Human Rights Within The World

Human rights are essential for all people, despite their nationality, gender, ethnic origin, color, or religion. Everyone is entitled to these rights without being discriminated against. For a long time, people were being denied these basic rights as they were being abused and tortured for things that they couldn’t control. People were tired of getting caught in the cross-fire, they wanted protection, a chance and the freedom to live. Although there was a lack of human rights before World War II, human rights have significantly improved over the post-war period, and officials are putting forth efforts to ensure that human rights are protected in modern-day society.

People have studied much about the mentality of those who commit genocide, but know little about the man who named the crime and did most to combat it. Raphael Lemkin was one of the greatest intellectual heroes of the 20th century. In his autobiography, Lemkin combines his own struggle in WWII, and Ottoman massacres of Armenians to recognize genocide as a harmful war crime. His optimism of changing international law will inform any reader that he was the lawyer who introduced the law of genocide to our world. Totally Unofficial is worth the time to read because Lemkin uses actual experiences from meetings that were held in United Nations and Geneva Conventions.

Renowned Zimbabwean revolutionary Robert Mugabe states, “Cooperation and respect for each other will advance the course of human rights worldwide. Confrontation, vilification, and double standards will not.” This quote vocalizes what human rights are and the steps necessary for liberty. However, this set of rights are constantly in violation of mankind itself in innumerable instances. The most evident event that violated these rights is the Holocaust in World War II. This Holocaust was the persecution of Jews and people deemed “unfit” by Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party during the nineteen thirties and forties. Though this catastrophic event caught the attention of the world, this is not the only time in history human rights being in violation. The Japanese effort in World War II to create biological weapons for the war is another example of human rights being taken away by mankind. After this war, the United Nations created a “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, Article Five stating, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

The crime of genocide is one of the most devastating human tragedies throughout the history. And the word genocide refers to an organised destruction to a specific group of people who belongs to the same culture, ethnic, racial, religious, or national group often in a war situation. Similar to mass killing, where anyone who is related to the particular group regardless their age, gender and ethnic background becomes the killing targets, genocide involves in more depth towards destroying people’s identity and it usually consists a fine thorough plan prearranged in order to demolish the unwanted group due to political reasons mostly. While the term genocide had only been created recently in 1943 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish legal

The Armenian genocide is a special case for genocide studies. It shows all the essential ‘proof’ needed to determine or define the atrocities that took place in the republic of Turkey, at least by the standards of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. And yet, the Armenian genocide is not internationally recognized as a genocide by all countries, with the United States, Australia and Great Britain only partially, yet not formally recognizing the cruelty and violence imposed by Turkey regarding Armenians. Despite certain countries failing to label the massacre of the Armenians as genocide, it still exhibits one the classic cases of genocide.

Having human rights in place imposes certain obligations on the government and justifies the complaints of those whose rights and freedoms have not been respected. Everyone is entitled to human rights regardless of their nationality, gender, race, religion, or political opinion. The failure to recognize these rights results in conflict and a vicious cycle of violence as more human rights are violated. To avoid such clashes, human rights have become a fundamental part of global law and policy. However, they have not always been that way. Catastrophic events in history that claimed thousands of lives ran their vicious course before it was recognized that there had to be human rights established. The most famous example of genocide is the Holocaust, which killed around six million Jews. After the Holocaust, the United Nations recognized that there had to be human rights put into place. Two human rights from the United Nations’ “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” that were perversely violated during the Holocaust are Article 5 (the protection against inhumane treatment or punishment) and Article 25 (the right to a standard of living.) Light is shed upon the exploitation of human rights during the Holocaust in both Night by Elie Wiesel and The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal. The Holocaust was a devastating event that opened our eyes to just how cruel humans can be, and why human rights must be enforced and protected.

The genocide committed during Second World War is one that still scars the human psyche to this day. The horrors of the Second World War lead to Raphael Lemkin’s creation of a new word, “genocide” in 1944 (Conversi 2006: 320). The definition of genocide is still under dispute by academics (Dallaire and Coleman 2013: 778; Manaktala 2012: 179; Hinton 2012: 11). For the purposes of this essay the definition used is the one created by the United Nations following the signing of resolution 240 (Stanton 1998: 1). The definition in the current form reads, “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part a national ethnical, racial or religious group” (United Nations Resolution 260 1948: Article 2). Using this definition, the three best examples of genocide in this era are Rwanda (Magnarella 2005: 801), The Holocaust (Vardejo 2012: 81) and Armenia (Hinton 2012: 13). Using these three genocides, this essay will examine the three key causes of genocide in the modern era. The first being hardships both economic and created by war that ultimately lead to a genocide. The next is the creation of an ‘us vs. them’ ideology which leads to the dehumanisation of the victims. The final cause is the enlightenment concept, which supports the perpetrators belief that they are doing this for a better world.

The concept that morals are not inherent or universal but are developed by the necessities of a given society at any certain time, as presented in William Graham Sumner’s Folkways, is inadequate and displeasing. While some moral practices are relative to particular cultures, that does not mean that there are no rights that belong to everyone, nor does it mean that just because an activity is practiced that it is morally justifiable. Each human being is entitled to a certain set of liberties, which are outlined in the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” All individuals are supposed to have equal access to these rights, but according to Sumner, all rights are cultural and none are universal.

In accordance with article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created in 1948, American citizens are entitled to, "the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services..." (Universal Declaration of Human Rights). This declaration also goes on to give a special mention to mothers and children, and their need for additional assistance. With this in mind, states commonly have many health policies to protect these human rights described in the above declaration. However, some states go against this declaration by restricting access to certain health services, namely abortion, on the basis of moral, political, or religious objection. In the following pages the topic of reproductive rights will be broached, and the associated cases that are centered on both sides of the issue will be discussed.

The mistreatment of women in the Middle East desecrates the human rights Americans claim all should have. In the second article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” 203 countries around the world recognize the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and are apart of the United Nations organization itself, if 203 countries agree to govern and provide the rights the Declaration states, then why must women in certain regions receive permission

Freedom from discrimination is a basic human right. Human rights means, all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights. These rights are inalienable to all individuals, since they come from nature or from God. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in article seven establish that, “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.”1 This means that all human beings deserve equal rights and should not be prejudiced by other. These rights are protected in order for anyone to violate them. This is important because this law for human rights promotes the security and well-being of all people in the United States and if these rights are protected, individuals can have a fulfilled life. However, though laws prohibit discrimination, nowadays, this problem remains pervasive in the United States. Race, color, gender, religion, national origin, or sex are subject to unjust discrimination in this country every day of their lives.

In the West human rights were born in the modern age as a result of the Industrial Revolution and thrived in the age of the “liberal state.” With the establishment and consolidation of modern democratic political structure since the late eighteenth century, the value of individual freedom was substantiated and power of individuals recognized. Consequently, the mentality instilled in people for centuries that the sovereignty belongs to the ruler broke off and was replaced by the new mindset that the nation is rooted in people. It was John Locke (1632-1704) who first set rights on the political agenda. He asserted that every man has the right “to preserve his life, liberty and estate” (Locke, 1962, p. 87). This ideal was later echoed and

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

The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights stands as the current gold standard for every individual’s rights. Focusing on culture, one may see that cultural rights are not clearly defined and are oftentimes in conflict with other types of rights. In this paper, I will first discuss the United Nations’ use of ‘cultural’ in its universal human rights in relation to the concept of cultural relativism. Then, using South African and American practices, such as virginity testing and discriminatory criminal justice system respectively, I will describe and analyze practices violate the UN’s universal human rights in addition to the practices’ use for the community or society as a whole. Lastly, I will compare the American Anthropological Association’s rights to culture to the UN’s universal human rights by analyzing the limitations of each.

Every single human being on this planet has rights. These rights are given to us through birth, and the day I was asked, what my human rights were, I found myself speechless. I did not know how to answer the question, which at the time sounded so easy. I forgot about the question that had me so puzzled, and just brushed it off, ironically six month later I get an assignment on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After reading this historic document, I realized how important human rights are. I believe most people take human rights for granted, we know they exist, but we don’t even know what they are