Committees Social & Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM) The third committee of the General Assembly is SOCHUM whose agenda items relating to a range of social, humanitarian affairs and human rights issues that affect people all over the world. The Committee also discusses questions relating to the advancement of women, the protection of children, indigenous issues, the treatment of refugees, the promotion of fundamental freedoms through the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, and the right to self- determination. In addition, the Committee addresses important social development questions such as issues related to youth, family, ageing, persons with disabilities, crime prevention, criminal justice, and international
“Ideas about human rights have evolved over many centuries. But they achieved strong international support following the Holocaust and World War II. To protect future generations from a repeat of these horrors, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 and invited states to sign and ratify it”
The United Nations do multiple things such as following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security. The UN does this by working to prevent conflict; helping parties in conflict make peace; peacekeeping; and creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish. These activities often overlap and should reinforce one another, to be effective. The term “human rights” was mentioned seven times in the UN's founding Charter, making the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the Organization. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights brought human rights into the realm of international law. Since then, the Organization has diligently protected human rights through legal instruments and on-the-ground activities. The united nations are a great group of people who are looking out for us ever since Canada has joined this group they have been able to make an impact such as. Today, Canada continues to uphold the UN by actively participating in the organization's activities and providing financial support. Canada consistently brings pragmatic ideas and solutions to the table, from peacekeeping proposals in the 1950s, to creating the International Criminal Court and banning landmines in the 1990s. Today, some of their current goals are to assist war-affected children, or to improve the UN’s management and
A few United Nations representatives from Cuba, India, and Panama have wished to resolve the problem of genocide by recognizing it as an international crime, as stated in Document A. For example, inadequate provisions were placed when various Nazis were not punished for their wrongdoings. Nonetheless, this is seen as a negative aspect; however, it should be seen as motivation for others to strive to prevent further acts of genocide by punishing it as an international crime and create international laws. Since the late 1940s the United Nations has brought forth countless amounts of articles and documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Document E), which includes various articles that back up specific rights such as the right to life, liberty, and security of person, for these rights have since then helped prevent acts of genocide. It is through international laws where genocide will be ceased by making it an international crime, where it will assure international cooperation for its prevention and be dealt with its true deserving
Human rights - they are an ongoing issue in the world today, with the constant struggle against violation. The United Nations has accepted 30 articles on human rights, which help protect millions from political, social, and legal abuses (UDHR). Even with the insistence from the world’s leaders to follow and honor these rights, violation is common and provides a serious threat to people all over the world. One example of a violation of human rights such as equality and safety in possessions is shown through the issue of Japanese American internment camps (UDHR).
I intend to discuss these issues while also discussing why it is important for these issues to be highlighted in this document. Firstly, the issues of personal rights are acknowledged at the beginning of the document. “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good” . At this time, to be equal meant the end of legal differences.
There needs to be a flexible set of requirements regarding just social welfare and other issues that are linked to the poverty and inequality that most, if not all societies face. We are currently in what seems a globalized economy, where a simple economic action from one place in the world can affect all other countries in one way or another. It is important that we concentrate and deliberate on what is needed for social justice, human rights and equity to work properly in regards to every society’s main concern. Although these three concepts are hard to exercise in a way that no more issues can emerge from them it is possible to adjust them to alleviate the conditions and diminish the damages caused by the lack of
Disability is of particular interest for justice because of the way in which it contrasts two basic and powerful senses of injustice: (1) the treatment of people as moral, social or political inferiors on the basis of irrelevant characteristics and (2) the perpetuation and/or failure to correct inequalities between income, wealth, health and other aspects of well-being amongst individuals. Article 13 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) guarantees access to justice. This article has two sections: first, “States Parties shall ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, including through the provision of procedural and age-appropriate accommodations, in order to facilitate their effective role as direct and indirect participants, including as witnesses, in all legal proceedings, including at investigative and other preliminary stages; and second, in order to help to ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities, States Parties shall promote appropriate training for those work” (United Nations, 2006, p. 11). Cremin (2016) provided insights on the parameters of article 13. He discussed how article 13 attempts to clarify what effective access to justice requires and also provides recommendations on how the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities can improve its guidance on access to justice to help ensure equal rights for persons with disabilities.
On a global political stand point there was a uniting of ideas and governments; what we know today as the United Nations (UN). One of the main ideas which the UN has grown up around is ‘The individual possess rights simply by virtue of being Human’ (The Universal Declaration of human rights); which was adopted by the general assembly in 10th December 1948. This statement is reflect in the core principles
The United Nations Human Rights Council is a body of forty-seven states united to promote and protect human rights around the globe. The council is re-selected every three years by the United Nations General Assembly, with candidates being selected from five regions; African, Asia-Pacific, Latin and Caribbean, Western European, and Eastern European states. Candidates lobbying for a seat on the council are examined on their promotion and protection of human rights, as well as their voluntary pledges and associated humanitarian commitments.
The class imitation of the House of Representatives demonstrated the roles and the process of seeing a bill from committee until the House floor. Each student was given a role and eventually a committee. The committees that were represented were the Armed Services, Appropriations, and the Ways and Means committees. Discoveries were made along the way that better developed the understanding of the process.
Articles 1, 55, and 56 are the center pieces for promoting and protecting human rights. During the cold war humanitarian intervention went stagnant because the two superpowers who were facing off (US & Russia) were at odds about ideology and this caused world peace to be thrown into turmoil. The UN was very new and did not have the international legal clout to stop either superpower from promoting its system of governance through invasion or indirect military support. The Cold War caused social, economic, and political upheaval globally which allowed for the UN to revise its interpretation of humanitarian intervention. This allowed for a larger consensus among nations about which circumstances required intervention. From 1945 to 1976 five major human rights documents were adopted; The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Genocide Convention, Geneva Convention, Laws of War, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Cultural Economic Civil Rights. The end of the Cold War “liberated the UN which had established 20 new peace keeping missions from 1988-1993, more than it had taken in its entire 40 year history.” (Taha, 14) The major developments of the 1990‘s for international humanitarian
There is a close relationship between human rights and criminal law. The scope of my paper will surround human rights and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in addition to human rights and international crimes. International criminal justice in this context speaks to those interested in prosecuting against the background of international human rights and humanitarian norms. The use of criminal law has many positive effects and pursues many goals that are worth considering. For example, deterrence, accountability and punishment are important principles that will be discussed in the context of human rights. Is the International Criminal Court an effective method to promote and protect human rights internationally? If so, why and how?
Social justice is a long debated subject that continues to prove controversial and divisive all over the world. Opinions on what constitutes social justice vary on a continuum from more conservative opinions which note individual responsibility to a more liberal stance which promotes a moral responsibility to support social equality (Mapp, 2008). Despite the varying opinions of what establishes social justice, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) serves as the first step in promoting social justice by outlining the basic rights that should be afforded to humanity (United Nations, n.d.). More specifically, Article 22 of the UDHR states that all people should have access to social security protection that works to provide essential needs, provisions for preserving dignity, and freedom to pursue personal interest (United Nations, n.d.). In spite of the established declaration, social justice remains unavailable for too many people. Worldwide, the lack of social protection leads to 1.4 billion people struggling to meet their essential needs due to lack of access to resources which promote a decent standard of living. Another 100 million fall into poverty due to unforeseen complications (GIPSPSI, 2011). Therefore, there is a crucial need to recognize social protection as a human right in order to guarantee equal access to basic services and equal opportunity to all of humankind.
The supporting and advocating on behalf of human rights has been one of the primary principles of the United Nations. Since its founding in 1945, the United Nations has worked to preserve the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms it believes to be deserved of by every man, woman, and child on the planet. Throughout the near seventy years of the United Nations’ existence, it has been challenged with an array of questions, events, and claims regarding the possible violation of human rights. In order to combat these claims, the body has established two organizations to deal with matters of human rights. The first being the Commission Human Rights, was the original organization, founded in 1946. The Commission existed
The United Nations is widely regarded and respected as the most powerful institution that promotes international cooperation and human rights action. In theory, actions implemented by and within the United Nations are based on the mutual global goal of protecting international human rights and preventing human sufferings. These actions are constituted through three main mechanisms: the Treaty-based system, the Human Rights Council, and Security Council and Humanitarian Interventions, with the level of confrontation and seriousness in each mechanism increases respectively. While aimed to serve the mutual goal of protecting human rights over the world and have shown some successes, in a world of sovereignty, actions when implemented are in fact grounded by the national interests of each state, including embracing its national sovereignty, concreting its strategic relationships with other states, and enhancing its reputation in the international community. This paper will analyze the successes and failures of each of the three mechanisms of the United Nations regime, through which it aims to prove that when it comes to actions, states focus more on their national, and in some cases, regional interests than on the mutual goal of strengthening human rights throughout the world, thus diminishing the legitimacy of the whole United Nations system.