Human Rights Reflection

Human rights are protected under Australian law in three key ways; statute law, the constitution and common law. It could be argued that if Australia adopted a bill of rights, human rights would be more clearly defined, consistent in all states and territories and more easily understood.

The rights of people on Earth are something that is always at the forefront of our news. Everywhere, it seems people are fighting for issues that would strengthen or solidify the rights of some type of people. Throughout time, every type of right has been fought for. Women’s rights, Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Religious Rights, and the list goes on and on. Yet, surprisingly, none of these are rights that everyone in the world shares. Each of these topics is devoted to helping a single group. It seems as though it is sometimes forgotten to discuss the biggest set of rights that affect the entire population of people on Earth: Human Right’s. Everyone on the Earth is a human being, and therefore, deserves to be treated to this standard set of rights.

a) Natural right- this refers to the right that an individual has from nature. Such a right is not given by anybody to the person. It is a right that comes naturally for the person. An example is a right to life. This is a right that everybody has naturally. Since this right comes naturally, for those who believe in God say that it is God given right, it should not be taken away from the owner. It should be left to go by itself. Taking away this right is violating the right of the person. For example in Pakistan, the natural right to life of a seven-month pregnant woman was violated by her parents when they cut off her throat thus killing her. The report says that a pregnant

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

Define the following: a right, a legal right, a moral right, a human right. How are they related?

Eva Brems, 'Enemies or Allies? Feminism and Cultural Relativism as Dissident Voices in Human Rights Discourse.' (1997), Human Rights Quarterly.

In order to change communities, and eventually change the world, individual changes must first be made in people’s lives. Making changes in peoples lives, will also address instances of state violence and persecution. As the more we focus on individuals, the more aware we are of the conditions and human rights violations that individuals face, and the more aware we are to the problems that need to be solved. It is impossible to solve a problem that is unknown, therefore, by focusing on the individual, we can make real steps and movements to eradicate human rights violations. A main criticism that was discussed previously was the idealization of human rights. However, by focusing on individual rights and the real life conditions of individuals that face human rights violations, we are no longer neglecting and idealizing human rights, we are actively placing them in

Rao contends that the word “culture” means the different groups of people in our world who participate and practice many different rituals that define themselves. These rituals consist of language, literature, music, food, religious claims, ethnic claims, social claims, beliefs, experiences, roles, values, attitudes, norms of life, etc. Culture incorporates to all different hierarchies of society. Culture is an immense system accommodated with a remarkably amount of knowledge and beliefs shared with a vast amount of people. Culture is what your family believes in and what your family raised you up to be. We rely on culture to protect our identity. Culture is who we are, and why we are the way we are. Culture rights are very different from any other rights, because they are non-discrimination. Rao explains that culture differs between every person. Some participate in

The UDHR and the United States Bill of Rights do not have as many similarities as one might think, but some do exist. One of these similarities of these two documents is the freedom from torture and inhumane treatment. In the UDHR this freedom can be found in article 5 when it is stated protection is provided against, "torture, under any circumstances." This coincides with article 8 of the United States Bill of Rights, which states, "excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Freedom of religion is also mentioned in both documents. Both Article 18 of the UDHR and Article 1 of the U.S. Bill of rights say that people have the right to exercise

The gay community has been thriving over the last several years especially within the law, state after state bans fell and proposals passed. The movement is finally being recognized and basic rights are being promised to them in several courts around the country. In states like Idaho one could be fired or be denied housing for being gay, and that being the sole reason. When the bill, to add sexual orientation to the human rights act, was simply eligible to be put up to a vote the people who proposed it were overjoyed. They know the road is long and still work towards it, the smallest accomplishments feel like strides. Why is this attitude still

The inalienable human rights is something undeniably important in the view of everyone in the world, as nearly all government in the world have some sort of written law that ensure the rights of its citizens, like the Bill of Rights that protect the rights of Americans. Yet, when applying that significance in protecting human rights to people outside of their nation’s border depend considerably on the interests of the government, the interactions between the different nations, and the response concluded from the international institution, like the United Nations. As evident through the events in Rwanda, all members of the United Nation Security Council expressed their concerns and sadness about the human rights abuses in Rwanda by the Rwandan government, yet, when debating on the course of action, only a minority of the members actually supported humanitarian intervention in Rwanda. The violations on the principle of human rights in Rwanda were ignored as several council members cited the lack of funds and resources, along with infringement on sovereignty to be the reasons of nonintervention, despite the widespread support of these natural rights. Even if a proposal of intervention was passed, the movement to protect these human rights often failed due to the difficulty to come to a compromise when determine how the intervention would played out, as countries tried to pursue the policy in their own stance, as well as the crucial aspect of the response time. Although the

Human rights are universal rights that we are entitled to. It is a freedom that is guaranteed based on the principle of respect for an individual. As mentioned in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights are a “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all member of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world” (Kent, page 80). When asked what our rights are, we tend to get different answers and meanings. Some people recite the rights that they know; but let’s face it, not everyone knows all of the rights that they truly have. The rights we have consist of many things such as the right of having an adequate food supply. The right to

It is clear that in China there is certainly a lack in the belief of what constitutes proper ethics regarding the treatment and freedom of citizens is. The government of China is a one party system meaning that only one political organization exists, and it is the communist party. The communist viewpoint is that society should be classless, everything should be communal in the sense there is no private ownership, and the leaders of the party are to enforce communist policies and put new ones in place in order to lean the society towards an overall goal of both betterment and equality. This does not sound like the way China is operated now. Frequently, vast and numerous cases of basic human rights violations pertaining to freedom, and a plethora of other categories are brought to the attention of the world. Even though China signed the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) outlining what rights and fundamental freedoms every person is inarguably entitled, China often violates these rights and the government claims that in doing so “social stability” is maintained. The acceptance of, and participation in such violations by the Chinese government makes it apparent that the best interests of the communist party, and economic prosperity are held in higher regard than human rights. Throughout the following dissertation, human rights violations in China will be explored and expanded upon. In addition these violations will be

Glendon, Mary Ann (2002). A world made new: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Random House. ISBN

Human rights and international law are part of the global society. However, that was not the case in nineteen forty-five, these norms were to start to have to mean in the global society. In the last seventy years, has seen the development of trans-national movements for human rights and the building of international law. For international relations theories of realism, liberalism, and constructivism take different approaches to the development and continuation of these norms. Of the three theories constructivism, best explains the development of human rights and international law, and how these norms will continue in the next ten years.