Political Prisoners

Imagine for a moment what it would be like if the entire population of Sonoma County, California was killed, and twenty years later not many people knew a great deal about it. When over 500,000 people, primarily Tutsis, were killed in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, it was a great tragedy. However, no one rushed to the country’s aid. Now it is vital that the horrors of the instance that violated the human rights of so many, is not forgotten. Human rights are the universal actions and objects that all people are entitled to because they are human. Human rights have been violated in numerous ways over time, typically as a result of a person in power having their own best interests in mind rather than the peoples´. Various groups, such as Amnesty

Racism exists in America before early 1965 through late 1970 and continues to exist. Glenn Omatsu author of “The Four Prisons and the Movements of Liberation” describes the history of the struggle of racism as if it was a roller coaster ride for neoconservative Asian Americans with so many changes all throughout that social movement. Omatsu mentions Japans who overcame racism with political activism. Activists are good political examples from the past through history by creating a social movement with activism and individuals who fight for all equal rights. Asian Americans made a path through history to end racism through political activism that initially led to a better life for everyone during the 1980’s. Omatsu describes the struggle, “… racism lies in the realm of attitudes and “culture” and not institutions of power.” Omatsu makes the point of Asian Americans overcame racism through the way they were brought up. “ he believes

Out of all the casualties of the American Revolution, many were prisoners of war. About 16,000 of the 34,000 casualties died in prisons. This includes both the Rebels and the British. Most Rebels were under the impression that prisoners were intentionally treated cruelly by the British; however, while this was true in certain cases, there were many factors that caused the terrible prisoner conditions and high mortality rate that were out of the British's control. In addition, the condition of the prisoners in the hands of the Rebels was not any better.

Their system of filtering and censorship is acknowledged as the most advanced and effective in the world. The Chinese internet system includes about thirty-thousand censors, as well as having web browsers, such as Google and Yahoo, censor their results.10 For an average citizen to publish their opinions without either an elite free speech patron or a willing government publishing house, the safest method is to publicize their thoughts through an internet bulletin board system run by the Chinese government.11 However, these electronic bulletin boards are required by the law to be licensed, the posts monitored constantly, and any posts which are found to be “inappropriate” are removed. Any forums that are free from government censorship are forbidden, since the Chinese authorities refuse to recognize the rights of the citizens to publish their uncensored opinions. Furthermore, if debates over political or other issues begin to take a life of their own, they are commonly silenced by Chinese authorities.12 The Chinese authorities only permit these monitored bulletin boards both for their own benefit and because they recognize that there must be outlets for the average person to express their dissatisfaction with the government.13 Allowing the citizens to speak their mind functions to lessen the political tension, by acting as a release for their discontentment. These boards also serve as an excuse to deflect criticism by other countries, who complain that people in China do not enjoy freedom of expression. Additionally, they allow government authorities to monitor the mood of their people and to find weaknesses, both in the government and in their support. Finally, the bulletin boards allow government authorities to track those who express discontent, keeping their expressions visible, so the authorities can trace these

Imagine. Imagine having the continuous feeling of needing to act a certain way because that is what the government wants. Imagine having to worship in an underground church because of belonging to the "wrong" religion. Imagine being blind and not being able to learn because the government cannot accept a disability. Lastly, imagine being killed because of simply disagreeing. This is everyday life in China for many people because of what the Communist Chinese government has caused for decades. Human Rights Abuse in China has caused millions of deaths and permanent injuries. In 1979, the One Child Policy was created and ever since then the abuse has escalated into being a normal part of lives. On June 4 1989, the government took the abuse to a whole other level. This fateful day was called the Tiananmen Square crackdown. This was the day of millions of deaths. China's government truly takes human rights violations to an extreme and has caused fear among their people. The government has previously claimed

The Australian legal system is based on a fundamental belief in the rule of law, justice and the independence of the judiciary. All people—Australians and non-Australians alike—are treated equally before the law and protections exist to ensure that people are not treated indiscriminately or unfairly by governments or officials. In saying this, the Australian government will press the Egyptians “at the highest level” to try to free Australian journalist Peter Greste, sentenced to seven years jail after being convicted of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. The court also found guilty, two of Greste’s Al Jazeera English colleagues, with one receiving a ten-year sentence and the other seven years. This example of Mr. Greste is a relevant and recent example of international law in relation to terrorism because of the existence of fabricated information and how we have been led to perceive the individuals involved.3

The refugee crisis has been a contentious issue for the past decade as the amount of people seeking refuge in foreign countries is rising exponentially, with many countries turning to off shore detention as a way to deal with this issue (Coffey, Kaplan, Sampson & Tucci, 2010; Crock, Saul & Dastyari; Ljungholm, 2014). As a result of this influx the demand for human rights lawyers has increased, because the indefinite nature of the detention it is seen to be a breach of human rights (Saul, 2012; Evenhuis, 2013; Ljungholm, 2014). It is evident from the literature that long term indefinite detention of children and young adults has a significant adverse effect on their mental health, both long and short term. The two major themes that this literature

Luis Lorenzo Vargas, an innocent Los Angeles person, was sentenced to jail for 16 years. Police blind believe on eyewitness sentence without even investigating on the ‘teardrop rapist’ led him to be separated from his family. He missed the sixteen years of his life on single misjudgment.

In the past, groups advocating for civil, human and migrant rights hardly made any meaningful progress courtesy of insufficient legislation and absence of political will. However, sweeping changes coupled by the need to recognize human rights have made it crucial to defend the oppressed in society irrespective of their location. Such civil and human rights groups have constantly set high standards when it comes to reinforcing the rule of law. Such groups ultimately combine forces to expose human rights violations and prosecute perpetrators. It’s undeniable that such groups have significantly ensured the enforcement of the rule

Activism using the Internet and other new media is increasingly having an impact in broadening the scope of civic action in support of human rights in East Asia. Select one or two case studies of activism in ONE East Asian country studied in this course. With regard to your chosen case studies, how effective is online activism as a force for social change? How are government authorities responding to the challenge of internet activism?

The People’s Republic of China with a population 1.3 billion, is the third largest country in the world and has a land size of 960,000 square kilometres. It is a rapidly growing economy, with living standards being raised every year. However, human rights violations are still a part of daily life in some part of China and can still be seen in the present time. The most controversial issues include discrimination, right to live and not to be subject to torture, freedom of religion, opinion, to fair public hearing, rights to family and the right of movement. (The Consulate General of The People's Republic of China, 2003),(Infoplease, 2009)

Gresham M. Sykes describes the society of captives from the inmates’ point of view. Sykes acknowledges the fact that his observations are generalizations but he feels that most inmates can agree on feelings of deprivation and frustration. As he sketches the development of physical punishment towards psychological punishment, Sykes follows that both have an enormous effect on the inmate and do not differ greatly in their cruelty.

In the amnesty process in the TRC, as previously stated to reach reconciliation, the perpetrators were to confront the committee and the victims and discuss, in detail, their crimes. In a strange way, these testimonies, “humanized,” the perpetrators, “For those who watched the amnesty proceedings and for those who participated, the testimony humanized and particularized the perpetrator. As perpetrators gave testimony, they divulged their crimes, but they also revealed themselves as flawed and

In addition the exploitation of prisoner’s labor has been a continuing issue. Enforcement of prison labor by the state and the utilitarianism of international human rights law preserves state power, although are a focus of

Should all prisoners be given the right to vote or should it be limited only to some or to none at all? Provide a reasoned argument for your decision.