Essay About Human Rights
No matter, where, when, or in what conditions a person is he/she always will be entitled to basic human rights and freedoms. As an example right to health, freedom to religion, right to life, etc. All those rights cannot be seen as privileges or be revoked or granted to someone. Those basic rights are universal and inalienable no matter what. The main problem with human rights is that they are easily understandable but when someone tries to put them into practice everything gets complicated.
Historically people have been struggling to define, what means justice, rightfulness, and rights the concept. Only after the Second World War was founded and established, modern human rights’’, by the United Nations. One of the main United Nations purposes was to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and…’’ Following the same path in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly was adopted the first Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which made a concrete basis for today’s international human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is based on principles, such as:
Freedom from discrimination, slavery, servitude,
Equality before the law,
Right to freely found a family and marry,
Right to own property,
Right to education,
Freedom of own religion and so on.
In declaration there are not more important or less important rights- every one of them is an integral part of our lives. Each year those rights only grow and expand, for example writing articles about what will happen if someone will try to breach some of the basic human rights principles, and what will be the consequences.
But the whole problem with Universal human rights is that they are not easily enforceable all around the globe. First of all the Universal declaration of human rights is only a declaration and not enforceable hard law. If some state will violate the declaration then countries will face weak and sanction procedure, which is not working effectively and fully properly. For example Russia. They are constantly violating human rights and the consequences and pressure from the western countries are so weak that they are continuing to do so.
Also, the main bodies in the United Nations only investigate and monitor the violations. They cannot change the attitude of the state toward those who are violating the rights and force states to pay compensations to the victims. It's naive to say that the states are giving us all rights because nowadays states have so much power that they are not feeling those consequences, plus if the state breaches something in the international arena which is not connected with money then it will not play a really important role.
Also, human rights are not a universal thing, because they have been building, pushed, and developed from a western nation perspective. Pushing individual rights as more important than group rights and so on. But not all international instruments are powerless towards the human right ignoring/breaching. For example, have been established a court on the "European court of human rights’’. There are 47 member states where its citizens and countries can bring some claims if their rights have been violated. And the court decision is binding towards all its member states and should immediately implement.
Human rights are like a time that constantly goes forward and evolves, for example, makes new laws. And our lives are being more and more digitalized should there be a law someday which would make a right to access the internet?
Universal means it could be affected or related to everyone. Meaning that human rights are universal, because everyone somehow applies them, but partially, not even knowing of their existence.