Protecting Human Rights

1. Protecting Human Rights Standard 7-7.4

2. Protecting human rights… • The protecting of human rights was especially important as colonial empires collapsed at the end of World War II and new nations appeared. • Conflicts and confusion often created dangerous, unsettled situations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

3. Today Today organizations like the United Nations and Amnesty International closely monitor abuses. Yet, many governments still imprison and abuse people for speaking out against their government. Some government also sponsor terrorists acts outside their borders. Still others refuse to follow international law regarding nuclear technology and war. The goal is to ensure that all governments honor the basic rights and liberties of their citizens.

4. A Statement of Human Rights On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Eleanor Roosevelt, the former First Lady of the first U.S. delegate to the United Nations, served as the chairperson for the Commission on Human Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights drafted by the Commission of Human Rights is considered the most important statement on human rights since World War II. It sets forth an ideal---a vision of the way things should be.

5. Upholding Human Rights Watchdog groups monitor nations to see if they uphold or violate the UN statement of human rights. The charter for Amnesty International, for example, declares: “The object of Amnesty International is to contribute to the observance through out the world of human rights as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

6. Upholding Human Rights The organization uses several methods to pursue its primary goal. It publicizes cases in which people have been punished for criticizing a government. It promotes the adoption of document that support human rights. It investigates the disappearance or imprisonment of dissident such as Burma’s Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Her “crime” was to uphold democracy in a nation where the government opposes it.

7. Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Amnesty International is an example of a nongovernmental organization, or NGO. NGOs are not directly tied to any government, but they still have a voice in world affairs. Over the years, many NGOs have formed active partnerships with the United Nations. The UN gives them a place to voice their concerns about global issues.

8. NGOs Today, thousands of NGOs are active in nations all over the world. They focus on a wide range of issues such as human rights, children’s well-being, disaster relief, and environmental protection. Not everyone supports the activities of the many NGOs. Some critics say the NGOs in non-democratic countries are created or controlled by their governments.

9. NGOs (2) • Other critics charge NGOs with being accountable, or responsible, only to the people who fund them. • Still others argue that the huge number of NGOs makes it difficult to plan a well-thought-out approach to a problem like human rights. • Each NGO that is interested in human rights may have a different view of how to solve a problem.

10. Supporters of NGOs • Supporters of NGOs point to the services they perform. • NGOs provide information and technical help to governments and special organizations like the UN. • They also act as advocates—people or groups who argue and support some cause, such as protection of child workers.

11. Supporters of NGOs (2) Activities like these have won the Nobel Prize for Peace for several NGOs. Prizewinners include the International Committee of the Red Cross (1917, 1944, and 1963); Amnesty International (1977); International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985) and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (1997).

12. Supporters of NGOs (3) Landmines are planted during wartime; they are designed to explode when people step on them. After a war ends, landmines remain buried, and injure or kill the innocent people who stumble on them.

13. Victory Over Apartheid One of the most stunning human rights victories of the late 1900s came in South Africa. World pressure helped to end the country’s system of apartheid. In 1996, the Republic of South Africa adopted a new constitution, which included a detailed bill of rights, including the right to vote.

14. Human Rights Issues • The definition if the human rights has given people a standard by which to judge the seriousness of the global issues. • Some of the board problems and social issues that concern human rights activists today include war crimes, refugees, epidemics, and nuclear proliferation. By: C#Yn@ #!r3$

15. War Crimes • War crimes committed against civilians remain an outgoing problem. • In recent times, they have often involved crimes committed by one ethnic or national group against another. By: C#Yn@ #!r3$

16. War Crimes (2) Consider the breakup of Yugoslavia into separate republics in the 1990s. Serbia’s leader, Slobodan Milosevic, wanted to keep Yugoslavia together. He also wanted to keep all Serbs within Yugoslavia. To achieve his goals, Milosevic used force to seize the land. He also engaged in ethnic cleansing, the brutal removal of an entire ethnic group from an area. He aided Serbs in removing Croats and Muslims from Bosnia-Herzegovina. He then helped Serbs remove Albanian Muslims from Kosovo, a self-governing province within Yugoslavia.

17. War Crimes (3) • The United states and NATO finally intervened to stop these war crimes. • In 2000, Milosevic was overthrown, and a democratic government replace him. He was later brought to trail before an international court of law. • Similar war crimes have occurred in Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, and Iraq. In each case ,outside parties attempted to stop the bloodshed.

18. Refugees Wars and other hardships often displace people from their homes. People may be forced to flee their homes because of violence, natural disaster, disease, and persecution. They flee to save their lives. They seek the most basic of human rights- the right to have safety, shelter and food and water.

19. Refugees (2) • In 1951, the United Nations General Assembly agreed to guarantee the basic human rights to refugees. Nations signed a document giving refugees a unique legal status, or position. That status guarantees them the right to asylum, or safety, in a foreign country. • Unfortunately, people often must first endure long stays in overcrowded, unhealthy refugee camps until relief organizations can find nations willing to accept them.

20. Epidemics Human rights included the rights to adequate health care. Despite progress in conquering many life-threatening diseases, new diseases still threaten the world community. One of the most serious epidemics is AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, caused by a virus called the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. HIV/AIDS has touched every continent.

21. Epidemics (2) • As of November 2005, more than 40million people would-wide were livingwith HIV/AIDS.The cost of treating HIV often exceeds what developing countriescan afford.The AIDS epidemic has reached crisis levels in Africa south of the Sahara, where life expectancy is expected to decline from 59 to 45 years of age by2010.Eighty percent of the world’s children who have HIV/AIDS live in this region.

22. Epidemics (3) AIDS is a global issue of grave importance. National governments and multinational organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN, are trying to fight the disease through education. Research continues for more affordable treatments and for a cure.

23. Nuclear Proliferation Despite the end of the Cold War, nuclear proliferation or the build up of nuclear weapons continues man in many countries around the world. According to one estimate, the United States and the republics of the former Soviet Union posses a combined total of 23,000 nuclear warheads. The figure does not include nuclear weapons owned by other nations, nor does it include nations suspected of having nuclear arms.

24. Nuclear Proliferation (2) The proliferation of nuclear weapons increase the likelihood of a third world war, which could destroy the planet’s ecology. The possibilities of another cold war present yet another challenge for human rights.