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Essay legal character of the universal declaration of human rights
Essay legal character of the universal declaration of human rights
Explain characteristics of human rights
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Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, gender, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status (United N). In 1948, The Universal Declaration of Human Right was passed (United). A change in our world was to be constructed, however, not every country committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been appropriately acknowledged as “the rape capital of the world.” (Carly). Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been one of the many countries who have not abided to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As said in the previous sentence, they have been recognized for having multiple rape cases. Many of these …show more content…
” Before I go on about the reasons I believe Rape as a weapon is wrong, let talk about Human rights. However, with Human rights I am able can still show the reasoning on why rape is wrong. “In other words, many people have been unsatisfied with the notion that what is right or good is simply what a particular society or ruling elite feels is right or good at any given time.”(Human) By Human rights: Chimeras in sheep's clothing?, Andrew begins to draw the history of Human rights. He explains how back then many people were unsatisfied with how they were treated, but the government did nothing because of how the Human rights was set up. If we were to bring this back to the present, we can consider about how even now people are still not satisfied with how the government has the rights set up and how many of the lower class is being treated as. Let's now bring it back to the women in Congo, Do they have human rights? Why is it that many of the women don’t know about this? “Different people hold different concepts of human rights.”(Dembour), what Mrs. Marie say is true. The Universal Declaration of Human rights may be there to help many countries, However, many people read it and define it differently. The different definitions is …show more content…
In Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, it makes a clear statement in which it says no one should be tortured or put into a cruel situation. However, many of the women in Congo have stories in which they’ve been tortured. “Six Soldiers took me and raped me, and then they took my husband….. Now I’ve had five surgeries, I haven’t recovered yet”(Warfare). Many women like YafanShize, have been trying to recuperate from what has happened to them, However, brutal assaults mutilate women’s internal cavities, organs, and genitals (Warfare). As I watch the video of Yafanshize and other women expressing the unacceptable event that they have gone through and still having to recover from it. How is rape seen as a weapon? Women are being tormented when the man of the house doesn’t even realize what is happening at home. How does that help us fight a war? When the men have no resource to communicate with family members, so at war, they don’t hesitate to kill others. The simple thought of rape being a weapon absurd. The isn’t any statistics that show raping a woman will help you advance in the war and win. “Sometimes Attackers use branches or Gun Barrels, Sometime they shoot into the genital” (Warfare) This goes beyond the rape, weapons being used is just depressing. Is rape not enough to win the war? How do the
The more extreme victimization of women occurs through gender violence while in service as a soldier. In the United States, the film The Invisible War recognizes that over one fifth of serving women experienced sexual assault and there is nearly no justice system to combat this. One man had raped several women in the service, but still was able to receive congressional medal of honors for his actions and bravery (The Invisible War). This promotes further gender division by having such limited consequences which sends the message that women are not nearly as important as their male counterparts. Women in the service are not the only ones who are being raped and abused; women were used as “comfort” women in World War II to ease the sexual desires of men which is ultimately a legalized form of sex slavery within the military. This further degrades women by objectifying them as objects that can be traded for security. Women
Since the Renaissance of the 15th century, societal views have evolved drastically. One of the largest changes has been the realization of individualism, along with the recognition of inalienable human rights.(UDHR, A.1) This means that all humans are equal, free, and capable of thought; as such, the rights of one individual cannot infringe on another’s at risk of de-humanizing the infringed upon. The fact that humans have a set of natural rights is not contested in society today; the idea of human rights is a societal construction based on normative ethical codes. Human rights are defined from the hegemonic standpoint, using normative ethical values and their application to the interactions of individuals with each other and state bodies. Human rights laws are legislature put in place by the governing body to regulate these interactions.
In this paper, I argue that while sexual violence is arguably the monopoly of men, it is culturally cultivated rather than biologically determined. Consistent with the concept of Hegemonic Masculinity which theorises male domination of other males and subordination of females (Connell, 2005), I assert that rape is particularly rampant in societies where sexual violence is an effective means of attaining this status quo. Thus when rape is institutionalised in the context of war where masculinity is measured by the ability and willingness to assert violence upon the enemy, rape becomes rampant because it is not only condoned but authorised (Price, 2001). I then debunk the claims of biological determinism that men are inherently predisposed to rape in order to ensure reproductive continuity (Knauft et.al, 1991) by highlighting that victims of non-consensual sexual penetration are often males, children and post-menopausal women through whom reproduction cannot occur. Thus, rape does not demonstrate biological propensity but rather societal pursuit of male dominance. I conclude that since the occurrence of rape is consistently higher in more patriarchal societies, the issue of rape is more deep-rooted than isolated cases of unregulated male testosterone or criminality but it is rather the by-product of cultural legitimisation of male sexual violence.
In some countries, a woman must prove she is pure in order to find the perpetrator guilty. Rape used to be more of a violation to the man than to the woman. It was a violation of the man’s rights if his wife or girlfriend was raped. When a woman is raped, her devotion to her family is questioned. Rape is a violent act, an act of possession, not a sexual act.
"Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Amnesty International USA - Protect Human Rights. 19 May 2009 .
... attention allowed economic exploitation in the Congo and its people devastated by human rights abuses, and even today the lack of international attention has caused many conflicts in and around the Congo. The economic exploitation of the Congo during colonial times robbed the country of wealth which could have been used to develop the land, and the lack of wealth has contributed to Congo’s poor standing in the world today. Lastly, the human rights abuses in the Congo Free State contributed to economic and political troubles during the colonial period and has continued into the present day, as human rights abuses are still prevalent in that region of Africa. Due to the lack of international attention, economic exploitation, and human rights abuses, the Congo Free State was harmful to the Congo region of Africa and its legacy continues to harm that region of Africa.
Zurbriggen, E. (). Rape, War, And The Socialization of Masculinity: Why Our Refusal To Give Up Was Ensures That Rape Cannot Be Eradicated. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34, 538-539
The Darfur Genocide violates Article #3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article #3 states everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. First, the Janjaweed regime has violated article # 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by enforcing massive starvation on the Darfur citizens. For example, Halimalay said as she watched over her malnourished daughter, Zahra "They chased us from our home ...
“The sweetly sickening odor of decomposing bodies hung over many parts of Rwanda in July 1994: . . . at Nyarubuye in eastern Rwanda, where the cadaver of a little girl, otherwise intact, had been flattened by passing vehicles to the thinness of cardboard in front of the church steps,” (Deforges 6). The normalcy of horrible images like this one had cast a depressing gloom over Rwanda during the genocide, a time when an extreme divide caused mass killings of Tutsi by the Hutu. Many tactics such as physical assault or hate propaganda are well known and often used during times of war. Sexual assault and rape, however, during times of war is an unspoken secret – it is well known that rape occurs within combat zones and occupied territories, but people tend to ignore, or even worse, not speak of the act. There have been recorded cases of rape and sexual assault in almost every war in human history. Genocidal rape was used as a gendered war tactic in the Rwandan genocide in order to accomplish the Hutu goal of elimination of the Tutsi people in whole, or part.
Indeed, human right is never just a legal matter as it also involves moral principles to justify its inalienable and non-transferable status. UDHR preamble states that human right is the “recognition of the inherent dignity”. That means we are entitled to human rights because we have inherent values to be pursued and realized. Human rights are originated in ourselves, but not conferred by law or others. If a society does not recognize those aforementioned justifications, human rights would be unsupported and a...
On December 10th in 1948, the general assembly adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration, although not legally binding, created “a common standard of achievement of all people and all nations…to promote respect for those rights and freedoms” (Goodhart, 379). However, many cultures assert that the human rights policies outlined in the declaration undermine cultural beliefs and practices. This assertion makes the search for universal human rights very difficult to achieve. I would like to focus on articles 3, 14 and 25 to address how these articles could be modified to incorporate cultural differences, without completely undermining the search for human rights practices.
Proponents of human rights argue that the concept’s universality rests in its non-discriminatory character- human rights are meant for every human being- rich and poor, white and black, men and women, young and old, leaders and followers, elites and illiterate, etc- and are all treated equally.
ABSTRACT: This paper defends the claim that the contemporary canon of human rights forms an indivisible and interdependent system of norms against both "Western" and "Asian" critics who have asserted exceptionalist or selectivist counterclaims. After providing a formal definition of human rights, I argue that the set of particular human rights that comprises the contemporary canon represents an ethical-legal paradigm which functions as an implicit theory of human oppression. On this view, human rights originate as normative responses to particular historical experiences of oppression. Since historically known experiences of oppression have resulted from practices that function as parts of systems of domination, normative responses to these practices have sought to disarm and dismantle such systems by depriving potential oppressors of the techniques which enable them to maintain their domination. Therefore, human rights norms form a systematic and interdependent whole because only as parts of a system can they function as effective means for combatting oppression and domination.
The doctrine of human rights were created to protect every single human regardless of race, gender, sex, nationality, sexual orientation and other differences. It is based on human dignity and the belief that no one has the right to take this away from another human being. The doctrine states that every ‘man’ has inalienable rights of equality, but is this true? Are human rights universal? Whether human rights are universal has been debated for decades. There have been individuals and even countries that oppose the idea that human rights are for everybody. This argument shall be investigated in this essay, by: exploring definitions and history on human rights, debating on whether it is universal while providing examples and background information while supporting my hypothesis that human rights should be based on particular cultural values and finally drawing a conclusion.
The society we live in is rape-conducive, rape-friendly, if you will. Despite the anger I feel joining those two words together, I know the sad paradox holds within it a great deal of truth. We are a violent society that has shrouded rape in mystery and shame. To stop this nightmare’s venomous crusades, all people must wage a private war to eradicate their own acceptance of the savage crime. While it is only a minority of men that actually commit rape, it is everyone’s silence that tells them it’s ok.