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HUMAN RIGHTS Definition Human Rights are those basic rights which all humans share to meet the most fundamental of human needs. These basic rights include:
Many people feel that the concept of human rights must include other basic freedoms, such as the right to travel and move freely, the right to political freedom, and other civil rights and liberties that feel so fundamental that people have often sacrificed their human rights in order to achieve them. But even given the above abbreivated definition of human rights, there is plenty of room for disagreement. Some governments--particularly the U.S.--have been slow to sign onto a universal declaration of human rights because of how such rights may be interpreted. Would the right to life mean that capital punishment is a violation of human rights (--most countries already view capital punishment as such a violation), and, if we can't guarantee human rights for everyone, then where do we draw the line, and why? Also, if the right to life is a human right, then might wars be viewed as violations of that human right? And what does freedom from hunger imply? Does the right to be free from threats to one's health entitle each person to healthcare access? Again, many think so. But what are the possible implications and limitations of these rights? Of course a right that is not enforced is nothing more than a nice idea. Rights are only concepts and not actual facts of life if they cannot be guaranteed to some degree. The very idea behind human rights is to ensure that they can be guaranteed. At the core, a right is an acknowledgement of a responsibility towards others, to protect their rights. But where does this responsibility lie? Many countries believe the government must ultimately accept responsibility for guaranteeing the rights of their populations and respecting the human rights of other nations. Some governments, such as the U.S., believe that individuals and communities must take some of the responsibility for deciding and ensuring rights. Partly, this is because if the U.S. government is not given full responsibility, then it cannot be held responsible for violations of human rights. But also, the U.S. government believes that by providing political and economic freedoms, it enables people and communities to ensure basic human rights for themselves and others. Also, many conservatives within the U.S. believe that if the U.S. government assumes responsibility for protecting human rights --of its citizens as well as those in other nations-- that policing such a responsibility will come at the expense of domestic American freedoms and liberties. Some conservatives are particularly opposed to signing onto international human rights treaties because it would give other signator countries --and international governing bodies such as the United Nations--enforcement power over our own government to enforce the agreed upon standards. To have a foreign body with power to enforce their standards upon our communities is a scary thought for many conservatives. Many liberals point out that this is precisely the sort of power that the United States has exercised over much of the world for decades. (For more discussion behind the concept of human rights, click here.) Human Rights Under Attack From watching reports on the nightly news, it may seem that problems with human rights are primarily concentrated in various hot spots around the globe; the Middle East, war-torn Africa, and a few other places. But, our fundamental human rights are under attack virtually everywhere, all around the world. And through globalization, our lives are increasingly intertwined with both the causes and effects of these abuses. The products of slavery, and sweatshops, and child labor are sold in our stores on our shelves. Small farmers in developing countries are thrown off their lands and fall into poverty to make way for large-scale corporate operations to produce cash crops for export to our local supermarkets. When workers or farmers rise up to attempt to improve their situations, they are frequently met with brutal and even lethal retaliation, often with U.S.-made bullets from U.S.-made guns, shot by U.S.-trained armies. When these same people try to elect leaders who will represent their concerns, the U.S. all too often throws its support behind their opponents. Droughts, floods, and famine are growing threats to human rights --and quite likely due to global warming, which is in large part due to high U.S. consumption of fossil fuels. Meanwhile, the U.S. unilaterally voids an international treaty and renegs on its commitment to control global warming. We are very much in the middle of things. Some people may ask, "as long as I've got my human rights, why worry about human rights in other countries?" Such insulated, naive attitudes have a way of coming back to bite us. The choices we make about how we choose to live our lives in our own country hold enormous human rights implications for multitudes of people living in other parts of the world. To ignore such responsibility and remain ignorant of the ramifications is done at our own peril. The U.S. was well aware of the atrocious human rights conditions in Afghanistan after the Taliban took power, but chose to turn a blind eye, and instead provided assistance to businesses interested in winning lucrative contracts with Afghanistan's extremist Taliban government. Which raises an interesting question: "How should we go about trying to improve human rights abroad?" Ultimately, governments are held responsible for seeing that human rights standards are being upheld. But when a government chooses to ignore its responsibility, has cultural differences about rights, or hasn't the resources to enforce its policies, how do we go about effectively defending the rights of others beyond our own borders? To best answer this question, it helps to understand the motivations behind the abuse of human rights. Human rights abuses often arise out of disputes over power, which usually tend to have an economic basis. Victims are often hapless pawns in a power struggle. Also, individuals who are actively involved in trying to address abuses of power and improve human rights conditions are frequent targets of unlawful arrest, political imprisonment, torture, and assassination. 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