Human Rights Violations

Human rights describe equal rights and freedom for anyone and everyone regardless of
race, color, sex, language, religion or political affiliation. All humans live in societies
together. As stated by the U.N. declaration of Human Rights in 1948 “All human beings
are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and
conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” This
statement defines that each and every human is entitled to all rights. Human rights are
fundamental to human existence. There may be disagreement on the details of human
rights, but barely any on the basic aspects of them. Human rights were always violated
in human history. The leaders mostly oppressed people and did not grant their entitled
human rights. Even religious leader in some cases were responsible for the violation of
human rights.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can attest to the basic fundamental human rights that we
all share. In order to be at a level of satisfaction an individual must meet five basic
criteria. The basic needs are the physiological needs (food, water, etc…), safety needs,
needs of love and affection, needs for esteem, and once everything else is met, self-
actualization or as Maslow describe it, “the need to be and do that which a person was
born to do.” This ties in with human rights in that it can connect us and become equals.
Even though the U.N. has made a declaration concerning human rights, we as humans
should not have an international governing body lay it out for us. Leaders, citizens, all
people should know that we are all free and have rights that should be met. If not,
measures should be taken to make sure that every human being’s rights are not
violated.

History of the Issue

Human right has been constantly evolving throughout human history. They have been
tied to the laws, customs and religions. An example of laws that contain references to
individual rights is the tablet of Hammurabi. This tablet was created by the Sumerian
king Hammurabi about 4000 years ago. While considered barbaric in today’s world, the
system of 282 laws created a model for the legal system. This kind of model protected
people from arbitrary persecution and punishment. But the problems with Hammurabi’s
code were mostly due to its cause and effect nature, it held no protection on more
abstract ideas such as race, religion, beliefs, and individual freedoms or commonly called
human rights.
The term has only come into common use in the 20th century. The idea of ‘human
rights’ is not universal, it is the product of 17th and 18th century European thought. The
idea itself does not exist in every society or civilization. This issue was a major cause in
17th century England. The protection of the people’s right (mostly right to political
participation, and freedom of religious belief and observance) against an oppressive
government was the start of the English Civil War of 1640. It was also the start for
another revolution called the “Glorious Revolution” in 1688, which then led to the
English Bill of Rights a year later.

The Bill of Rights dealt with the fundamental concerns of that time. It subjected the King
to the rule of the law like any other citizen instead of the King claiming to be divine. It
protected some basic rights to justice, cruel and unusual punishments and unfair trials
etc… Near the end of the 18th century, the philosopher John Locke argued that it was
part of God’s natural law that no-one should harm anyone in their pursuit of life, liberty,
possessions, and health. These rights could never be given up. If these rights were
threatened to be taken away it was necessary to do whatever to protect them. From this
view the government’s role was limited in that people could be not under control of a
ruler without their consent. The responsibility of a government is to protect the natural
rights of its people. This idea also led to the American Revolution with the formation of
the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration states that “all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” which assert that premise of human
rights. Even with the declaration in place, and later the constitution; women were not
recognized to have rights and slavery was still instituted throughout the whole nation.

The doctrines of human rights that are in place now are a result of these ideas from
early generation of thinkers. Human rights are ‘natural’ in that every person owns them
regardless of a system of law, religion, or government. Governments must be able to
protect and respect these laws and promote them to all individuals. In 1948, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights was made by the U.N. in an effort to make
human rights part of international law. The greatest 20th century statements of ‘natural’
or human rights can be dated to 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This
preceded a range of international Conventions, Covenants, Declarations and other
treaties that have followed the tradition. Most came from the United Nations. But other
groups have also adopted human rights standards. Some common universal rights are
the right to an education, freedom, life, and the right to own property and cultural
rights. The declaration serves to protect these rights in those nations that signed it and
helps make aware of nation-states that violate and suppress the rights of their own
citizens.
 Causes and Impacts of the Issue

There are many events in history that can be traced to the cause of human rights being
a focus point. These events had probable causes to why there are human rights
violations today. One cause is the state. The state or government may impose certain
laws that infringe on individual’s freedoms because they believe it’s necessary in order
to maintain power or eliminate opposition. For example public humiliation, or
punishment such as those taken place in some middle eastern can be seen as violations.
Another cause is the lack of generosity or selfishness that states and individuals have.
Companies that produce bottled water or provide it to countries often charge families
more then they earn in a day’s wage just for water. Certain elements of cultures and
religions can lead to practices that violate human rights as well.

Based on these causes an increase of human rights violations has impacted the entire
global community in the past to the future. The use of child labor has been dated back
to the industrial revolution in England. According to UNICEF, there was an estimated 158
million children aged 5 to 14 in child labour worldwide, excluding child domestic labour.
Another violation is the ongoing mass murders that occurred and/are occurring now.
Currently the Darfur conflict is a major human rights violation because the Sudanese
government is destroying African Muslim communities because some among them have
challenged Khartoum’s authoritarian rule. As a result, more than 400,000 civilians have
been killed and 2.5 million people are displaced from their homes. Other violations such
as racism, the Rwandan genocide, and the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in the 1990s are
examples of some human rights violations that have occurred in history. It is estimated
that at least 60 million people have died in wars and human rights abuses since 1945
and this number continues to climb if no action is taken. Countries that fail to take
action will see an increase in deaths due to human rights violations.

Conclusion and Solutions

There are many solutions out there to prevent the abuse of human rights. Through
education and the media people can be aware of the numerous human rights violations
taking place in the world today and gain some knowledge of what’s going on in the
world. Organizations have erupted in an effort to protect the rights of those that have
been violated. One organization that does this is the Amnesty International. Amnesty
International as quoted in their website “…inspires hope for a better world through
public action and international solidarity. We help stop human rights abuses by
mobilizing our members and supporters to put pressure on governments, armed
groups, companies and intergovernmental bodies.” Another group is Doctors for
Borders an organization created by doctors to help those in nearly 60 countries
threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, principally due to conflict,
epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters.

These organizations reflect the impact of the Declaration of Human Rights. The
declaration has paved the way for people to realize the potential threats of human
rights abuse. I believe that the world and the people residing have had enough time to
see what has occurred in the past. We need to learn from our mistakes in the past and
never let such atrocities such as the torture of the Jewish families in the concentration
camps, segregation in the U.S., or the gulags in Russia take place. Countries are more
educated now and all should take a stand. We are all one people living under the same
roof and I think human rights of all individuals should be protected. Being a Catholic, I
hear sometimes hear people say to other people “go to hell” and they respond by “I’m
already here.” If we respected our fellow brethren and took the time help those in need,
take of the earth etc…we could turn this so called hell into heaven ourselves.