Write about the Human Rights for Rwanda and the Moral Obligation of Humanitarian.
Human rights refers to the most basic freedoms and rights that must be accorded to all human beings in the universe regardless of their ethnic, racial, nationality, language or religious affiliation they are also referred to as practices and standards that are supportive and complementary (Burson and Cantor 89). Although at times some of them can be restricted, it is impossible for any individual or group of individuals to take the rights away completely. Moral values such as equality, respect, independence, fairness and dignity are the foundations of these human rights. On international dimensions, international humanitarian entities majorly the United Nation (UN) have formulated laws relating to human rights which are enforced by individual governments. However, for promotion and protection of these rights and fundamental freedoms pertaining groups or individuals, certain obligations are set for governments to undertake in certain acts or refrain from indulging in others. These has been resulted after numerous incidents of human rights violation worldwide.
Protecting human rights has sequentially escalated from a regional issue to a global issue. This has occurred following rampant cases of human rights violation reported in many nations. One of the contributing factors towards this has been the constantly occurring civil wars in various global regions (Mitchell 14). Following completion of the world war II and the Holocaust, the United Nation had to bring into existence the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. By then, the world was desperate for peace and respect for human life. This declaration therefore sought to ensure that no such actions jeopardizing human rights would ever come into play again. In most scenarios often involving underdeveloped nations, political unrests result to civil wars where the worst faces of humanity are experienced. Such cases therefore call for global intervention whereby peace keeping forces are deployed in such nations on humanitarian missions. Lack of democracy is another aspect that brings about violation of human rights. Protecting these rights therefore call for intervention of global governing bodies that help solve cases of anarchy and respect of human rights subsequently falls in line (Landman 46). Other factors threatening human rights globally are; intensive racism, undermining the rights of women, indigenous people and those of children. The world at large seeks to find solution to the fore mentioned issues so as to completely eradicate cases of human rights violation.
Global governance is where political cooperation amongst various national actors exists with a chief aim of tabling, negotiating and coming up with relevant solutions to issues that affect more than one nation or region (Mendes 1). Protection of human rights have attracted global attention following repeated cases of violation of these rights. Universal declaration of human rights in 1948 was adopted by the United Nations following the World War II and the Holocaust where high degrees of human rights violation were displayed. The primary aims of the declaration were; creation of awareness amongst natives, protection of human rights, benchmarking and educating individuals on their rights (United Nations 1-8). Different umbrellas were therefore formulated by the UN to monitor the issue of human rights. They are Human Rights Council which replaced the Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Committee.
Three categorical Human Right Laws have been formulated henceforth with each of the laws being monitored after being enforced through different ways. The laws are; domestic law, regional law and international law. Focusing on international law, it is the category that protects global human rights (Kälin, Kunzli and Künzli 33). It is therefore composed of various conventions and treaties which includes the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a child and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights amongst others. Coining and implementation of treaties and conventions have resulted to enormous improvement in respect for human rights in many nations.
Protection of human rights is an issue that requires global governance as it cuts across many nations within various geographical and political regions. It is therefore upon leaders to join hands and fight violation of human rights in unison. However, gaps in global governance hinder effective tackling of this menace (Weiss and Thakur 251). Jurisdictional gap exists in global governance and blocks most attempts to protect human rights. This gap exists whereby, friendly nations or nations within the same region lack authoritative power to take actions aimed at combating violation of human rights in other nations’ territories. The fact that a nation cannot overrule another nation’s jurisdiction with the reason being ‘to conduct a humanitarian mission’ leaves the hands of countries willing to intercept tied.
Incentive gap is another hindering factor. Though there is demanding need for cooperation amongst international actors in protecting human rights, the motivation to bring into existence this cooperation lacks. Majority of national leaders are never willing to sit around the table with their counterparts and seek help on protection of human rights as they view this as a diminishing act. The incentive gap also brings into play economic potentials whereby majority developing nations often being engulfed by issues of human rights violation lags behind economically and therefore have minimal influence on global governance. Participation gap is another hindrance. Primarily, international cooperation remains solely as government affairs. Other civil society groups that are of significance in fighting human rights violation are denied the opportunity to participate in any human rights plans.
In addition to the gaps mentioned above, various countries are held liable for violation of human rights on several instances. There are various ways in which countries undermine the rights of their citizens. The first way could be by government’s eviction of residents by use of force from their homes (Forsythe 34). By doing this, such a government deprives its citizens the right to adequate housing. The right to health is compromised when facilities owned by the state contaminate water sources with waste. By failing to offer a standard wage that could afford employees a decent living, the country in question will have violated several human rights related to work and employment.
Countries also fail to respect human rights by refraining from prevention of starvation in some or all communities or parts of the nation. They violate peoples’ freedom from hunger (Pinstrup-Andersen and Sandøe 93,94). Kenya is an evident illustration whereby communities from the northern part of that nation are constantly faced by hunger. Other countries have been sighted violating peoples’ right to live by their governments being directly implicated in genocide cases. This is evident in Rwanda when the then president, Juvenal Habyarimana was killed. What followed was a politically backed up, ethnic based genocide mainly targeting the Tutsis.
However, it is possible to prevent governments from violating human rights through a combination of several methodologies overseen by higher international authorities. The most basic step towards this would be implementation of a strong clear and enforceable constitution (Mayerfeld 1-26). A constitution therefore prevents a government from violating its citizens’ rights in the following ways. All the rights must be clearly stated and the language used must be understandable to the citizens of a nation. With clear understanding of one’s rights, an individual can sue any state agency that violates any of his/her rights and get awarded damages accrued. Though only a few rights are absolute, constitution should also restrain the ability of a government to restrict or limit the rights of its citizens.
An individual’s freedom of speech could be limited if the person is a traitor and is acting in collaboration with foreign governments against their own government. It is however a direct violation of human rights to limit this right when people are trying to express their views or demand what is rightfully theirs. It is also unethical for a government to violate journalism and media rights by preventing airing or publication of truthful information against such governments. Relevant state agencies could be sued in such scenarios by humanitarian organizations as the case is actionable by law. A constitution should also ensure that rights are enforceable (Beloof 304). This is only achievable through the judiciary which should solve human rights cases independently without influence of the executive arm of the government.
To begin with, the most crucial step of combating cases of violation of human rights is by offering relevant education to natives of a given territory for them to understand their rights. Majority of citizens from underdeveloped nations lack access to basic education and are therefore subjected to inhumane deeds. More treaties and conventions should also be established to monitor areas where there are suspected violations and thereafter bring to justice all those involved. Specialized advisers should be put in place to advice governing bodies on how to evade genocide. Such advisers would have been of great significance in preventing the Hutu-Tutsi massacre in Rwanda had they been present (Kassner 202). To serve as lessons to the world, culprits found guilty of undermining human rights should be exposed in all media outlets. All their powers should also be seized as such persons are not fit to be in any leadership position. In conclusion, global governing bodies such as the UN should come up with special organs that will have the jurisdiction to act in any nation in any case of human rights violation.
Beloof, Douglas E. Victims’ Rights: A Documentary and Reference Guide. illustrated. ABC-CLIO, 2012.
Burson, Bruce and David James Cantor. Human Rights and the Refugee Definition: Comparative Legal Practice and Theory. BRILL, 2016.
Forsythe, David P. Encyclopedia of Human Rights, Volume 1. OUP USA, 2009.
Kälin, Walter, Jorg Kunzli and Jörg Künzli. The Law of International Human Rights Protection. reprint. Oxford University Press, 2009.
Kassner, Joshua James. Rwanda and the Moral Obligation of Humanitarian Intervention. Edinburgh University Press, 2012.
Landman, Todd. Human Rights and Democracy: The Precarious Triumph of Ideals. A&C Black, 2013.
Mayerfeld, Jamie. The Promise of Human Rights: Constitutional Government, Democratic Legitimacy, and International Law. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016, 2016.
Mendes, Errol P. Global Governance, Human Rights and International Law: Combating the Tragic Flaw. Routledge, 2014.
Mitchell, Neil J. Agents of Atrocity: Leaders, Followers, and the Violation of Human Rights in Civil War. illustrated. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Pinstrup-Andersen, Per and Peter Sandøe. Ethics, Hunger and Globalization: In Search of Appropriate Policies. illustrated. Springer Science & Business Media, 2007.
United Nations. THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. Aegitas, 2015.
Weiss, Thomas G. and Ramesh Thakur. Global Governance and the UN: An Unfinished Journey. Indiana University Press, 2010.
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