Human Rights

University of London

Human Rights

by

Lyle De Souza

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.¹

This paper takes a wide -ranging look at human rights around the world today, showing the key themes and issues currently affecting the international community. The introduction explains key terms necessary for the paper and gives a history of the development of human rights. The paper focuses on two case-studies (though numerous other examples are cited where applicable): South Africa and Japan. South Africa is used as an example of a developing country whose human rights issues have been identified internally by the South African government as well as externally by the international community and then acted upon to some degree of success. The author of the paper goes undercover in Japan to show that, despite apparent ‘successes’ such as in South Africa, shocking human rights violations still occur today worldwide even in developed countries and need to be exposed and then dealt with.

‘Human rights’ are rights that all humans are entitled to such as the right to live, the right to liberty, the right to freedom of expression and the right to equality within society. ‘Civil rights’ and ‘civil liberties’ refer to the guarantees that a state may make to its citizens and are offered in addition to one’s basic human rights. Perhaps the best quantification of human rights (and the mostly widely accepted) is the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ² Although the UN’s Declaration is over half a century old and has been savagely criticized at times³ it still serves as a useful guide to general ideals of human rights.

The concept of human rights is one that can trace its roots back into the depths of history. Socrates, a philosopher from ancient Greece, chose to die rather than forfeit his freedom of expression. Stoic philosophers developed the doctrine of rights for the individual. ⁴ Hints of libertarian doctrine appear in the Bible and in the writings of the Roman statesman Marcus Cicero and the Greek essayist Plutarch. Such ideas, however, did not gain a permanent place in the political structure of the Roman Empire and all but disappeared during medieval times.⁵ 

The catalyst for the transformation of human rights to that which we know today were the revolutions of England, France and the United States. These revolutions stressed libertarian ideals, which became ingrained into those societies. The growth of human rights in Great Britain was tightly interwoven into the fabric of British society through its legal system, parliament and eventual democracy. British colonists then spread this notion of limited government and individual freedom to its vast empire – and the New World was born.

The human rights of citizens of the United States are incorporated in the Bill of Rights and also in state constitutions. They form the first ten amendments to the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religious exercise as well as separation of church and state. The Fourth Amendment protects the privacy and security of the home and personal effects and prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fifth through Eighth amendments protect persons accused of crime; they guarantee, for example, the right to trial by jury, the right to confront hostile witnesses and to have legal counsel, and the privilege of not testifying against oneself. The Fifth Amendment also contains the general guarantee that no one shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.⁶

As we can see from the UN Declaration on Human Rights and the US Bill of Rights, human rights violations may take a number of forms. Perhaps one of the most notorious examples of modern day human rights abuse was that perpetrated by South Africa’s ‘apartheid’ (Afrikaans word for ‘apartness’). Apartheid refers to the social and political policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by white minority governments in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.

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1 Martin Luther King, Jr.

2 On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the full text appears in the appendix).

3 The criticisms are not so much of the Declaration itself but rather interpretation of it. There seem to be two main divisions: the Western liberal-individualist and the non-Western non-liberal. There is an issue as to whether a universalist (especially liberal-individualist) approach to human rights of the UN is morally acceptable or whether it would be acceptable for cultural relativism to be allowed instead.

4 The New Stoa and Human Rights. Western Kentucky University.
http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/stoa/sbeckr3.htm (cited October 13th 2003).

5 "Civil Rights and Civil Liberties," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

6 Adapted from Cornell University Law Department website.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html (cited October 13th, 2003).