Do Human Rights Have a Substantive Universal Meaning - Report Example

Do Human Rights have a substantive universal meaning?” Introduction The human rights issues have been violated all these years and the devastating consequences of war every now and often have seemed to hit the country right in the face of it. Its people have been subjected to the most inhuman of conditions, where they have been massacred due to one reason or the other, women and children abducted from their homes, women raped and their heads eventually cut off to put up on the signboards near the city’s centers to demonstrate that the same act was done in the name of honor are just some of the aspects that need to be studied in the proper perspective. 1It is also common knowledge that for a number of years Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have worked endlessly to ensure that the human rights violations within Iraq stop and thus normalcy is restored at the earliest but somehow or the other, this thing has never actually materialized at the top level. Meaning of Substantiation in the wake of Human Rights Human rights issues have brought to light the various roles which are played by the human rights agencies and their linkage with them on the top most levels of the government. Thus the question of whether or not there is some significance in the whole quagmire is pretty evident since the human rights situation the world over is quite appalling to say the least. Take the case of Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba and one finds out what the meaning of this regime is all about. Furthermore, there seems to be no respite for any governing body since the violations of human rights seem to continue and the world’s top most bodies, who incidentally are also known as the governing councils are doing absolutely nothing. Human rights are particularly more important in the light of the deteriorating situations which are prevalent within Iraq and Afghanistan where suicide bombings, mass killings and the like are pretty rampant2. Add to that, rape of women and molestation of children also form as the most significant of crimes that can only be remarked as heinous right from the onset. Human Rights Issues – Post Iraq War Discussion Iraq crisis has had a number of issues that come under the human rights perspective. Similarly, it is pretty much correct to state that human rights have been one of the biggest problems ever since the whole muddle started in the year 2003. The manner in which Bush’s and Blair’s armies destroyed the whole of the nation is way too much when we compare with what Saddam Hussein did with his own motherland. In a manner that can only be remarked as a counter measure, the American and the British forces justified their war on Iraq by having a number of crimes in the name of human rights so that in the end there could be some rationale for all the steps that had been taken by then by these allied armies. 3The battlefield successes of March and April 2003 were enough to suggest that there were no traces of weapons of mass destruction or WMD as we may call them for short. Thus in order to save face in the wake of increasing world conflict and pressure from the world’s governing body, the United Nations, the allied armies had to commit crimes that were in close relationship with human rights and domestic issues within Iraq. It is without a shadow of a doubt that the Iraq war has resulted in a number of casualties on the part of the nation. Not only this but the endless saga of wars had been designed for it, no wonder the same could continue in the years to come as well. This has been made possible due to the repressive role of the Iraqi government under the tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein for years. Add to that the corruption which was rampant within the society also speaks volumes of the charges that could be raised against the government and indeed the whole of the society of the time. Since the US thought that it was in the best interest of the Iraqi nation to capture it and remove Saddam Hussein from power, it should have made efforts to ensure that doing so would mean that a commoner’s life would improve and not deteriorate as a result of the conquer. US had the responsibility to maintain law and order within the country as well as guarantee that the power was shifted to a regime which was better equipped at dealing with the issues of the common man as well as be the ‘yes man’ for the United States under all circumstances. Thus restoring and maintaining public order as well as security remained as the top most propositions for the US. But the most important of these was the fact that the US and its allied armies had to ensure that they would not bargain on the fundamental and most basic of human rights within the country. After all, this is Iraqi people’s country and they are the first rate citizens so it is a matter of shame for them if forces from other nations come into their motherland and start talking their own language.4 Without a doubt, the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein is no more within the lives of the Iraqi populace. However what is present today is even more dangerous for their lives, their families and their property. They are facing human rights issues and barbaric crimes are being committed day in day out so as to ensure that US-led armies have complete control over the region. Thus it is rightly stated here that America is following a policy of making a right whilst committing two wrongs. This is unacceptable right from the onset and needs to be seen in the proper perspective. However on the better angle, the Iraqi populace of present times can easily say what they want to, express their own selves without the fear of being tried or executed as used to be the case in the yesteryears, under the Saddam Hussein’s reign. With that, there has been an upsurge in the formation of a number of political parties who have raised their voices in favor of the issues that the Iraqis are facing at the hands of the US-led forces and not to forget, for the first time in many years they have started to ask for their rights which seemed to have taken a back seat all these years. This is surely a sign in the positive direction but it needs to be dabbed properly with the core issue of human rights tackled first and then anything else. The rule of law is missing and this is one aspect that needs to be taken care of since it seems like a law of the jungle at the present moment. Anybody can go out there and kill anyone. This does not happen in a civilized society and surely this is something that can surely come under the rightful tenets of human rights and its related perspectives. The country is facing a number of problems, not only domestically but also on a financial stance since its economy seems to have hit the doldrums, however one should not forget the fact that its oil rich reservoirs and resources can easily bring to shame the economy of the world’s biggest and most developed nations present on the face of the earth but all said and done, this indeed is the sole reason why American and its allied partners attacked Iraq in the first place and it is a harsh reality to fathom that indeed America and its partners have been quite successfully doing so for the last six years now. The human rights abuses have been raised by a number of international and national level NGOs and similar concerns but this does not seem to make much progress since America knows its game inside out and it knows how to counter these protests that are raised against it every now and so often. Conclusion In the end, it would be correct to understand the point that human rights do really have a significant basis to it and these issues need to be studied in the proper perspectives before we can move further ahead. As discussed in the paper, human rights issues have to be addressed in the most proper and adequate manners possible and for that to happen, the agencies and the governments need to play their active role. 5All said and done, it is up to the people who are at the helm to exercise their authority and ensure at the end that there are no issues related with human rights in every nook and corner of the world. The proposition related with peace and sanctity in this world is only possible when there is absolute respect for human rights and for that to happen, real commitment and devotion is required. BIBLIOGRAPHY GIBSON, John S. (1991). International Organizations, Constitution Law and Human Rights. Praeger Publishers WRIGHT, Shelly. (2001). International Human Rights, Decolonization and Globalization: Becoming Human. Routledge Iraq: People Come First. (2006). Amnesty International COLBERG, Joerg. (2003). The Iraq War and Human Rights. Conscientious FITZPATRICK, Joan. (1994). Human Rights in Crisis: The International System for Protecting Rights during States of Emergency. University of Pennsylvania Press Word Count: 1,502 Read More