Affirmative Action - a Global Perspective - Coursework Example

Affirmative Action – A Global Perspective. Affirmative action which is mostly regarded as a positive action refers to policies which are put in place in which gender, ethnicity, race etc are put into serious consideration with an aim of promoting equal opportunities for all. These policies aim at fighting tribalism among any separating issues. In our essay today we look at Affirmative action in a global perspective. The article concentrates on international legal standards concerning affirmative action where international law strongly supports it as well as focusing on affirmative action all over the world. It was until the year 2001 that Americas representatives developed plans for combating racial discrimination which led to the adoption of the affirmative action which was chief among the groups tactics which aimed at creating good conditions for all to effectively participate in decision making. This was viewed as a very good remedies and gained significant support by the World Conference against Racism It is very evident that racism and racial discrimination exists in all parts of the world. These actions are seen clearly in cases where there is unequal treatment or favourism of specific groups of people through organs like; criminal justice system, cultural rights, jobs and education access. All these forms of unfair treatment are viewed by international agreements as actions that violate human rights. As a result the international conventions have started enforcing government policies in an attempt to eradicate all forms of racial discrimination so as to protect human rights regardless to ethnicity or race. Among the relevant bodies put in place to enhance the policies are; international covenant of civil and political rights, Convention on elimination of discrimination against women and International Covenant of economic, social and cultural Rights. A very good example of applied policies is a case study of affirmative action in Brazil. This country has for a long time harbored a national myth that’s its various races live together in harmony which had for a long time hindered proper implementation of the affirmative policies. This led to intense discrimination where statistics showed that whites earned 57 percent more than Blacks regardless of the level of education. This racism exists regardless of Brazil’s constitutional prohibition on racial discrimination. This led to major constitutional challenges by various activists who voiced that the constitution should be of the soul aim of promoting the well being of all without discrimination of race, color, sex or age. In May 2003, the government of Brazil founded a new ministry called the “Special Secretaries for Devising Policies for Racial Equality Promotion” which acted as a very good tool for fighting racial discrimination. Brazil’s Government went further and implemented affirmative action in all public universities with an aim of fighting racial discrimination through the state legislature who passed a law enforcing public universities to set aside 50 percent of their seats for public high schools, 40 percent for foreign students or students from different races including the blacks and the rest 10 percent for the disabled students. This was later modified to 20 percent for blacks, 20 percent for public schools students, 5 percent for disabled students and the rest for those who could afford to pay for the self sponsored programs. This In turn intensely helped promote equality and living together in harmony as well as fighting racial discrimination. For a period of 27 years, Global rights have been active in the efforts of eliminating racial discrimination through the use of strategic legal action and intensification of the voice of activists in countries all over the world which is guided by international advocacy efforts. These actions often help to strengthen the collaboration among social justice groups. In conclusion, there are several ways in which affirmative action programs may be implemented and a set of reasons why they are important to a country at large. However, countries must carefully take clear consideration of their political, cultural and social backgrounds when determining the type of affirmative action that is capable of best supporting their goals while keeping I mind that equality is of great importance and a realization that we are all one in the eyes of God should be the source of inspiration the range against racial discrimination. Product Liability – Consumer Product Safety. In an attempt to safeguard the public from possible health problems, injuries or even the risk of death from harmful consumer products most governments impose guidelines or rules to govern the safety of many products before they are authorized to be released to the common consumers. An example is products that are sub-standard, spoilt or not suitable for human use or consumption. In our essay we concentrate on “The Proposed Canada Consumer Product Safety Act.” Many manufacturing companies and the relevant attorney are that the government in Canada, for the best interest of the safety of consumers, introduced a means of governing most consumer products which range from food, medicine, drugs, machinery etc. The Act that represents consumer products safety was introduced on 8th April, 2008 under the Health and Sanitation Ministry which helps in identification of products that restricted or prohibited in Canada. This was initiated in a previous research which was known as Health Canada which entailed the assessment of various methods of managing the Health risks and safety hazards associated with various consumer products where they mainly monitor advertisements compliance, sale and imports of various hazardous products. In general it is important to note that in the business world not all manufactures are conscious about the safety of the products they manufacture and hence it is the sole responsibility of the government to safeguard the consumers against harmful products. This is usually very useful especially in cases where we have new products in the market. Before they can be accepted, they have to be certified by relevant bureau of standards so as to ascertain that they are of good quality. Among the major responsibilities of the government is, Active Prevention where they are responsible for making sure that prevent problems. Secondly they should target oversight to tackle products that present high risks and lastly providing rapid response to problems when they occur. As part of Canada’s health policies, it empowers certain safety officers to with the authority to order a manufacturer and importer dealing with certain consumer products to have certifying information from relevant authorities and if necessary conduct tests to the products to ensure that they are not sub-standard, defective, non-compliant. This helps in ensuring the products safety before they are supplied to the consumers. In relation to this general consumers should realize that it is their right to receive quality and safe products and any complains against the same should be forwarded to the relevant authority. Manufacturers and/or importers should realize that these policies are in the best interest of the health and safety of the consumers and should therefore ensure that all their products are up to standard and safe for the consumers. However, in cases where products are found to be non-compliant to the safety standards, the relevant inspector has the right to ground all the products pending further investigation. If the manufacturer or supplier is found guilty of contravening the set policies, he/she may be convicted and may be liable to paying a fine of up to $5,000,000 according to Bill C-52 of Canada’s Law. References. Peter J. October 2008. The Proposed Canada Consumer Product Safety Act: Product Liability Committee Newsletter. International Association of Defense Council. Global Rights. 2005. Affirmative Action: A Global Perspective. Federal Policies. 2009. Consumer Product Safety Commission Alert: Recent Major Decisions by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Impact Sellers of Children’s Products. Read More