Human Rights Violation - Essay Example

Running head: INTERODACTION TO AUSTRALIA LAW Human rights protection Insert Name Institution Date Introduction to Australia Law Human rights violation There is almost a universal consensus that everyone in the world is entitled to particular basic human rights under all situations. These rights include certain civil liberties and political rights. The most essential of these include the right to live and physical security. Human rights are the expression of the need for justice, lenience, mutual respect and human self-respect in all the human activities. Speaking of rights enables people to express the notion that all humans are part of the maintenance of morality and justice. To safeguard human rights is to ensure that everyone gets some level of decent human treatment (Brennan 121). To violate the basic rights is to deny or deprive people of some of their moral entitlements. It includes treating them as if they are incomplete humans who do not deserve respect and lack dignity. Examples of such practices include genocide, torture, slavery, rape, forced sterilization or medical experimentation and purposeful starvation. There are various laws that prohibit individuals from engaging in such activities which are referred to as crimes against humanity. The effect of these laws or there success in meeting there cause however is dependent more on the people and not the ability of the court to enforce. Some of the activities that people engage in lead to violation of human rights to an extent that the courts can barely control (Brennan 56). Constitutional stipulations on individual rights are not self-enforcing. If the community members do not understand or value their constitutional rights, then they will definitely damage their meaning. The surest refuge for rights thus is not the legal documents, though significant, but in the minds of the individuals who have been trained to comprehend, support and enhance upon their heritage of freedom under law. Civic tutors thus encounter the common challenge of educating every generation of citizens to take accountability of their civil constitutional rights so that they may be sustained and promoted both for themselves and for their successors (Brennan 78-81). Australia has several instruments, institutions and customs which assist in maintaining human rights in an attempt to maintain a just society. However, just as mentioned earlier all these instruments largely depend on the people’s attitude, opinions and practices for the achievement of their objectives. The most significant factor of ensuring that every individual participates in the societal development activities is to equip them with the relevant information concerning human rights and violation of the same. The rights policy is a section of the wider rights culture that has high prospects of individualized justice system. The country however has Bills of Rights found in the common law which facilitate the maintenance of a just society. Some of the international instruments in which the country is a signatory include the primary principle of the common law- right to due process in which stipulates that under no circumstances should an individual be denied impartial justice. Others are anti-discrimination statutes and freedom of political communication and participation. Some of the typical examples of violation of rights that are dependent on the people include subjugation of women rights, violation of children rights through activities such as child marriage and failure to control poverty (Brennan 23-8). Subjugation of women rights lead to violation of human rights Since human rights as an issue is the most significant factor in the modern society, part of the debate on human rights concerns the origin and the relevance of the idea itself. Changes in the community change the techniques and methods of sustaining social order as well as just in the society. The techniques of social control are also accustomed to altered conditions as no system of rights control works absolutely. People regularly diverge from societal and legal norms though non-conformity varies significantly in form and also frequency. Though divergence is perceived as a risk to social stability yet people’s opinion in regard to deviants keeps on transforming with change in convictions on the issue of behavior and criminal activities that lead to violation of rights (Jordan 21-30). Subjugation of women Violence mostly affects the lives of many women all over the world in all sectors including social economic and educational areas. It cuts across all cultural and religious obstructions affecting the right of the ladies to participate fully in the society. Violence against the ladies comes in various forms ranging from domestic violence and rape to child marriages and female circumstance (Williams, 2001). These activities which the courts as well as the state have little control over lead to violation of human rights. Some of the types of violence against women that prove that the maintenance of rights among the society members largely depends on their opinions and practices and not the law include: Son preference Son preference affects the ladies in many countries all over the world. Its results range from foetal or female infanticide to disregard of the girl child over her brothers in regard to important basic needs such as nutrition, basic health care and also academics. In extreme cases some ladies terminate pregnancies in which they are expecting a girl child and preserve those that they are expecting a boy. This is an issue that the judges can have little control over implying that to a larger extent the rights of the child will be determined by the society (Jordan 57-9). Violence in the community Some forms of violence against the women that take place in the society include rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment. Rape is a tool to subjugate women. The women are at the moment not safe anywhere in the world. Justice places the woman at a point where she seems to be oblivious of anything happening around her. This is not usually the case and is rather a means of depriving the woman of her rights. Neither the judges nor the courts can be able to entirely control this aspect. Rape can occur anywhere including in the family unit in form of marital rape or incest or can take place in the community where the ladies fall victims of many abusers. In some cases, rape occurs in conditions armed confrontations especially in refuge camps. There are also some parts of the world where violence against women is not considered as a crime. In other places women are forced to engage into activities such as prostitution by their husbands, their parents or even their boyfriends. Some engage in prostitution due to hard economic and /or social circumstances which they find themselves in. The government is unable to control some of these activities which then make the people the determinants of just in the community (Williams 3-11). Citizenship theory The assumption with the citizenship theory of the wellbeing state is very strong. The need for pretence of accusation, the presence of insurable risk and the assumption that the individual is the basic unit of the larger organization whether the society or a company is a common question in the debate concerning human rights. This is adequate enough to lay a claim. The action is not normally founded on compensation but rather on re-distribution. This also applies to the rights debate. The ethical basis of rights is not clear though a reason of action is sought against the state laws which imply that citizenship must raise a justifiable reason. Another example that clearly illustrates that the maintenance of rights largely depends on the community member is raised by the issue of invoking the term victim status by the victims of crime. This issue has established a public sympathy for victims of crimes and antipathy to the perpetrators. This has facilitated the seeking of justice by this group of people by suing for criminal damages and in some cases, statutory compensation is awarded. In this case however, the two issues, compensation and re-distribution can be confused. One question that is raised by the issue is whether to socialize the victims misfortunes and to what extent. The role or success of the state to act as an insurer of the victims is put into question (Don & Thomas 98-101). The theoretical reasoning for crime compensation is not justified. Injuries such as those that prevent a person from working care off by the social security. This bars the non-working class from getting such benefits. These benefits include medical covers and medical costs and thus constitute part of the human rights. The contradiction in the matter is whether the state should award compensation that is beyond income substitution and medical expenses. The government’s duty is to provide law and order to its subjects and thus compensation for injuries can be considered as an extra (Sedley, 2001). The government has not entirely accepted that it is its role to prevent attacks by criminals. Injuries inflicted to victims of crime and failure to award appropriate compensation is denial of rights of the victims. The government has little control over such matters (Don & Thomas 44-47). Conclusion The bill of rights dispute is a surrogate for a wider rights and citizenship discussion. The establishment or otherwise of rights is not a main factor the nature of the rights is the most significant factor- that is- the architecture is not very important. Procedural rights are general, though the substantive rights particularly those with resource allegations are exempted, they ultimately require political approval. In both private practices as well as welfare state, obligation and input will have to be re-launched as a remedy to the rights strategy (Moore & Maddox 112). The obligations and inputs re-launched will have to be free of the disparities of race and gender and possibly in a way not to re-set class struggle. The notion that everyone should take care of each other will have to be challenged. Law makers whether judicial or legislative need to invoke regulations or rules rather than values. There is no hypothesis of just legislative only the conformity to practices of evaluation and dialogues, consensus and refutation (Don & Thomas 54-5). References Brennan, F. (2000). Legislating Liberty: A Bill of Rights for Australia. New York: University of Queensland Press Don, H.& Thomas G. et al. (2001). The Responsibility to Protect: Supplementary Volume to the Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. Human Rights Today: A United Nations Priority," The United Nations, (2000), Retrieved on 18th March 2010 from: Jordan J. et al. (2001). Human Rights Module: On Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide, Other Crimes Against Human Rights, and War Crimes. Carolina: Carolina Academic Press. Kennedy, H. (2001). "Conflict Resolution and Human Rights: Contradictory or Complementary?" New York: INCORE. Moore, T & Maddox, G. (2005) Rights, Jurisdiction and Responsible Government: The Spectre of Capital Television, Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 2005, 33(3), Sedley, S. (2001). Human Rights: A Twenty-First Century Agenda, in Public Law, Autumn, 2001, p.397. United Nations Press Release SG/SM/6524 SC/6503 "Secretary-General Says Proposals in his Report on Africa Require New Ways of Thinking, of Acting" Retrieved on 18th March 2010 from Williams, G. (2001) The Federal Parliament and the Protection of Human Rights, Research Paper 20, Parliament of Australia, Parliamentary Library Read More