Download as docx, pdf, or txt
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 2

For the sake of practical human rights, not human rights in name only

Human rights is a topic that is being continued to talked about and debated as the world becomes
globalized. Considering what I learned about human rights and global citizenship from elementary school to
university, I can see that human rights have been a clear part of our social spirit recently. Recently, it is true that
human rights are being respected in various fields, including education. However, it is also true that human
rights are not guaranteed in reality. I totally agree with Michael Freeman saying that many of human rights are
impressive on paper but there are hardly some relationships with the happenings in streets and the fields. If
human rights in the text are called first-level human rights and practical human rights as second-level human
rights, there are many countries, regions, and people who are guaranteed first-level human rights in modern
society, but not second-level human rights. Reading about the actual protection and limitations of human rights
related to 9/11 and Cold war, I’ve got to think about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israeli-Palestinian
conflict continues to severely violate human rights like some incidents introduced in the book.

The United Nations, many countries and organizations have made great efforts to stop the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict. But their conflict is getting more sophisticated, far from better. The news always shows the
horrors of the refugees and wars that have arisen in the process, and we are all aware of the seriousness of the
war and talk in anger about their human rights abuses. Why doesn't the conflict show any improvement at all
when many diplomatic documents are exchanged and the process of protecting the human rights of the
Palestinians is being tried? Many people say it is a religious difference. It's not wrong, but I don't fully agree. It
is meaningless to find a reason in the present because the war begins with a reason at first, but as it progresses, it
focuses only on winning and attacking. Rather, the priority is to understand the historical context of the dispute
and find the source where they were forced to collide. Therefore, I searched the history of the three religions in
Jerusalem and found that the difference in religion was essentially part of the cause of the conflict. There are
similarities and differences between all people. However, humans often pay attention to differences except when
building their own allies. This is because differences are much more apparent than similarities. When trying to
focus on and attack others' differences without acknowledging differences, war breaks out and human rights are
violated. In the end, in order to resolve disputes and regain actual human rights, it was necessary to make them
recognize that their religion is based on loving humans in common.

Not only war but also the causes of everyday human rights violations can be solved from starting to
stop caring about each other’s differences. Human rights are humans’ rights. In other words, changing human
thoughts is more important than any change in circumstances or laws. The reason why the aforementioned
second-stage human rights cannot be easily protected is that it is not easy to change the subjective human
thoughts. So I think that when governments and organizations come up with measures to protect human rights in
the future, they should include programs that can trigger psychological changes. I have read a book called
Nudge before, and there was a saying that we can get rid of the human habit of stubbornly keeping opinion with
soft intervention. While it is good to discuss human rights violations and social solutions when teaching human
rights through video and field lectures at schools, teaching others how to refrain from paying too much attention
will be a practical way for students to practice respect for human rights.

Page 1/2
Individuals can personally stop violating human rights by stop paying excessive attention to others,
but individuals are likely to become selfish again when they act collectively. Then, fostering courage not to be
subordinate to the group would also be an individual effort in a country where human rights violations occur
frequently. Of course, global organizations should help such individuals be protected.

In conclusion, we should always remember that the solutions to the problems caused by people should
be solved by people, not by writing but by thinking and acting. Then, the complex problems can be solved easily
and quickly than we think. Plans I’ve claimed for protection or revival of human rights are based my experience,
so, I can confidently say this plan is effective. When I helped my school-violent friend, when I got out of school
violence, and when I tried to eliminate the discriminatory gaze that multicultural friends and their parents
received, I could solve it by changing the views and thoughts of those who got violated and those who violated
human rights.

Page 2 / 2

You might also like