Human Rights

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The Reality of Human Rights
Dana Brown
LIB 320
Prof. Keever
January 31, 2011

Human Rights 2 Human rights issues have been around since the biblical era and yet 6,000 years later we, as people of the world, are having the same issues. If 6,000 years did not make much of a difference I personally do not think anything can and will. The respect for a human and the value of life will have to change drastically before human rights will even start to improve. We are in a time in wish humans are really questioning themselves and others around them. If people do not think they can change themselves how do they expect human rights too. Luckily, we as Americans do not have to worry about a lot of the things people around the world do but I do feel like we take things for granted. Freedom is such a luxury and I feel not many people view it that way. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes thirty different articles that not all countries abide by. Article number Four of the Universal Declaration of Human rights is “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms” (Viotti & Kauppi, 2009). Slavery was in effect in the biblical era all the way until today. In the biblical era slavery was used but not looked down upon. In Exodus 21 verses 1 through 11, God speaks of the rules of slavery.

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“Then God said to Moses, ‘These are the laws for living that you will give to the Israelites: If you buy a Hebrew slave, he will serve you for six years. In the seventh year you are to set him free and he will have to pay nothing” (NCV, 2002).
These rules did not go beyond this era. Even though God allowed slaves I do not think he allowed them to be treated as they did have this time and now as well. I do not think he could have even fathomed how people would later be treated. Luckily in the United States President Lincoln outlawed slavery during his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. However, still today there are countries and nations that still allow slavery. There is slavery of the young and old, of the women and men, and even of the children. “Women from Eastern Europe are bonded into prostitution, children are trafficked between West African countries and men are forced to work as slaves on Brazilian agricultural estates. Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, sex and race” (Anti-Slavery). All around the world there are millions of people suffering from this. In my opinion, all slavery is equally as cruel and unjust but the slavery of children is completely and truly appalling.

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Children are being put to work in inhumane situations daily all around the world. The International Labour Organization states that about 215 million children are working in slave-like situations. They are being mistreated, not properly nourished and cared for, getting no education, raped, and beaten. Children of God are such precious gifts and it hurts me knowing these precious gifts are being taken advantage of and both physically and emotionally hurt. Children are such innocent creatures; they are our world’s future. If they continue to get mistreated like they have been in so many countries our world’s bright future will continue to dull and eventually die completely. Children’s freedom in their work is extremely important, but everyone’s freedom of religion I feel is very important as well.
I find myself taking all my freedoms for granted sometimes. The one I take for most granted though is freedom of religion. So many people do not have the luxury to worship whomever they please at any time that we as Americans have the pleasure of doing. The freedom to practice my religion as definitely made me the woman I am today and I am so grateful I am able to do so. However, it deeply saddens me that there are some out there that will get tortured and like the Jews even killed because of it.

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Not only did Jews get tortured physically and emotionally by being starved, beaten, killed by disease, and gassed to death, but they could not even be who they really were. They could not express who they really were on a religious since. They could not express who they were on any since really. The Jews were also stripped of their all their freedoms. Article two of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “all rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” (Viotti & Kauppi, 2009). Before the Jews entered the concentration camps they were even harshly labeled so they could be picked out easily and if the Nazi’s felt like it could harass them. In the book, Memories of Anne Frank Reflections of a Childhood Friend it speaks of this “label”. “Hannah’s mother had sewn the yellow six pointed star –which all Jewish people had been ordered to wear- to the front of Hannah’s dress above her heart” (Gold, 1997). Human rights were not in play during this cruel and unjust time. Times have changed some by then and the extent of cruelty has gone done but one may never know completely what is actually going on all over the world every day. Article five of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights speaks about how no one should be “subjected

Human Rights 6 to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” (Viotti & Kauppi, 2009). All around the world, cruel things are happening whether we like or not, whether we try and fix it or not. Unfortunately, with the pattern of lack of improvement over the past 6,000 years I still do not feel that human rights will improve around the world. Do not get me wrong, some things have gotten better but not big enough to show me it can change we will not have any problems with human rights. This is a wish, sadly not an actuality.

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References
Child Labour . (n.d.). International Labour Organization . Retrieved February 1, 2011, from http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/child-labour/lang--en/index.htm
Gold, A. L. (1997). Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend. New York: Scholastic.
The Youth Bible (p. 79). (2002). Exodus 21. Fort Worth, Texas: Word Publishing, as divison of Thoms Nelson, Inc.. (Original work published 1987)
Viotti, P., & Kauppi, M. (2009). International Relations and World Politics: Security, Economy, Identity (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
What is Modern Slavery. (n.d.). Anti-Slavery, Today 's fight for Tomorrow 's Freedom. Retrieved January 31, 2011, from http://www.antislavery.org/english

References: Child Labour . (n.d.). International Labour Organization . Retrieved February 1, 2011, from http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/child-labour/lang--en/index.htm Gold, A. L. (1997). Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend. New York: Scholastic. The Youth Bible (p. 79). (2002). Exodus 21. Fort Worth, Texas: Word Publishing, as divison of Thoms Nelson, Inc.. (Original work published 1987) Viotti, P., & Kauppi, M. (2009). International Relations and World Politics: Security, Economy, Identity (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. What is Modern Slavery. (n.d.). Anti-Slavery, Today 's fight for Tomorrow 's Freedom. Retrieved January 31, 2011, from http://www.antislavery.org/english