Amnesty International : Violation Of Human Rights

Have you been in so much pain that you were immobilized and physically unable to work yet denied any medical treatment? This happens to be the story of G.W. Gamble, a prison inmate injured while serving his prison sentence. In 1973 Gamble was unloading cotton bales from a truck in accordance with his prison labor assignment. During a routine shipment unloading, a “6.00 pound” cotton Bale (later determined to be 600 pounds, fell onto him, causing him to severely injured his back. Gamble struggled with pain for weeks continuously, visiting the doctor at every chance and receiving painkillers at every visit. The pain came to a point where it was too much for Gamble to handle and thus he refused to work even after threats were given. After he continued to refuse, officials placed him in a solitary work confinement cell and denied him any further medical visits, treatments, or medication until he began work again (Legal Information Institute). The 8th amendment states in the U.S. Constitution “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” (National Constitution Center), and in Gamble 's eyes the actions taken by the prison officers were in direct violation of his 8th amendment. This led gamble to writing a letter to the Supreme Court of the United States and was accepted for review, thus marking the beginning of case 429 U.S. 97 (1976) Estelle v. Gamble, (Estelle being the Director of Texas Department of

George Annas (1990), J.D. and M.P.H. at the Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health, corroborates this disrespect in his opinion on the case of Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health. Annas (1990) argues that “Nancy Cruzan has been deprived not only of her right to decide, but also of the protective role of her family” (p. 674). In this decision of the state of Missouri and the reaffirmation of the SCOTUS, Nancy has been ignored of her autonomous rights and the right of surrogates to express her autonomy, as Annas (1990) demonstrates. It is the suggestion of Annas (1990) that the burden evidence lay at the hand of the states, rather than the family expressing the interest of the patient. In addition in his dissenting opinion, Justice Stevens advocates that the interests expressed by the individual and complimented by those of third parties, are above any input from a state policy (Menikoff, 2001, p. 322). This is consistent with my view that any evidence provided by the surrogates of patients with PVS be adequate against any prevailing state interest

The definition of the term human rights is described as the essential universal entitlements afforded to all humans. These rights are the underpinning of certain principles including that of liberty, fairness and respect of human dignity. Human rights must be acknowledged and protected by government agencies to ensure that these rights are taken into account in law, the process of legislation, public policy and politics.1 However many groups within society remain marginalised and vulnerable to human rights violations. The focus issue that will be discussed in this essay is the right to liberty- to not be apprehended in arbitrary custody, which interferes with the inherent human right to liberty, and the chosen vulnerable group is asylum seekers. Due to circumstances outside of their control the persons in this group flee their homelands in an effort to escape crisis and persecution, such as religious and political persecution.2 Every human has the right of asylum, as stated in article 14 of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, however asylum seekers are vulnerable due to violations of their human rights. Governments around the globe including Australia have not fulfilled their legal obligations toward asylum seekers and have in fact violated human rights and specific rights of asylum seekers which have been outlined in the 1951 UN Convention in relation to status of refugees.3

Amnesty International is a globally renowned Non-Governmental Organization that works on behalf of human rights issues. The movement was founded by Peter Benenson, a British lawyer who place an advertisement in the Observer

Amnesty International (AI) is a 52 year old, non-government organization, which campaigns globally for human rights. That takes its mandate from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that all people have basic fundamental rights that goes beyond national, cultural, religious and ideological boundaries. Their vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights, irrespective of their religion, race, or gender. In pursuit of this vision, AI's mission is to conduct research and undertake actions, which primarily focus on preventing and ending all human rights abuses [1]. Today, AI is the biggest human-rights organisation in the world, 4.6 million supporters across 150 nations.

Everyone should have the right to get medical treatment when needed? In many third world countries patients are being refused medical treatment, only because they do not have money. I have seen this happen during a trip in Pakistan.

Amnesty International USA is the American branch of the multinational interest group Amnesty International. Amnesty is the largest grassroots organization in the world. A grassroots organization is one in which ordinary people make up the main groups of membership and leadership. The members of Amnesty International USA demand “human rights for all people – no matter who they are or where they are.” The “priority campaigns” listed on the Amnesty International USA website are “Human Rights Defenders” and refugee and migrant rights. As Human Rights Defenders, the members of Amnesty “protect the people on the front lines defending all of our rights.”2 Not only do Amnesty International members fight for human rights, but they also insure the safety of others fighting for human rights. Amnesty’s “priority issues” are abolishing the death penalty, national security and human rights, police accountability, gun violence, gender, sexuality, and identity, and individuals at risk.2

In 1961, two Portuguese students raising a toast to freedom were imprisoned for 7 years. Upon learning about the controversy, Peter Benenson, a British lawyer published The Forgotten Prisoners in the Observer newspaper. This became the article that launched Amnesty International and the worldwide campaign to take action and fight for human rights. Amnesty International or commonly called "AI" is a worldwide, non for profit organization that advocates and fights for human rights issues globally. As set forth in the Universal Declaration of Independence, Amnesty International campaigns to free prisoners of conscience, fight for women's rights, abolish the death penalty and ultimately restore and fight for human rights. In spite of recent controversy of the International NGO, Amnesty aims to create an abuse free world using volunteer members of more than 3 million to write and protest to government officials in order to protect human rights everywhere. Amnesty International is an efficient advocacy group that investigates global issues and seeks truths in order to protect and promote a peaceful world.

It is difficult to speak about a human rights NGO and not mention Amnesty International. The organization has a mission of protecting human rights through the following means as indicated on their website (https://www.amnesty.org/en/who-we-are/, Amnesty International):

“Amnesty demands that all prisoners of conscience should be immediately and unconditionally released. Since it’s founding in 1961, it has worked on more than 44,000 cases and successfully resolved 40,000 of them.”

Human rights are fundamental rights are for every individual as a human being, they are inherent and protected as international laws. The importance of Human rights is indubitable, there is an obligation for everyone to respect other’s rights and they should not be breached. However, David Hicks whose rights have been obviously breached and against by the US government, in terms of the universal declaration of human rights and convention against torture, the treatment that the US government treated to David Hicks is unjustified. This essay will discuss the unjustified actions of US government and explain the reason why they are unjustified.

The case of Amra Miletic is only one of the many cases of medical negligence in immigration detention centers across America. Since 2003, there have been a total of 155 deaths (Galvan). It is an issue that has been occurring in ICE detentions across the country for years. All of these death cases have proved wrongdoing by ICE’s medical staff, however they continue to pass their routine annual

The question that states that the international human rights regime does not have a hard enforcement mechanism and until there are serious consequences to violations, states won’t comply with human rights is a topic I happen to disagree with. I realize the international human rights regime has its weaknesses and flaws. However, these weaknesses are due to inescapable aspects of our disordered global society, especially the principle of state sovereignty. At the end of World War II there was a change in the internationals view towards human rights. In spite of the large human cost of their failings, these enforcement mechanisms are fit for a purpose and that the strongest enforcement mechanism is simply the fact that human rights are codified in international law. When discussing the topic of compliance and legal strength of human rights instruments and tools, we are talking about nation states. To support my claims we can look at the UN Charter- based enforcement mechanisms. There are two types of these instruments: declarations and conventions. Declarations are not legally binding but do have political impact. Conventions are legally binding under international law. Both declarations and conventions can become expected international law over time, which makes them universally legally binding. A further characteristic is made between mechanisms for human rights protection. They are known as global and regional. The legal instruments

“What are human rights?” When asked this question, many people would list 2 to 3 basic rights, the ones you learn in school basically, like the right to speak freely, to eat, to have a proper education… But that is not even half of the human rights. In the early ages, they were no human rights to abide by. Every country or culture had its own regulations and rules. However, in the beginning of World War II (What are human rights par1), an idea emerged entitled “freedom”. With it came out a document that changed the world “The Universal Declaration of Human rights.” That document contained 30 rights to which all people were entitled to, therefore to live with dignity and respect in their world (Maiese par1). However, along with those rights came their violations. Throughout the years, we can really notice the crimes done against humanities which included the genocides, the torture, the rape… (Maiese par1). What the most common violations? Who are the most common victims?

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that acts to address human rights abuses and consolidate democratic processes. FIDH’s mission is to defend all human rights – civil, political, economic, social and cultural – as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“FIDH Annual Report 2014”, n.d.). They seek to accomplish this mission with three strategic pillars of action: securing the freedom and capacity to act for human rights defenders, the universality of rights, and their effectiveness (“FIDH Annual Report 2014”, n.d.). The organization relies on a vast network of volunteers and local actors to help accomplish their mission. Founded in 1922, FIDH has a long history of projects seeking to fulfill its motto of “Peace for human rights”. These activities include fact-finding and trial observation missions, research, and advocacy and litigation (“FIDH Annual Report 2014”, n.d.). Some of its more important work has been FIDH’s defense of human rights defenders.