International Human Rights and Social Justice - Essay Example

International Human Rights and Social Justice [The of the will appear here] [The of the id will appear here] [The of thecourse will appear here] [The name of the course number will appear here] Why were human rights declared to be universal in 1948? Introduction The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, also known as UDHR, is a declaration of basic human rights that were adopted on 10 December 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris. The Declaration consists of thirty articles and was issued by Eleanor Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in collaboration and support from 24 other states under the umbrella of United Nations (Plesch, 2011). These rights are considered to be the first expression of human rights globally. The need for these rights was greatly felt during the Second World War amid great destruction of human life and property. Ernest Davies, a delegate of the UN stated It should not be forgotten ... that the war by its total disregard of the most fundamental rights was responsible for the declaration (Morsink, 2011). The war served as the precedent for these human rights when nations came together to prevent further war and destruction. Human rights thus became universal at a crucial time in history. While 48 nations accepted the Declaration during its initial phase, these rights were not mandatory on any nation. Rather they were voluntary and paved the way for acceptance in law in many other including Canada where UDHR is part of the legal framework of the country. While many have argued whether these rights are actually universal but they were declared universal because they reflected on the views of the strong Western Nations that came to dominate the world after the Second World War. Even non-western nations consider these rights to be universal since they represent the ideals that these nations strive for. Universal Declaration of Human Rights The basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created by Eleanor Roosevelt and Winston Churchill as they represented two of the strongest Western nations- the United States and United Kingdom. The first draft for UDHR was created by John Peters Humphrey which was rewritten by Rene Cassin after minor changes was made. The Declaration was unanimously accepted by all 48 nations who were present during the vote of its acceptance. However, there were eight absenteeism in the form of Saudi Arabia, Soviet Union, Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR. Poland, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. The structure of the declaration was inspired by Code Napoleon which consisted of a preamble and general articles. The Declaration starts with a Preamble with seven paragraphs. This preamble lays down the reasons for the introduction of the declaration; thus serving as the foundation for the general principles that follow. The 30 articles deal with different aspects of human rights including right to life and property. The first two articles are individual basic human rights that extend the rights of equality, liberty and dignity to every human being. Article 3 to 11 also deal with individual rights including right to life and ban to all kinds of slavery. Of these articles 6 to 11 deal with how violations of human rights would be dealt with. The next set of articles, 12 to 17 deal with the rights of individuals pertaining to political and civil society. The individuals roles and duties in a society is defined in these articles. The third set of articles, 18 to 30, deal with freedom rights pertaining to religion, thought, politics and society. These rights were developed to meet the modern individuals desire for democracy which was greatly felt during the WWII. Thus, the contents of this declaration were able to gain strong support from individuals in all worlds. Purpose and Importance of UDHR UDHR was perhaps the first universal document that was supported by 48 countries around the world. The declaration is based on three basic principles. Firstly, that human rights are a birth right of every individual and no one including nations have the right to violate these rights of any individual. Secondly, human rights are indivisible. Every human being, regardless of class, color and creed is entitled to all the thirty rights defined in the declaration. No human being could be alienated from any article within the declaration. Thirdly, these rights are interdependent. Thus, in order to understand one article, it is important to take into grasp the entire framework. Countries would have to accept the declaration are a whole in order to uphold the rights of humans presented in the document. Even though UDHR has been accepted by almost all nations, the declaration is not a legally binding document. The document is a voluntary set of rights. The United Nations cannot hold a country legally responsible of any of the thirty principles are violated. The declaration only presents the ideals for human rights. Governments are encouraged to incorporate these principles in their national laws. The creation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights After the second world war, the United Nations was formed in 1945. United Nations was formed in order to bring the world together on a single platform in order to solve conflicts without any bias. The objective was to present an unbiased platform that would help solve issues peacefully. Previously, The League of Nations created after the first World War had failed to meet its objectives and therefore did not command any strong power. However, the United Nations was formed amidst strong sentiments against the genocides committed by the Nazis during the war. The United Nations was formed to establish a new world order where human rights were safeguarded and protected. Thus, the initial objective of the United Nations was to create a universal document of human rights. This was one of the most difficult tasks any organization would have to deal with. However, the task was not entirely impossible given the socio-political climate at the time of its creation. A multitude of factors helped in pushing the declaration to its completion and acceptance phase. These included the rising sentiment amongst the peace to instill peace and democracy within the world and to prevent any world. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was made universal following the autocracies committed during the Second World War; the millions of displaced people created after the War; the rising liberal sentiment and the growing secular world. Aftermath of World War II It was basically the second world war that created the need for human rights. During the first world war, around 37 million people were killed including soldiers and children. The Second World War saw the deaths of another 70 million people. Concentration camps of the Nazis were places where the worst forms of death occurred. In these camps, Jews and other people, considered to be the ills of the society, were forced under slave labor; where they died of fatigue, starvation or disease. Other than the concentration camps, extermination camps were created where millions of people were executed and many were mass murdered in gas chambers. These deaths were justified on the basis of war by the Nazi Germans. However, the rest of the world, particularly United States was horrified with the war and they way war gave humans no dignity and no freedom. Thus, the need to create a better world was strongly felt. With UDHR, it was believed that peace would prevail as the document provided a framework for how individuals should be treated. Since the document was signed by 48 nations, it was felt that these nations would not be involved in a Third World War. With the previous two World Wars, many nations who had not been part of the war had been sucked into the pitfall of death and violence. The UDHR, thus served as a basis for prevention of further war. Displaced People As the second world war came to an end, a serious problem was created in the shape of the refugees who were forced out of their countries. A United Nations special committee was created for the specific purpose of handling such issues. Millions of people were placed in DP camps or displaced person camps. These people were survivors of the Holocaust. The holocaust being a state sponsored extermination of Jews from Germany by Adolf Hitler. As millions were pushed towards death, 6 million people managed to run away from their home country. Of these displaced people many had run away from Russia where Stalins followers continued to treat people in similar way as that of the Nazi Germans. As these refugees were forced out of their country, a pressing issue for the UN was whether to send the refugees back home or to create room for these people in other countries. Eleanor Roosevelt, part of the UN assembly was not the favor of sending these displaced people back to their home because she and other members were aware that sending their people back home would likely result in death of these people since the Soviet Union was adamant in creating a communist regime even at the expense of their citizens. However, Roosevelt met with serious opposition from Andrey Vyshinsky, a Soviet communist delegate of the UN who had served under Stalin. Vyskinsky argued that these displaced people belonged to a nation and sending these people outside their home country would be unfair to the country whom they were bound to serve. Roosevelt then presented the argument for human rights. Roosevelt claimed that the purpose of UN was to grant rights to mankind over countries and nations. The entire purpose of UN would be nullified if human rights were not given precedence. As Roosevelt won the argument, she made herself one of the first spokesperson for human rights (Darraj, 2010). She later came to be known as humanitys Magna Carta informally. The Changing Western Identity The end of the Second World War was also a time when a liberal sentiment was emerging globally. It was initially United States that began to advocate the rights of individual beings over nations, countries and communities. Later many other countries joined in to support the sentiment. This sentiment arose as a direct reaction towards the autocracies committed by Eastern Europe during the Second World War. Even when the human rights declaration was being signed, many delegates confirmed that the need for such rights arose in the aftermath of the second World War. Charles Malik, a delegate from Lebanon, stated that the rights were inspired by opposition to the barbarous doctrines of Nazism and fascism (Morsink, 2011). Indian delegate, Lakhsimi Menon also affirmed that the document was "born from the need to reaffirm those rights after the violation during the war" (Morsink, 2011). While a liberal sentiment was emerging, the United States government was also changing its stance in terms of its foreign policy. As US began to emerge as a superpower, it began to hold control over many other nations. From here began a new era as US began to take active interest in the affairs of other nations. The Vietnamese war was one such example. This changing state of affairs made it clear that US wanted to move the world towards a society that ensured individual freedom, equality and liberty (Moyn, 2010). Western Ideals and the Cold War When the United Nations was formed, it consisted of five superpowers who were the permanent members of the organization. Of these, United States and Russia were two main superpowers. These superpowers were at a clash with each other regarding views on communism. While both the countries promoted the development of a human rights declaration, both had different ideals of how the document would safeguard the rights of individuals. The Soviet Union argued for a social form of justice while the liberal Americans demanded individualism as a form of liberty. Both of these were firm on their stance and giving in would have made the other party much stronger. Thus, the human rights forum served as a important part of winning the Cold War. While both argued on equal grounds and made eloquent speeches, it was United States that held a better position than the Soviet Union. United States was emerging as a imperial nation at that time. It had a strong economic foundation as a result of rapid industrialization in the country. Also in collaboration with many European Nations including UK, America was able to solidify its position. In this position, the United States was able to gather strong support from other weaker nations. Thus, when the UDHR was passed, it represented Western opinions and ideals. Though, it was passed unanimously by all nations present during the time, it did not present a universal theme for human rights. There were only eight absenteeism and it was not surprising that these represented non-western thoughts. It was mostly the Western nations that dominated the talks of its resolution and those non-Western states that were present during the meeting were either under-represented or their governments reflected Western values (Birdsall, 2009). A Secular Society Before World War II and even during it, religion served as a defining feature for human rights. Different religions had different ways of treating human rights and most nations preferred to adopt these principles. However, as the society modernized, it moved towards a more secular form of nation where society became more human centric as compared to the previous god centric society. While it solved many issues, it created new ones. One issue was how to deal with human rights in a secular society. This was also a time when international relations between countries were increasing and thus the need for an international human right document was felt. The need became more urgent when millions of European Jews and other minorities were exposed to the worst forms of racism. The Enlightenment Thought, particularly the theories presented by Hobbes, helped fill a void that religious moral views had left open. Hobbes argued that the moral principles of the Greek and the Romans had served the society well since they ruled over most of the civilization. However, in todays time, where each nation is sovereign, human rights took on a new dimension. Conclusion Before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, countries were able to justify autocracies based on the argument that a country has the right to decide matters of its citizens and its treatment of its citizens is purely an internal matter. Before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was passed, millions of deaths had been committed by Nazi Germans based on the argument that individuals were properties of the state and they owed their life to the state. The World Wars were the worst forms of racism where certain humans were considered to be unequal to others. Thus, World War I gave way to World War II. While the Europeans nations were deeply involved in the war and did not have the resources or the time to invest in political and economic development, US emerged as a strong superpower. Even though US was involved in the war, it was also able to view the war from an outsiders perspective. This gave the United States a different sense of power. As the Second World War came to an end, the US was able to take control over the peace talks. It enjoyed a strong position in the peace talks since it was perhaps the most strong of the other war stricken countries. Thus, it was no surprise that United States dominated the peace talks. The only resistance the US faced was in the form of Russia that was another super power during the time and was also involved in a cold war with United States. Russia had a different conception of human rights that was more social than liberal. However, the US was adamant to shift the scales in its favor since dominating and leading the peace talks would help gain an edge over Russia in the Cold War. Also if Russian ideas were to seep into the declaration, US would have lost the war against communism against Russia. Thus, US took big support from other Western nations that supported the US ideals of human rights. Even many non-western states took the side of US knowing the advantage it would allow to them. United States, under the umbrella of the United Nations, used the war genocides committed during the Second World War to push the concept of the human rights. The entire world was shocked with the way Nazi Germans treated not just European Jews but also other minorities. The second world War continued on for seven years during which millions of people were brutally sent to their death. What was more shocking was that Nazi Germans were able to justify their war autocracies. Millions were also displaced from their homes and a pressing question arose as to where should they live now. Russia advocated moving them back to their homeland where they faced a strong risk of being executed while US argued for creating new places for them. The need for human rights was strongly felt then. The entire world was willing to come under one umbrella in order to prevent another war that would further drain their human resources and economic foundation. The United Nations provided that umbrella. The biggest problem was coming to terms with a universal concept of human rights. Religion here thus would not have served the foundation but would rather have complicated it. Enlightenment philosophers such as Hobbes provided the way towards the acceptance of a more universal code. This paved the way towards the creation of a universal form of human rights. References Birdsall, A. 2009, The International Politics of Judicial Intervention: Creating a More Just Order, NY: Routledge Darraj, S. 2010, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, NY: Infobase Publishing Morsink, J. 2011, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Origins, Drafting, and Intent, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press Plesch, D. 2011, Hitler and the UN: How the Allies Won World War II and Forged a Peace, UK: I.B. Tauris Moyn, S. 2010, The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History, MA: Harvard University Press Read More