The Human Rights in the Media in Syria - Research Paper Example

?The Human Rights in the Media in Syria Introduction The popular Arab spring that began in brought to the limelight the suffering and hardship that citizens of the Arab nations that revolted undergo, which include human rights violation on men, women, and children. Hinnebusch lamented that the Arab spring brought to the World’s attention about the fact that media freedom has not yet being fully achieved in most of the Arab nations. Nevertheless, this could be partly because the governments owns the major media house in the Arab nations or because the central government has an indirect control of the media houses and therefore they are able to control the content that they show or tell the public (95-113). Because of this government control on the freedom of free reporting, many human rights violations have gone unnoticed and the World is even unaware of such atrocities. In the current Syrian crisis, the Assad government has been accused of committing human rights violation that includes deprivation of basic human needs to its population. Because of their plight, the Syrian population has increasingly relied on both the local and international media to tell out their story to the world as well as reach out to for help from bodies such as the United Nations. The main aim objective of this research paper is to investigate how the media promotes or protect human rights. The pointing case will be how the Syrian population is using the media to reach out to the World and the United Nations, and how the United Nations is subsequently trying to support the Syrian population through the media. The Syrian Crisis According to Ajami, the Arab uprising or revolution marked the breaking point for the internal problems that were being experienced in the Arab countries that included Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria and the revolt was used as a way to express citizen’s dissatisfactions with the countries’ leadership. The hardships experienced in those countries arise from the dictatorial leadership that was practiced in those countries and that was fully responsible for the poor economic condition in the mentioned Arab countries, high food prices, and the high cost of living, lack of unemployment, and rampant corruption in the country’s public offices (78-85). Ajami further added that as for Yemen, the revolution was also an outcry against the attempts by the Saleh’s government to amend the country’s constitution (86). As for the Syrian revolt, it was partly contributed by the ethnic hatred between the minority and majority, whereby the ruling minority ethnic community lead by the Assad regime is accused of apply nepotisms in the distribution of national resources. Additionally, the Syrian crisis was propelled by the food crisis that has greatly affected the country, and of which the current Assad regime and the previous regime that was lead by his father are both accused of failing to make the nation food secure (Ajami, 23-31). Lesch lamented that it is only Syria, which is still experiencing intensified civil war since the advent of the Arab revolution while most of the Arab nations such as Yemen, Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia have at least returned to normalcy or the intensity of the crisis has reduced. This is because the countries have recorded reforms in the governance of the nation and a change in the countries' top leadership that has been enabled by the elections conducted after the revolution (45-48). Lesch further lamented that the Syrian crisis is still intensified because President Assad is adamant on his position and has continued to defy the opposition. Moreover, the use of inhumane approach by President Assad loyal forces to quell the violence has continued to anger the opposition and even intensified the civil war within the country. Among the most inhumane approach that the Assad regime has used to fight back the opposition is the use of military tankers on both armed and unarmed protestors (102-113). Worse is the fact that off late the law enforcement officers have been threatening to use chemical weapons on the protestors, which could amount to one of the worst human atrocities to be committed in the modern world. Current reports by the international media such as Cables News Network, British Broadcasting Corporation, and Al Jaezera all indicate that since the beginning of the Syrian crisis there has been thousands of death and injuries on both the pro-government supporters and opposition supporters in Syria. Secondly, the civil war in Syria has lead to the displacement of more than four million Syrians. Moreover, media reports indicate that many Syrians have fled to other neighbouring countries because of the civil unrest currently going on in their country and they are living in refugee camps where the standard of living is quite low. With reference to the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is correct to assert that the crisis in Syria and in particular the Assad regime is responsible for committing human rights violation on men, women, and children. Among the human right abuses in Syria, include rape of women and children, extra judicial killings, use of excessive force on unarmed protestors thereby undermining their right to freedom of expression, and unlawful arrests of citizens, among others. According to Hunter these human right abuses are bound to continue so long as the crisis in Syria remains unresolved (1). However, it is of essence to note that President Assad has refused to bulge into any consensus even those brokered by the Arab league and the Gulf Cooperation Council in order for peace to prevail in the country. Hunter stated that the latest media report indicate that the United States government and the Russian government have agreed to set up a joint council that will focus on addressing the Syrian crisis and even trying to find an amicable solution that is able to resolve the crisis in its entirety (1). The role of media in promoting human rights With reference to the wrings by Biagi, he wrote that the media is a very powerful institution since they are able to influence how the public perceive certain issues and it can even influence the public to take a biased stand on certain issues based on how it portrays the issues to the public (19-20). In this regards, Biagi refers to the common phrase that ‘the media can either break or make someone (34).’ This argument is widely demonstrated in the political arena where the media can contribute to the downfall of a political figure by focusing much on the negative attributes of the politician or they can make a politician more popular and admired by the public by portraying him positively to the public. For example, in the last presidential elections in the United Kingdom, the former Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown was portrayed negatively in the media because of some of negative off the cuff remarks that he made, which subsequently contributed to his loss in the elections. While in the U.S, the media has been favourably portraying President Obama to the public, and hence contributing to his consecutive wins. Equally, Soderlund et al. stated that the media has the power to promote peace and respect to human rights during the times of conflict or crisis within a region (17). Soderlund et al. further added that the basic media strategy for trying to restore back peace and preservation of human rights in a region that is facing unrest is to highlight to the local population as well as the entire world on the negative effects of the unrest or the conflict that is currently taking place (39-42). The media highlights will normally present to the public human rights violations that are being committed during the conflict and even the negative repercussions of the unrest to the properties located in the region, and even the economic condition of the region. According to Soderlund et al. the other common strategy applied by the media is to highlight on the reasons that are causing the conflict or human rights violations and then portray those propagating the violations in a negative manner, in order to ensure that they do not get any public support (45-47). Thirdly, and most importantly, Soderlund et al. stated that the media houses normally propose necessary measures that could be undertaken to ensure that even during the times of crisis, human rights are fully preserved by the warring factions (48). With reference to the writings by Sliwinski, he stated that the media promotes the preservation and respect of human rights during the times of conflict by keenly highlighting on the abuses that are taking place (67-69). These media highlights; both locally and internationally tend to attract condemnations from local quarters, foreign countries, and even from international human rights bodies such as the Amnesty International and the United Nations all in a bid to deter and discourage the commission of human rights violations. How the Syrian population is using the media to reach out to the world and the United Nations The crisis in Syria has gained worldwide attention because of the fact that the Syrian population has been ready and willing to speak out about the conflict to the media, which then relays the information to the rest of the world as well as international bodies such as the United Nations. Therefore, much of the world is aware of the Syrian crisis because Syrians have not shied away from the media to speak about and inform the world about what is going on in Syria as well as the human rights atrocities that are being committed under the disguise of the current civil war in the country. Hunter noted that it is evident from observation that Syrians have used various avenues of both old and new media in order to tell the rest of the world and the UN about their plight. In regards to the old media, the Syrian population is reaching out to the world and the United Nations by agreeing to participate in television and radio interviews with both local and international journalists. The Syrians use such platforms to plead to the rest of the world and the UN, to intervene in the Syrian crisis and ensure that no human rights violation is been committed. Additionally, majority of the well learned Syrians have contributed their stories about the current plight in Syria to the local and international print media in a bid to inform the world about what is going on in Syria. From their contributions, they even to seek support from the United Nations in order to end the human rights abuses that are taking place in the current the civil war in their country. Hunter revisited the fact that the first Arab uprisings that occurred in Egypt and Tunisia were coordinated and propagated using social media sites, and therefore, the social media has played an integral part in the Arab uprising. Despite using social media sites such as facebook and twitter to encourage as well as discourage the Syrian revolt, most of the Syrian population has used the social media sites to inform the world and international humanitarian organisations such as the United Nations about the situation in Syria and even the human rights violations being committed. However, it is of essence to note that the Assad regime has been keen on preventing the use of media by the Syrian population to reach out to the world and the UN, and this can be asserted by the frequent downtimes of internet services in Syria. How the United Nations is trying to support the Syrian population using the media Basically, the UN is trying to support the Syrian population using the media by ensuring that their stories is widely covered in the international press and by encouraging the Syrian population to tell out their story to the rest of the world. The United Nations have also taken upon themselves to inform the rest of the world about the situation in Syria and to urge the rest of the World to publicly condemned the violence and human rights abuses that are taking place in Syria. Secondly, the UN while using the media has urged the rest of the world to join hands and call for peace in Syria. Thirdly, the UN while using the media to support the Syrian population has also asked the rest of the world to support the Syrian population during this difficult time through moral support and even material support. References Ajami, Fouad. The Syrian Rebellion. U.S Hoover Institution Press. 2012 Print Biagi, Shirley. Media Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media. U.S: Cengage Learning Publishers 2012 Print Hinnebusch, Raymond. "Syria: From 'Authoritarian Upgrading' to Revolution?". International Affairs. 88 (1). 2012 Print Hunter, Molly. Live Updates: Syria Crisis. Retrieved from: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/05/live-updates-syria-crisis-today/ Accessed on [09.05.2013] Lesch, David. Syria: The Fall of the House of Assad. U.S: Yale University Press. 2012 Print Sliwinski, Sharon. Human Rights In Camera. U.S: University Of Chicago Press. 2011 Print Soderlund, Walter. and Briggs, Donald. Hildebrandt, Kai. and Sidahmed, Abdel. Humanitarian Crises and Intervention: Reassessing the Impact of Mass Media. U.S: Kumarian Press. 2008 Print Read More