Human Rights/Political Rights - Essay Example

HUMAN RIGHTS AND POLITICAL RIGHTS This paper has been written on basis of the works done by Simone deBeauvoir, JohnStuart Mill and some of the political writings by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The reviews of above mentioned authors have been taken into consideration while preparing this paper. The human and political rights are the important aspects in today’s social life. Every human being has been provided with some basic fundamental rights by their governments to exist in society, which he/she has to follow. Then there are political rights that are used to protect basic fundamental rights. The paper presents the necessity of human and political rights and special rights given to minority communities. The importance of civil and social liberty has also been mentioned. The writer has taken some of the present scenario as examples to view how the basic rights are used properly and how the people were denied of these basic rights. Some of the points were taken from above mentioned authors works. Since the fundamental rights are the basic rights for people to live peacefully in the society they should be protected and those who violate the laws should be punished. Human rights are the basic fundamental rights given to the citizens according to the constitution by their respective governments. These basic fundamental rights are also known as constitutional rights. Political rights are those rights which are use to protect the fundamental rights of citizen. Since humans have the ability to think and are different from other animals and had to live in a society as civilized persons they are termed as social animals or rational animals. A person comes into this world as a child. Parents protect their child from the evil world. The child enjoys all the privileges that have been offered to them by their parents. They enjoy the freedom given to them without the fear of responsibilities. “Rewards, punishments, prizes, words of praise or blame instill in him the conviction that there exist a good and an evil which like a sun and a moon exist as ends in themselves” (BERNARD FRECHTMAN 35). The child is not aware of good and evil, whatever their parents instill in them they blindly follow them and believes them to be correct. Most of the cases of the women were much similar to a child. But the difference is the child is not aware of the things around him, in case of women knowingly they submit themselves as slaves. The women having been kept in a state of servitude and ignorance, they have no means of breaking the ceiling, which is stretched over their heads. Women are slaves who have not raised themselves to the consciousness of their slavery. In Muslim dominated countries the women should always be under veil from top to bottom. They are not allowed to show their body parts to the outer world. If they do they are punishable under strict Shariat1 law. We can say that they are treated as minority section. According to J.S. Mill to prevent the misuse of power and rights by the ruler or the majority communities, the minorities were given special rights to treat them as equals. This is termed as liberty by J.S. Mill. Mahatma Gandhi’s view on liberty was, there should be no inequality and every citizen should exercise basic fundamental rights. To achieve this he termed democracy was the important factor. In democratic government every citizen has been given equal rights. Miller discusses about the differences of opinions. If all the mankind has one opinion and only one man differs he has follow others irrespective of his thoughts. If the same person is having the power he forces his thoughts on the mankind. Miller also discusses that true opinions should never be suppressed and governments should take necessary steps to protect the liberty of choice. He also discusses about religious freedom. He says there should be no half-truths regarding religious issues because it is a very sensitive matter. Individuality should not become nuisance to others. The person’s acts should be confined to himself. In earlier centuries popes controlled the king because men with strong bodies or minds were least willing to follow the rules. Mill says the spirit of liberty should be maintained in order to have progress or improvement. An individual should never indulge himself in actions that might be harmful to others. If any issue is disputable the person should approach the authority and should fight his case in a law of court. The duty of authorities is to check any injustice being to any individual. If so, proper legal steps should be taken to protect citizen’s liberty. Simone deBeauvoir discusses about the oppression an Arabian has to face from the sheiks and the French and English administrations. The French interests were not same as the natives in the colonies. The question arising here is political before being moral: we must end by abolishing all oppression; every person must carry his struggle in connection with that of the other and by integrating it into the general pattern. Sometimes a person has to sacrifice his cause temporarily to a cause whose defense is more urgent. During the civil war, when the Negro leaders in America were asked to drop their claims for the sake of general interest, some of them refused; they thought even at the time of war their cause has to be defended. It has to be noticed that how minority sections are deprived of their rights in the name of national interests. They are given political protections by introducing new laws in the constitution. These special rights were given to the minority sections to protect the human rights so that they can be treated as equals in the society. Reference Bernard Frechtman. The Ethics of Ambiguity. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1948. Webster. 11 Dec. 2005. http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/philosophy/existentialism/deBeauvoir/ambiguity John Stuart Mill. ON LIBERTY. ? : P.F. Collier & Son, 1909. Serendipity. 11 Dec. 2005. http://www.serendipity.li/jsmill/ Thomas Merton. Writings of Mahatma Gandhi. ? : Free Cuba foundation, 1996.?.11Dec. 2005. http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/Gandhi.quotes.html Read More