UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

CENTRE FOR COMMUNICTION STUDIES
DPC1207: FOUNDATIONS OF JOURNALISM: NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL
INSTITUTIONS
LECTURER: MR. M. E. BROTHERSON
STUDENT: FAITH GREENE
USI: 1034411

Human rights.
Human rights are what link every human being, to one another regardless of religion, nationality,
gender and of course, race. Before the human rights were established, the mankind faced
numerous hardships, many times because of the color of one’s skin or religion. Human rights
protect people from discrimination (against the color of skin, ethnicity, religion or nationality),
abuse (of all types) and inequality among gender. Human rights is the best creation that humans
could have made. They protect and link us together, creating in itself a community of hope and
positivity. As a result of World War II, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. With the war ended and the
United Nations in place, the international Community committed to never again allow brutalities
like those happen again. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter with a road map
to ensure the rights of people everywhere. The document they considered which is now the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was first taken up at the first General Assembly session
in 1946. At the first session in early 1947, the Commission authorized its members formulate
what is called, “a preliminary draft international bill of Human Rights.” The commission of
Human Rights consisted of 18 members of varying political, cultural and religious backgrounds.
Among these members was Eleanor Roosevelt chairman of UDHR drafting committee. With Her
was Rene Cassin of France, who wrote the first draft of the declaration, Charles Malik of
Lebanon, Vice Chairman Peng Chung Chang of China and John Humphrey of Canada. The first
draft of the Declaration was proposed in September 1948, with over 50 Member states engaging
in the final drafting.
Characteristics of Human rights
Human rights are inalienable, meaning these rights cannot be lost because it is linked to each
human existence, they can however be suspended or restricted, for example a person found guilty
of a crime can have their freedom suspended.
Human rights are indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. This means that each human right
is connected and cannot be viewed in isolation from one another. The enjoyment of one right is
dependent on the enjoyment of other rights. No one right overshadows another.
Human Rights are universal. Meaning that these rights are applied equally to each human being,
world-wide, with no limit.
Since the UNDHR was established we live in a much better world. While it is not free from
discrimination and hate, I’d say we are far away from the days of abuse that we suffered from
each other. The Taliban rule in Afghanistan between l996 and 2001, is one example of why we
need human rights. Heather Barr in her Human Rights Watch article expressed that the women
and girls in Afghan during that period, were denied an education, employment, freedom of
movement and even something as simple as health care. They were also subjected to violence,
public lashing or execution by stoning. The UNDHR article 2 states, that each person is entitled
to all the rights and freedoms set in the declaration without distinction of any sort such as race,
religion, sex, color, language, political or other opinion or status. Article 2 of this declaration
also explains that no distinction should be made based off of political, jurisdictional or
international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it’s
independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. Today in
Afghanistan, the fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces continue to have a
disastrous impact on civilians, children particularly. Thousands of people were either injured or
killed in 2017 in insurgent suicide and improvised explosive device (IED). As if that’s not bad
enough indiscriminate aerial and mortal attacks by government forces added to the civilian toll.
This is no way for people to live. According to the Handbook Parliamentarian, the “obligation to
respect” means that Governments are obliged to keep from interfering in the enjoyment of rights
by individuals. It doesn't allow State actions that may undermine the enjoyment of rights. For
example, with reference to the right to education, it means that governments must respect the
liberty of parents to establish private schools and to ensure the religious and moral education of
their children in accordance with their own convictions. In so many countries around the world
the violation of human rights is prominent. The acceptance of modern day slavery and abuse is
sickening. We live in a world where we know of gender hate, gender based violence,
discrimination because of religion, color, race and nationality and instead of doing something to
help curb these growing ills, we are encouraging it. In South Africa, economic insecurity,
poverty, high unemployment and inciting rhetoric by government officials, led to the racist
violence in 2019. On March 25, however, hundreds of foreign nationals in Durban were forced to
seek shelter as the mobs destroyed and looted their homes and other valuables. In Zimbabwe,
despite the repeated commitment to human rights reforms, they remained highly intolerant of
freedom of expression and assembly in 2019. These countries are why the human rights
declaration is in existence. It is to protect us humans from endangering each other more than we
already are. I believe that the people who fought for the freedom for people to express
themselves freely without being discriminated against, were truly heroes. Without them standing
up for their rights and demanding that changes be made, we would still be living in a world
where gender based violence, equality, hate and discrimination, racism and brutality. Human
rights has helped individuals to come a long way from those days of beating up someone because
they look different than you, sound different and even dress differently. While not everyone has
accepted and respected the UNDHR, there are some who do and it is up to people like us to be
the changes we want to see in our society. We can only make a difference, a good difference, if
we all stand together as one and accept that we are all linked together and no one person is
different from the other.
 References

Afghanistan . (n.d.). Retrieved from hrw.org: https://www.hrw.org/asia/afghanistan

Barr, H. (2020, March 5). A crucuial moment for women's rights in Afghanistan. Retrieved from
hrw.org: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/05/crucial-moment-womens-rights-
afghanistan

Inter- Parliament UNION, U. O. (2016). In Human Rights: Handbook for Parliamentarian.

Southern Afric: Weak Rights Protection. (2020, January 14). Retrieved from hrw.org:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/01/14/southern-africa-weak-rights-protections

Rights, U. N. (n.d.). United Nations Declaration of Human rights. Retrieved from OHCHR.org:
https://www.ohchr.org/en/udhr/documents/udhr_translations/eng.pdf

What is human rights. (n.d.). Retrieved from coe.int: https://www.coe.int/en/web/compass/what-

are-human-rights-#Characteristics%20of%20human