respect human rights.
To begin with, one should explain that the energy sector is a part of a bigger business world, which denotes that there exist universal rules that govern the processes. In particular, this statement refers to international laws that prevent specific illegal activities and that are obligatory to follow by all businesses. According to Fiaschi et al. (2020, p. 295), international legislation bans “arbitrary deprivation of life, torture, slavery, child labor, and forced labor.” This finding allows for concluding that the energy sector is forced to eliminate and combat all these issues. That is why the area under analysis does not violate the law and does not cooperate with suppliers that are accused of utilizing unlawful practices.
In addition to that, the energy sector takes a few specific actions to promote human rights through its operations. On the one hand, it is believed that the ESG practice contributes to the fact that the area promoted workplace and board diversity (Xie, 2020, p. 8). This information denotes that employees do not face discrimination based on their gender, ethnicity, and other peculiarities. On the other hand, de Silva Lokuwaduge and de Silva (2020, p. 45) clarify that the energy sector has a small number of grievances about human rights violations or discrimination cases. This finding allows for concluding that the industry is not subject to human rights problems.
In conclusion, scientific evidence has demonstrated that the energy sector is aligned with the ESG trend regarding human rights. Firstly, representatives of this area are obliged to follow international standards that advocate for respecting and protecting individuals at work. Secondly, the energy sector takes some efforts to provide diversity and minimize discrimination at the workplace. Thus, one can state that ESG practices result in protected human rights in the selected area.
Reference List
De Silva Lokuwaduge, C. S. and de Silva, K. (2020) ‘Emerging corporate disclosure of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks: an Australian Study’, Australasian Accounting, Business, and Finance Journal, 14(2), pp. 35-50.
Fiaschi, D. et al. (2020) ‘How bad is your company? Measuring corporate wrongdoing beyond the magic of ESG metrics’, Business Horizons, 63(3), pp. 287-299.
Xie, C. L. (2020) ‘Institutional investors, shareholder activism, and ESG in the energy sector’, Wharton Research Scholars, pp. 1-26.
In almost all constitutions of the different countries in the world, there is always a chapter that provides for human rights. Human rights are the benefits that every human being should enjoy as he or she continues to live on earth. However, there are other countries and governments that have continued to violate the fundamental human rights of individuals.
In Africa for example the former president of Democratic Republic of Congo, the late Mobutu Sese Seko, was widely blamed by the international community for continued infringement of human rights. In Europe the late Slobodan Milosovic was also accused for not respecting the human rights accorded to the people of Yugoslavia by their constitution.
History of the Human Rights Watch
In the contemporary world there are a number of organizations that have come up with a sole responsibility of acting as campaigners and defenders of the human rights. One of these dedicated organizations is the Human Rights Watch.
According to Human Rights Watch (Par 1) this organization is a “nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization made up of more than 280 staff members around the globe. Its staff consists of human right professionals including country experts, lawyers, journalists, and academics of diverse backgrounds and nationalities. It is today one of the largest human rights organization in world”.
According to Welch (p 112), Human Rights Watch focuses on how the rights of every human being, regardless of the race, religion, and even tribe, can be respected. He points out that this organization has been working towards creating moral and legal grounds that will enhance change.
The organization has also strived to ensure justice and security to all people. Human Rights Watch also pressurizes various governments which do not allow political freedom to do so. They also ask such governments to be at the fore front in protecting the lives and the property of their people especially in the events of war.
The Human Rights Watch was formed in the year 1978 following the creation of the Helsinki Watch. The Helsinki Watch had been founded with the idea of helping and supporting the other human rights groups in the Soviet bloc in carrying out their duties. The main idea was to enable those groups keep a keen eye on the government compliance with the Helsinki Accords that had been assented to in 1975.
Since its inception, the Human Rights Watch has faced numerous challenges as well as achievements. For example, in 1997 the Human Rights Watch Organization won the coveted Nobel Prize for its active campaign against the use of land mines. The issue of terrorism has posed the greatest challenge in the operations of the Human Rights Watch. This is because it cannot play any significant role in ending of terrorism acts.
The importance of Human Rights Watch in Human Rights advocacy
As earlier stated, the Human Rights Watch is non profit making organization that is aimed at assisting the vulnerable and the victims of human rights abuse. Welch (p 45) points out that when war between one country and another erupts or one community rises against another in a country, the most vulnerable group is the women and the children.
This is because women are at times raped by soldiers as they pursue other fighters like the rebels. As a result, the Human Rights Watch has to step in and ask the government to play its role and help end these kinds of atrocities upon her people. On the other hand, Human Rights Watch helps the people in understanding their fundamental human rights.
According to Soohoo (p 123), in an attempt to control the spiraling human population, a number of countries are fighting to control this by passing legislation to control the number of children a couple should have. Since this is a way of curtailing people freedom of choice, the Human Rights Watch is working hard to make sure these kinds of legislations do not see the light of the day.
In my opinion the Human Rights Watch has greatly managed to expand the room for human rights and intensified the war against their abuse. That is, in some countries where people were denied their freedom, Human Rights Watch and other organizations have helped in removing such regimes and replacing them with human rights sensitive governments.
This has been made possible by organizing seminars where people are enlightened of their rights and therefore able to make a decision that involves voting such governments out during the national elections.
Conclusion
Human Rights Watch has been very instrumental in helping people get what their governments have for years denied them. In the world today, every one of us, no matter where we are situated globally, should make sure that we become aware of our rights so that we can demand for it if it is denied. On the other hand the government should be aware that the people have the power and when it denies them their right, they will one day rise against it no matter the force the government may apply to stop them.
Human rights are the freedoms which all human beings are universally entitled to. Many human right activists assert that each and every human being is entitled to certain rights and freedoms just by the fact that they are humans. A right in its strict sense has the nature of a claim.
This means that despite the presence of such elements as power, liberty, or immunity, the element of claim must also be present in the definition of a right. It is important to note that human rights in the contemporary world are universal in some sense (Messer 1993).
Thus, they are accepted all over the world at least in word or ideal standards. All states regularly proclaim their acceptance of and adherence to internationally recognized standards of human rights norms, and charges of human rights violations are among the strongest complaints that can be made in any international relation.
It is also important to note that more than three quarters of the world’s states have subscribed to international legal obligations to become members of the international human rights covenants. The other nations have expressed some kinds of approval of and commitment to their content (Donnelly 2003).
Since human rights are the rights and freedoms that one has simply because they are human, the reasons as to why human beings need rights must be addressed. Questions like what is to be involved when having a right to something and how the rights work are pretty important in this case.
There is a close relationship between humans and their rights. Therefore, philosophical foundations of substantive theories of human rights are equally important in defining the rights of an individual.
Human rights proponents have come up with strict measures to ensure that states and organizations adhere to the stipulated rules that govern human rights enhancement. There are both large and small human rights watchdogs that check the operations of states and other organizations against any form of human rights violations.
The most efficient human rights watchdogs are globalized institutions that operate worldwide. As a matter of fact, these are the main organizations that check against large scale human rights violations by states, large organizations, and people who have a large influence of power (Pollis & Schwab 2000).
Justifications of human rights
There is a reason why people should understand what human rights is and who holds the rights, hence the question; why do human rights holders hold human rights?
There must therefore be sufficient reasons that we should come up with in order to show that those who we think hold human rights (all of us), do in fact hold them. Hence, a justification of human rights is inevitable.
Justifying a moral or political claim like human rights is quite different from justifying a scientific proposal or a mathematical theory or even logic.
Scientific theories are justified by subjecting tem to rigorous tests until sufficient similarities in the experimental results force any reasonable observer to concede that the hypothesis is actually borne out (Orend 2002).
The scientific hypotheses must therefore describe the way the world really is through the justification of those kinds of hypotheses. Mathematics and logical theories prove a claim by a series of proof procedures. These procedures must use a number system in order to derive functions that will result to the proof of that particular hypothesis.
For instance, many community-based, national and international based human rights watch groups that are engaged in fighting for human rights must justify their cases in any instance that they report. Amnesty international is an international watch dog that engages in such activities.
There are currently many human violation activities that are being perpetrated in the southern Sudan, Darfur region. Amnesty international is currently collecting all the information necessary to justify this.
This is because there has been a lot of human rights violation before and even after the country’s referendum on the independence of the southern democracy. It has been reported that the violations are being perpetrated by the government coupled by armed groups.
One thing worth noting is that the atrocities are being perpetrated by both sides. In the recent past, civilians have been attacked by armed militiamen. Humanitarian convoys have also been attacked by armed militia groups. Women have been raped and children have been mistreated to the advantage of the militia.
This has particularly been happening in Darfur (Amnesty International 2011). Justification is important because it makes the cases viable for prosecution and perpetration of justice. This is a perfect example of how non governmental organizations are involved in the process of human rights implementation and monitoring.
Monitoring here refers to the sense that the organization is collecting evidence of human rights violations and the perpetrators, in order to prosecute them later. Implementation here refers to the sense that when the perpetrators are finally prosecutes, human rights implementation will finally take root.
Justification is therefore a paramount aspect in monitoring and implementing human rights. Thus, for any non governmental human rights organization to succeed in its pursuit, it must have viable justification that a human rights violation has occurred somewhere and that the situation can be dealt with in a court of law and succeed.
It is important to note that ethics and politics do not need the same kind of rigorous proof standards that mathematics and science demand. It is therefore not expected to prove claim with absolute certainty in ethics and politics like in mathematics and science. Politics and ethics base their arguments on matters of truth and falsehood.
It is also a matter of being better supported and more acceptable, versus being more poorly supported, and more objectionable.
For this reason, ethics and politics are actually like science because they search for the most compelling and useful understanding. Ethics and politics also search for the most adequately supported claim given current information (Kuik et al. 1994).
A good justification of a human right must therefore rest on some basic set of premises and principles which are themselves not argued for. Thus there must be some aspects of conception of human nature that aid in the justification of human rights (Moller et al. 2009).
Good justifications also have to start from plausible initial premises and principles on which it finally rests. They must also arrive at plausible conclusions using a consistent and compelling chain of reasoning.
It is also important to include the aspect of pluralism in any justification process of human rights. This is because the aspect of pluralism is often a hallmark of philosophical treatments of human rights to search for chains of justifications.
Implementation of human rights
Implementation of human rights is achieved through transparency and accountability. Apparently, transparency and accountability are achieved through monitoring and evaluation.
Various human rights international and local organizations have come up with strategies that aid in the implementation of human rights laws and monitoring and evaluation of the standards.
As a matter of fact, monitoring and evaluation are the key factors that determine the accountability of organizations in tackling the human rights issues in any situation. This is one of the reasons that have caused these organizations to come up with different levels of monitoring systems.
Community based and civil society monitoring
These kinds of monitoring systems are those that have been initiated by civil society organizations. Most of these civil organizations engage in exercises that aim at empowering people who are excluded and marginalized. The organizations also provide data on policy implementation at the community levels.
Most of the mechanisms used in such organizations are participatory methods (Bejarano 2002). Participatory methods actually help the people to monitor for themselves any human rights abuse issues.
This strengthens social accountability and expands the range of reporting thereby helping in building the level of responsiveness in dealing with human rights abuses.
Community based and civil society groups can also provide invaluable information to the national monitoring system. They can therefore act as subsidiary branches of the national or international umbrella body of human rights watch dog.
National monitoring and statistic collection
National bodies that deal with human rights issues have a larger sphere of influence than the community based civil organizations. The national level of monitoring monitors systems that operate at the national levels.
They include national political issues, national health matters, and quasi independent government departments. The national system therefore collects data from a variety of sources and processes and analyses the credibility of the data.
This is then relayed to the relevant authorities who will then deal with the issue depending on the nature of the situation. Thus, if the situation is beyond the national levels, a relevant international human watch dog can be given the mandate to deal with the issue (Jacobsen 2008).
International monitoring
International bodies such as the International Criminal Court and the UNESCO usually work together in order to ensure the enforcement of laws against crimes committed on human beings and to provide basic rights to education and cultural diversity respectively. Such organizations have a larger mandate than the national watch dogs.
They deal with more sensitive issues that include political situations. Most of these issues affect international relations. Therefore, these organizations engage in implementation of human rights on both national and international levels.
It is important to understand that implementation of human rights accepted in international treaties is basically a national concern. It is also worth noting that this is natural for those states with a dualistic constitutional system.
The provisions of such treaties must therefore be converted into internal law before they can have any legal meaning in the internal legal system of the country. The implementation also affects those countries with monist constitutional systems.
This means that the implementation of human rights legislation is actually a matter of national legislation and policy. However, this has been overcome by developing mechanisms on an international level to make sure that countries comply with their obligations.
This step has made the implementation of the human laws legislation to be of an international matter and hence a success to the international human rights watch dog (UNEP 2006).
Forms of implementation, monitoring and enforcement
Monitoring is a form of implementation in which the actions of certain agents are evaluated against the background of their human rights obligations. It is important to note that monitoring can take place at various levels that include national, supranational and interstate levels.
Monitoring can focus on the actions of different actors such as the state apparatus, the individual, or an international organization.
Monitoring of the human rights violations can use multiple strategies which may range from political, diplomatic and military, to even legal means. Accountability is also very important during the process of monitoring the injustices done to human beings.
After the monitoring process, enforcement must be done. As a matter of fact, enforcement is the reason why human rights watchdogs engage in monitoring practices.
The monitoring mechanism must amount to an actual legal remedy. Enforcement is necessary for any organization to achieve a level of competency in receiving complaints about violations of the human rights by anyone.
Thus, the organizations involved in the act of human rights violation issues must give redress by cancelling or rectifying the violating act of regulation. They can also do this by awarding compensation for damage to the humans’ dignity.
It is therefore relevant to examine the enforcement of human rights laws since enforcement is actually a mechanism of efficiently implementing law. This is also the reason why accountability with human rights law must be enforced as strongly as possible.
For instance, the underlying philosophy of establishing an international criminal court was to make individuals accountable for the human rights violation committed. An effective remedy is therefore important after a human rights violation incident because it gives a feeling of justice better than a mere political comment or moral condemnation.
Remedial measures must occur after any report of human rights violation because there is no right without remedy. It is much important to enforce the human rights law because it helps in the establishment of the status that is to be attributed to a norm.
The norm in question could be considered as a right as long as there is a legal remedy available to an individual. Remedial measures must go hand in hand with enforceability of the rights because this is important and it acts as a way of providing justice to the victims of human rights violations.
Among the large numbers of bodies that have jurisdiction over human rights instruments, the ICESCR is the primary mechanism that is engaged in enforcing international and regional human instruments.
The monitoring system of ICESCR consists of a reporting system that is based on a dialogue between the state party and the committee on economic, social and cultural rights. This committee usually prepares a list of questions for a dialogue between the committee and the government delegation.
It concludes the observations that will be used or adopted by the committee itself. It is important to note that the committee has been credited for having implemented labor laws. This is because the committee has been dealing with labor standards by addressing diverse issues that are related to labor laws.
Such issues include equal remuneration for equal work and employment opportunities, non discrimination of foreign employers and employees, child labor (Sen et al. 2008).
The role of UNESCO in human rights implementation
The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is an arm of the UN that deals with several issues related to human rights. The organization has been given the mandate to protect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.
UNESCO has been actively involved in the elaboration of the universal declaration of human rights and has also assisted in drafting the two international covenants that provide the foundations for all human rights jurisprudence.
One of the roles of UNESCO in enhancing the human rights laws is in standard setting. Again, one of the most controversial issues concerning human rights laws is the protection and promotion of diversity of cultural expression. This concept was adopted by the general conference at its 33rd session in 2005.
These conventions generally “address the right to education, the protection of moral and material interests resulting from scientific, literary or artistic production and the right to participate in cultural life and to protect the diversity of culture and world heritage” (UNEP 2006).
In line with all these responsibilities, UNESCO has conducted research that seeks to clarify the role of these rights. The research also seeks to look for ways in which the organization will find it easier to enforce various laws and to suggest the methods of implementations.
UNESCO has also put in place certain monitoring mechanisms that are based on state reporting procedures. These procedures are actually established in Article 4(6) and Article 8 of the UNESCO constitution. The UN member states actually adhere to these rules by trying to address the reporting burden on state parties.
There are also a number of conventions that UNESCO is trying to examine for reforms. The reforms are mainly related to the report mechanisms and the decisions will actually consider similar efforts being made in Geneva and the UN member countries (UNEP 2006).
The communication procedure of UNESCO has been acting as the main mechanism for the protection of human rights. The procedures were established and adopted in 1978 to provide for the examination of cases and questions submitted to UNESCO by individual petitions in circumstances that involve violations of human rights.
Although this happens to affect the entire world, it is still important to note that the mechanisms only take place within the organization’s sphere of influence (Resolution adopted by the General Assembly 55/2. 2000). This is one of the reasons why the communication procedure is extremely confidential.
The director general has also been given the mandate to personally undertake humanitarian representations for individuals who have reportedly been victimize on human rights grounds. The director general therefore, also acts within the sphere of influence of the UNESCO.
In addition, there is a committee that is vested with powers to undertake various tasks that relate with various conventions and recommendations in human rights implementation within UNESCO. This committee is mostly concerned with confidential complaints procedure.
It also deals with all issues that are concerned with implementation of UNESCO’s standard setting instruments. The committee also oversees the confidential UNESCO’s procedures that handle complaints of victimized persons who have experienced some sort of human rights violations.
Again, it is important to note that this committer works within the sphere of influence of UNESCO. This means that it deals with questions involving education, scientific and cultural issues.
It is worth noting that monitoring mechanisms among the international human rights watch dogs are synonymous because they have been synchronized in order to work towards the same goal – alleviating human rights violations.
The mechanisms usually take on different forms depending on the nature of the subject matter, the obligations involved and the purpose served. These are the three factors that affect the choice of an efficient monitoring system.
In UNESCO, the supervisory function of monitoring depends largely on the extent of specificity of state obligations and the presence of an arm of the organization that is competent enough to receive monitoring data. Also, this arm is responsible for reviewing treaty implementations.
The monitoring unit of this organization is usually careful of sensitive or political issues because such issues may raise international tension (Das 2003).
That is why most of these issues are treated very confidentially. These organizations also engage in inspection and verification processes that ensure correct reporting, correct monitoring mechanisms and appropriate legal enforcements.
The issue of national and international relay of information therefore comes in handy in this scenario because information is what initiates the whole process of investigating a human rights abuse situation.
Case study in Burma
A good case study is in the fight for human rights by a group of exiled Burmese activists. This group of activists have been engaged in documenting the ongoing human rights violations that is been perpetrated by the dictatorial Burmese military rule.
Benetech human rights program has partnered with some of these groups to form a network for human rights documentation in Burma. Most of the human rights abuse in Burma is perpetrated by Burmese officials by way of killings and rape.
Other forms in which human rights violations have been perpetrated by the Burmese officials include political imprisonment and forced relocation. Cases of extortion of businesses and individuals for political mileage have also been reported among the government officials.
This group has devised creative ways in which it collects and preserves testimony from the citizens of the country (Martus 2009). The testimonies are documented for future references so that they can be used in the process of prosecution of the perpetrators.
There have been many reports concerning this issue in Burma. The United Nations, amnesty international, human rights watch and other groups have been seriously involved in this drive to human rights freedoms.
The main reason why it has been hard to avert this issue swiftly is because the broadcast media are more closely controlled by the groups that are perpetrating the violence. This is why the International radio stations such as voice of America, the BBC Corporation, the Democratic Voice of Burma, and Radio Free Asia have been able to come in.
The UN, and other civil rights watch are still finding it hard to accuse the perpetrators because most of them still hold powerful positions and some of them are on the run.
However, through these organizations, the evidence of human rights are being collected and documented so that it will be easier to prosecute those perpetrators (Burma Campaign UK, 2011).the above example shows a desperate effort by international human rights watch in trying to avert the crises over the world.
There are still many unreported cases of human rights violations. It is therefore imperative for civil rights groups, local, national and international watch dogs to report all these cases and to liaison with each other in order to create a synergy that will crush the culture of impunity.
This is also a perfect scenario in which various non governmental organizations including international media are involved in monitoring and implementation of human rights. Thus, the UN, the Amnesty International, International media and the Red Cross Society are the non governmental organizations involved in this exercise.
Therefore human rights monitoring and implementation is done perfectly by the non governmental organizations since they are independent from powerful political influential forces. They are able to achieve their independence by their structural framework within the organizations.
They are organized in such a way that they can tackle sensitive issues according to international standards with minimum external influence.
In the Burma situation, the sub committees of the organizations involved in the human rights watch exercise and the supervisory functions will liaison with the recommendations committee to monitor, prosecute perpetrators, and implement human rights in the country.
Conclusion
Human rights are the freedoms which all human beings are universally entitled to. Many human right activists assert that each and every human being is entitled to certain rights and freedoms just by the fact that they are humans. A right in its strict sense has the nature of a claim.
Human rights proponents have come up with strict measures to ensure that states and organizations adhere to the stipulated rules that govern human rights enhancement. A good justification of a human right must rest on some basic set of premises and principles which are themselves not argued for.
Thus there must be some aspects of conception of human nature that aid in the justification of human rights. Implementation of human rights is achieved through transparency and accountability.
International bodies such as the International Criminal Court and the UNESCO usually work together in order to ensure the enforcement of laws against crimes committed on human beings and to provide basic rights to education and cultural diversity respectively.
The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is one arm of the UN that deals with several issues related to human rights. The organization has been given the mandate to protect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.
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Over centuries, various governments have held convections, which aim at addressing various issues concerning human rights a result of which various human rights codes are established.
Attempts to come with harmonized bill of human rights has existed throughout history since ancient times with religious people contributing vigorously compared to the people possessing political intents.
In its original form, the document housing the international human rights declarations had its contents resting on four pillars, notably: “dignity, liberty, equality, and brotherhood” (Ishay 2004, p.359).
As from 1948, when the birth of universal declaration of human rights took place, people have passed over the concepts of human rights to even the smallest units of the society across the globe.
Fundamentally, considering the anticipated benefits of adopting an internationally acceptable code of human rights that would ensure equality of the human race irrespective of the age, sex, nationality, culture or economic background (Donnelly 2002, p.59), critics of the declarations of human rights are anticipated.
However, the case is different. Conflicting meanings and interpretations of human rights prompted emergence of varying controversies that in a big way, dominate human rights debates.
Skeptics challenges the origin, contribution of globalization to the advancement of human rights, tension posed on security due to strict adherence to codes of human rights, human rights contribution to universality evaluated in relation to cultural relativity, critical roles played by socialists with regard to Human rights, and the “enlightenment legacy of human rights” (Ishay 2004, p.360).
For different societies; being characterized by diverse culture and hence forces of morality, to be guided to achieve propulsion along a familiar path aimed at achieving social transformation, common principles that spell out the various codes of conduct must be in existence.
Human rights declarations avail Mechanisms, which while invoked according to their architects, substantially prevent derailment of societies from the paths leading towards social transformation globally despite the fact that they suffer deficiency in the power to enforce them.
In the light of all the mentioned critics above, even though definitions put forward for the international human rights have played a major milestone toward social transformation of the society across the globe, their contribution in the realization of positive development to social transformations face amicable challenges and hence a regression rather than a positive development.
Reasons why it is not a positive development
Precise direct reflection of human rights declarations in the laws governing the international community does not exist. In the occurrence of statutory violation of human rights, it is beyond any reasonable doubt that states cannot institute internal inquiries into such atrocities that would guarantee administration of justice to the perpetrators of the atrocities.
For example, the Rwanda genocide in 1994 is a reminiscent of how key international rule of law defining the rights of an individual is applicable to the settlement of international disputes involving violation of human rights to the worst levels.
Unfortunately, if Rwanda was allowed to institute an investigation commission within its borders from the start, no amicable fruits could have been achieved. In the absence of intervention of international law, replication of acts of ethnic cleansing would occur in a state severally and in some encounters severely reduce the human population numbers.
Failure of taking action against perpetrators of injustices to innocent citizens has the capacity of inculcating human rights violations into the norms of a society.
The belief that cleansing of the entire adversary ethnic group is the ultimate solution, in situations where a particular whole ethnic group considers as facing offences from a different ethnic group, deserves change.
The society deserves a transformation in a manner that it becomes evident to members of that society that they have a communal, obligation to respect human life.
Such transformation is only possible if the responsible people or body works on a strategy for fear instillation in individuals. Unfortunately, fear is installable if failures to honor the set-out obligations are punishable.
Peskin (2005, p. 213) notes that “…the tribunals’ lack of police powers gives states wide latitude to withhold the vital assistance the tribunals need to investigate atrocities and bring suspects to trial”.
The challenge of absence of police force, solely, commanded by international commissions that settle disputes entangling human rights violations require immediate action.
Consequently, probabilities of attainment of positive development of social transformations under the guidance of enumerated human rights codes in the human rights declaration document would receive major boost.
Laws regulating human rights fail to guarantee security to the witness signifying a regression rather than a positive development.
The Rwandese issue further illustrates this based on the witnessed failure to guarantee security provisions to the witnesses of the genocide both to the side of Hutus and Tutsi.if citizens themselves had not given up in extending acts of animosity towards their adversaries and therefore hungered for peace and reconciliations, victimization of the witnesses was anticipated.
Facts backed by evidence are required in any legal proceedings. People have the right to testify for injustice having been committed against them of which the testimonies act as a vital source of evidence and not a cause of the witnesses’ prejudice in fear of victimization.
Established international courts that deal with matters of human rights violations fail to protect satisfactorily the victims against further injustice emanating from the very evidence they give at international courts being perpetrated unto them.
Ways of transforming the society into burying the spirit of revenge once human rights violators mainly victors seem held accountable for their actions need enforcement. It is particularly challenging to testify against a plaintiff whose close allies’ remains at large.
Moreover, the extent to which the notion put forward by then the United Nations USA ambassador, Madeleine Albright, as he looked forward toward the establishment of Hague tribunal, that the new court “will be no victor’s tribunal” (Peskin 2005, p.214) is subject to ridicule.
Queries pertaining to the extent in which the victor governments contributes to sabotage of operations of crimes against humanity investigation tribunals through dwindled cooperation need responses as contribution of human rights declarations are evaluated for the key roles they play towards social transformation.
Social transformation entails change of the ways people relate to one another bearing in mind their cultural, political and economic diversity, a case that appears different based on the codification of human rights. Such diversities are not just restricted within internal boundaries of a nation but also across the borders.
The bill of human rights has the mandate to regulate the way persons within a nation as well as international person’s relate to one another without the slightest indication of violation of the very societal norms that define core values of a given society.
Fulfillment of such a requirement of bill of human rights would greatly serve to foster both national and international security.
Peskin wonders which party deserves more endowment with human rights compared to the other according to the resolutions made by tribunal to investigate Rwanda and Yugoslavia injustices against humanity (Peskin 2005, p.216). As a way of example, it appeared that the ICTR Commission favored the victor’s side.
The commission, despite the available proof linking it to the war crimes, shielded the members of Rwandan patriotic front: the ruling party. “To date, the tribunal has tried only leading figures responsible for Rwandan 1994 genocide and has failed to bring cases against RPF officers despite having jurisdiction to pursue these crimes”(Oneworld 2011, p.2).
The decision of the commission’s chief prosecutor Hassan Jallow to transfer the files affiliated to the RPF to Rwanda raises queries on the credibility of the commission in promoting equal and fair hearing of victims of the crimes against humanity committed by RPF.
In the 19th century, it was evident that segregation of liberal rights existed where Workers: perceived as ordinary workers, were widely discriminated upon the addressing of issues relating to enlightenment of “liberal human rights visions” (Ishay 2004, p.360).
The different orientations taken by socialist and liberal human rights visionaries, therefore, serve to challenge the universality of human rights declarations capacity to foster international security.
Crucial to take into consideration in the argument embracing the role of human rights in contributing to international security is the fact that international security is a substrate for international social transformations.
The conclusiveness on magnitude of the positive development of codification of human rights in promoting social transformation, therefore, becomes conspicuous upon weighing the human rights contribution to international security against the willingness of the people with liberal and socialist inclinations to change.
The expected change in the interpretation of human rights by the two groups could ensure that a concrete unified universal stand and shedding of light on what all people should interpret universal human rights to be.
The claims that the international bill of human rights has worldwide influence on human rights face several antagonistic challenges. Among them is the capacity of the bill of human rights to foster social transformations, knowing the various differences characterizing different societies.
In an attempt to object the claims, antagonists challenging the capability of the bill of human rights to influence the entire world through provision of mechanism to foster positive development towards social transformation invite controversies.
Further, the codification of the human rights bears an unequal emphasis on the aspects that define societies. Embarking on a methodology to induce total socio transformation, the method adopted would place a demand and place emphasis on implicit addressing of economic issues affecting a society.
However, for example, the bill of human rights, so believed to have universal capacity to provide avenues for global social transformation has got only articles 22-27 out of total 30 articles addressing humanitarian rights related to economic issues (Goodhart 2008, p.188).
The drafting of the bill of human rights took place in a period when the world was relieving from aftermaths of World War II whose causes were directly attributable to political and civil differences among various nations.
Perhaps the period during which the drafting of international bill of human rights took place might have extensively contributed to the rest of the human rights articles to have dominance in political and civil rights.
The fact that the economic rights of persons do not receive a thorough treatment makes questions relating to how the international bill of human rights provides guiding principles that ensure equality of human beings never to cease.
The bill claims that “everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions” (Ishay 2004, p.360).
Antagonist of the universal declaration of human rights fills that, in contrast to position held by the crafters of the human rights declarations, achievement of social transformations depends on the capability of the declarations to incorporate human rights affiliated to the key pillars that define the society: culture, politics and economic activities.
Situations, for example, the ones that stimulate the intervention of the international community of human rights in resolution of disputes related to violation of human rights happen only when the causes are politically instigated but, hardly in the case where the causes are invoked by economic human rights violations.
The bill of Human rights declarations lacks flexibility suitable for a vibrant and changing society. The society all over the world is not stagnant, but rather, it changes radically, especially with the advents of globalization and its related consequences.
“ A more positive interpretation of the last sixty years points to the capacity of human rights discourse to respond to changing attitudes of the society and to new circumstances” (Ishay 2008, p.89). The human rights interpretations lack the capacity to change as the times change.
For instance, the effects of current challenges to the socio transformations brought about by problems such unprecedented climatic change; whose blame rests on global warming, and HIV infection were not put into consideration when drafting the bill on human rights, as they were unforeseeable during those early times when the bill was crafted.
The numerous actions taken by the rich nations to protect their individualistic interests while negating the overall effects arising henceforth on the side the poor countries on their climatic cycles changes fail to appear in the human rights declarations.
As a way of example, “in 2005, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights rejected a petition by the Inuit people who claimed that US inaction on global warming was destroying their Arctic homeland” (Oneworld 2011, p.100). Was this not a violation of human rights?
The prerogative of the universal declaration of human rights in fostering massive social transformations remains questionable. An exemplification of the rigidity of the human rights declarations to change with respect to time is the modern world vast differences between the poor and the rich.
Lauren (2008, pp. 91-103) argues, “The gap contradicts the declaration that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health of him and of his family”.
In comparison to the two extremes of lifestyles of the rich and the poor, it poses problems to define what “adequate living standard” (Lauren ‘My Brother and Sister’s Keeper’ 2003, p.105) refer to considering the phrase “adequate living standard” to mean availability of excellent shelter, food, education, and health rights.
It is, therefore, challenging to have a universal understanding of what good shelter, food, education, and health imply by putting into consideration the extreme differences in accessibility of the basic human requirements that exists in the modern world.
How then would the society transform from the ways of life that are considered as bad to better ones given the existing discrepancies in accessibility and affordability of critical requirements in life under the captainship of bundles of human rights declarations that are inflexible?
The international bill of human rights claims that rights contained in the 30 articles document are applicable equally to all states. However, shortcomings associated to the relativity of different countries in the endowment in resource levels challenge the acknowledgment of economic, social and political rights.
For the overall propulsion of the entire world toward social transformation, the human rights should apply equally to all nations irrespective of a country’s resource endowment levels. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. For instance, it came out conspicuously during the 2008 world food crises.
The food crises had disproportionately afflicted countries with low resource levels and hence perceived as weak. On realizing the inequality, “the UN Special Rapporteur for the Right to Food, Oliver de Schutter urged the UN to respond to food crisis as a human rights emergency” (Oneworld 2011, p.108).
With the existence of disproportionate applicability of the international human rights, particularly to the poor nations, the positive development of the universal declaration of human rights fails to attain substantially adequate level of success so that their universality can propel the nations of the world towards the dreamland of massive social transformation.
The general notion is that individual rights evolve progressively with time as resources availability of a nation changes with time.
From such a notion, it seems evident based on the segregation of individual nations with low resource levels on the accounts of poverty considering certain rights that are supposed to be opulence of the countries considered successful in terms of resource levels.
Some critiques of human rights argue the concept of progressive evolvement of individual rights such as political and civil rights: a line of thought held and protected jealously by advocates of liberal direction of thinking in matters relating to human rights (Lauren ‘The Evolution of International Human Rights’ 2003, p. 187).
Terrorist’s attacks have prompted the various countries prone to the attacks from terrorists to come up with mitigation strategies to counter them. “The strategies considered involve violation of the very international human rights that mechanisms of using them to drive the societies of the world towards social integrity are being sort” (Oneworld 2011, p.1).
In as much as acts of terrorism are highly prohibited, counter-reaction strategies that aim at stopping the acts involve violation of human rights. Total reversal of human rights, which took many years to come into being, becomes the order of the day in dealing with perpetrators of criminal acts of terrorism.
Among them includes the intrusion of personal privacy, where the suspects are apprehended facing prolonged restriction of individual freedom of movement while awaiting trial or in some instances without trial. For example, during the war that saw the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, many Iraqis who were non-combatants were killed.
Although the figure of those killed because of US inversion of Iraq was much less compared to those whom Saddam killed, maimed or with animosity claimed their rights, no legal proceedings were raised against the US troops. Did the people killed in Baghdad have human rights garnered by the bill of human rights?
Does alteration of human rights apply to every person worldwide as provided for in the international declaration of human rights in situations where acts of terrorism requiring actions of strict powers of the law help to drive societies towards social transformation?
Strict measures of dealing with terrorism help to reduce the breeding grounds for terrorism acts but also increase the fear for revenge missions, particularly where killings of chief engineers of terrorism acts take place. A society that lives in the spirit of fear cannot expect to take pragmatic strides geared towards social transformation.
The initiatives taken to deal with terrorism are embedded in the idea of promotion, protection and adherence to human rights rules as spelt out in the international human rights codification. However, the results of the codifications tell it all as exposed in the paper: it cannot pass for a positive development.
Reference List
Donnelly, E., 2002. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice. Cornel University Press: New York.
Goodhart, M., 2008. Neither Relative nor Universal: A Response to Donnelly. Human Rights Quarterly, 30(1): pp.183-193.
Ishay, M., 2008. The History of Human Rights: From the Ancient Times to Globalization Era. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ishay, M., 2004. What are Human Rights? Six Historical Controversies. Journal of Human Rights, 3(3): pp.359-371.
Lauren, P., 2003. My Brother and Sisters Keeper: Visions and Birth of Human Rights. The Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Lauren, P., 2003.The Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Lauren, P., 2008. History and Human Rights: People and Forces in Paradoxical Interaction. Journal of Human Rights, 7(2): pp.91-103.
Oneworld, 2011. Human Rights Guide: Inside the Global Divide. Web.
Peskin, V., 2005. Beyond Victor’s Justice? The Challenge of Prosecuting the Winners At The International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Journal of Human Rights, 4(2): pp.213-231.
One of the most peculiar aspects of a post-industrial living is that, as of today, just about every socially prominent politician in the West considers itself an ‘expert on human rights’ and refers the concept of human rights, as such that represents an objective truth-value.
Partially, this can be explained by the fact that the classical definitions of human rights suggest the concept’s perceptual and implicational universality, which in turn implies that one’s endowment with a particular ‘human right’ should not be substantiated rationally, but rather ‘felt’ emotionally.
As Cranston (1973, p. 36) pointed out, “A human right by definition is a universal moral right… something of which no one may be deprived without a grave affront to justice, something which is owing to every human being simply because he is human”.
In fact, the belief that all humans are equally entitled to certain rights, within the society, served as a discursive foundation for the introduction of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the U.N., according to which, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood” (UDHR 1948, Article 1).
Nevertheless, even though that nowadays the concept of ‘human rights’ is being commonly discussed, as such that applies to all people, regardless of what happened to be the specifics of their ethno-cultural affiliation and their varying ability to act as the agents of progress, this is far from being the actual case.
After all, it is not only that throughout the course of history, the concept of human rights has been referred to, as such that applies to only certain groups of individuals, but that the objective socio-political realities create dialectical prerequisites for this concept to be used by Western countries to justify their continual geopolitical domination in the world.
This is exactly the reason why, as of today, we usually get to hear of people’s ‘human rights’ being abused, within the context of how Western countries (particularly the U.S.) go about rationalizing their decisions to resort to a military intervention, as the mean of ‘defending democracy’ in the de facto sovereign states.
Therefore, there is nothing too surprising about the fact that, even though that the universality of people’s ‘human rights’ has been officially declared by the international community members, as far back as in 1948, there is very little uniformity to how this concept is being applied in practice.
The reason for this is apparent – whereas, there is indeed a good rationale in thinking that the idea of ‘human rights’ does appeal to people on an unconscious level, not all of these people can be regarded humans, in the societal sense of this word. Let us explore the validity of this statement at length.
When it comes to elaborating on what should be considered a discursively legitimate definition of ‘human rights’, it is important to understand that the concept in question cannot be referred to in terms of a ‘thing in itself’.
That is, at first people evolved to the point of being able to recognize their basic humanity, and only then they realized themselves being in a position to coin the term ‘human rights’.
What does make one human? It is the same that allowed the representatives of Homo Sapiens species to attain an undisputed dominance in their environmental niche, which now accounts for the whole planet Earth – their ability to operate with highly abstract subject matters (intellect).
Being endowed with intellect, people are able to act as the agents of civilization/progress, which in turn allows them to create societies and to ensure these societies’ effective functioning. Thus, in order for just about anyone to be considered eligible of taking a practical advantage of ‘human rights, he or she must be able to prove its humanness socially.
In its turn, this would require the concerned individual to attest his or her endowment with, “1. Capacity to reason; 2. capacity to act for normative reasons, including moral reasons; 3. capacity to act autonomously; 4. capacity to engage in complex social relationships” (Bernat 2008, p. 8).
In other words, it is specifically the individuals capable of pushing forward a socio-cultural progress, which may be considered human, in the full sense of this word.
Hence, the first discursive provision to how I think the concept of ‘human rights’ should be defined – the notion of a ‘right’ derives out of the notion of a ‘power’, rather out of the notion of a ‘morality/ethics’. This is why it is wrong to believe that one can simply be assigned with certain rights, without qualifying to possess these rights, in the first place.
Rights are not given but taken (Pagden 2003). This is the reason why it is methodologically fallacious to assume that animals or unborn human fetuses can have ‘rights’ – it is not only the above-mentioned may have no understanding, as to what the concept of a ‘right’ stands for, but they would never be able to defend any of their hypothetical ‘rights’, even in theory.
The second provision is that the notion of a ‘right’ must be discussed in conjunction with the notion of an intellectual advancement. After all, it is specifically people’s ability to indulge in abstract philosophizing, which allowed them to coin up the term ‘humanity’, in the first place.
This once again suggests that it is conceptually inappropriate advocating the universality of human rights, without taking into consideration the qualitative psychological characteristics of those individuals, to which the concept of ‘human rights’ supposedly applies.
The third provision is that, contrary to what nowadays is being commonly assumed, the earlier mentioned concept (in its contemporary sounding) did not come about because of the humanity’s ways having been turned thoroughly ethical/moral.
Rather, it emerged because the concept’s advocates, which overwhelmingly consist of Westerners (Whites), came to realize that, on order for them to be able to continue exploiting the world’s natural and human resources, they need to have a legally legitimate excuse to meddle in the internal affairs of non-Western countries.
In other words, the objective laws of history naturally predetermined the concept of ‘human rights’ to serve realist rather than constructivist purposes.
What has been said earlier allows us to formulate a discursively sound definition of human rights. Human rights are the legally enforced civil liberties, to which the members of most evolutionary advanced societies happened to be entitled by the very fact that, due to their socio-economic and technological advancement, they can enjoy the luxury of not having to participate in the tribal ‘war of everybody against everybody’, as the mean of ensuring their physical survival.
This definition, of course, implies that there is indeed a good reason in limiting the ‘universality’ of humans rights to encompass only those, which due to the genetically predetermined specifics of their ‘mental wiring’, are able to comprehend the concept, in general, and its discursive implications, in particular.
Qualifying people for the entitlement to human rights will not represent much of a challenge. Since one’s ability to function as the society’s productive member (and consequently, the extent of his or her ‘humanness’) reflects the concerned person’s rate of IQ, it will be logical to assume that it is only the individuals with the IQ rate higher than 70, to which the concept of ‘human rights’ applies.
Given the fact that, as sociologists are being well aware of, in some world’s countries the average rate of citizens’ IQ is measured to be as low as 50 (Lynn & Vanhanen 2002), people that reside in these countries cannot be considered the de facto part of humanity. Consequently, the concept of ‘human rights’ cannot apply to these people, by definition.
Even though that the earlier suggestion may be deemed ‘racist’, it nevertheless correlates perfectly well with the actual state of affairs in the arena of international politics.
For example, during the course of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which resulted in the deaths of at least one million people, Western countries adopted a ‘neutral’ stance – the violation of Rwandans’ ‘human rights’ did not concern these countries at all. Had Rwanda been rich in natural resources, this would have been an entirely different matter (Kimpimaki 2011).
Thus, it would only be appropriate to conclude this paper by reinstating once again that the presumed ‘universality’ of human rights is nothing but a myth, just as it is being the case with the theoretical paradigm, out of which this myth originated – the assumption of people’s universal equality. This is the reason why, if not adjusted to the earlier mentioned provisions, the concept of ‘human rights’ will continue to emanate a strong spirit of hypocrisy.
References
Bernat, E 2008, ‘Which Beings Should Be Entitled to Human Rights?’, Medical Law International, vol. 9 no. 1, pp. 1-12.
Cranston, M 1973, What are human rights?, Bodley Head, London.
Kimpimaki, M 2011, ‘Genocide in Rwanda – is it really Finland’s concern?’, International Criminal Law Review, vol. 11 no. 1, pp. 155-176.
Lynn, R & Vanhanen, T 2002, IQ and the wealth of nations. Westport, Greenwood Publishing Group.
Pagden, A 2003, ‘Human rights, natural rights, and Europe’s imperial legacy’, Political Theory, vol. 31 no. 2, pp. 171-199.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948. Web.
Mass incarceration is the term used to describe the situation in which the US has locked up many individuals in federal, state, and local prisons. I agree with the author that there are disproportionately high numbers of Hispanic and African American prisoners, two racial and ethnic groups frequently subjected to prejudice in the criminal justice system. The central problem is the complex of new African American control institutions made up of the carceral system and the ruins of the dark ghetto (Wacquant, 2007). This demonstrates that the author is correct in stating that the effects of slavery and white dominance are still felt today and are reflected in the US criminal justice system.
David Fathi also discusses the issue of mass incarceration in the United States, describing it as a significant public problem. The lecturer cites as an example the same punishment for possession of 500 grams of powder cocaine, which white people use, and five grams of crack, which African Americans more frequently consume (CWU Social Justice, 2015). I support the author that some laws have racist bias built right into them because of how they were created.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, ratified within the Organization of African Unity framework, serves as the cornerstone of the African continent’s regional system for protecting human rights. The goal is to advance the protection of human rights and the growth of respect for them on the African continent. African cultural and social practices favour restorative and compensatory justice, and the adversarial nature of formal legal justice systems is at odds with one another. (Kayode Fayemi, 2005). Within African regional organizations, there are other human rights tribunals and courts, such as the ECOWAS Court, the East African Court, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal.
The socialization of released prisoners is a significant issue because the primary objective of prisons is to transform people. In terms of solitary convicts, this problem is particularly challenging. According to the documentary, prisoners kept in solitary confinement for an extended period start to exhibit signs of anxiety and panic (Edge & Mucciolo, 2017). They experience hallucinations, frenzied movements throughout the cell, angry outbursts, and a loss of rational thought. I believe solitary confinement should only be used in exceptional cases because it results in healthy people experiencing psychosis and attempting suicide and self-harm.
Edge, D., & Mucciolo, L. (2017). Last Days of Solitary. [Video]. PBS. Web.
Kayode Fayemi, J. (2005). ‘Foreword’, in S. Humphreys (eds.), Human Rights and Justice Sector Reform in Africa: Contemporary Issues and Responses. Open Society Justice Initiative, pp. 1-4.
Wacquant, L. (2007). ‘From slavery to mass incarceration: Rethinking the ‘race question’ in the US’, in I. H. López (eds.), Race, Law and Society. Routledge, pp. 41-60.