Human Rights

Visit the following sites to assess the situation of human rights around the world.

http://www.hrw.org//

Human Rights Watch

http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/home.asp

Center for Constitutional Rights

http://www.amnesty.org/

Amnesty International/

U.S. Department of State

http://www.state.gov/

Though most countries have signed the United Nations Universal Declarations of Human Rights, many human rights issues remain unaddressed and unresolved for reasons ranging from cultural claims to inadequate financial support to institutional changes. As the Web sites listed above can attest to, people around the world are still being sold into slavery, people are being imprisoned without due cause, children are being sent into war, and ethnic groups still face the threat of extinction or dispersal.

With the trials of Slobodan Milosovic of Serbia and Charles Taylor of Liberia, it appears some progress is being made in the issue of genocide, yet many of their co-conspirators still remain free. With the political downfall of the Taliban in Afghanistan (although their recent military gains in many rural parts of Afghanistan against NATO forces have provoked fears of their political resurgence), the people of that country are enjoying more freedom than they have had in recent years.

As part of the Bush administrations "war on international terrorism," the United States has detained many suspected perpetrators in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the U.S. military base in Guantanamo, Cuba. These terrorism suspects have been held under questionable conditions that violate international law, according to several prominent U.S.-based and international human rights organizations. Around the world similar steps forward, and at the same time, steps backward continue to hinder the development of actions to ensure that human rights laws are enforced.

Examine the status of some key human rights issues by visiting the Web sites listed above, and respond to the following questions in the space provided.

1			Refugees continue to stream into countries seeking a peaceful home, and a place of security. However, in the wake of the September 11 attacks, new restrictive immigration measures have been introduced in other countries, threatening all persons seeking asylum and placing them at risk of being returned to countries where their lives are threatened, in violation of nonrefoulement obligations. Nonrefoulement is the right of refugees not to be returned to a country where their lives or their freedom is endangered. How can the right of a country to defend itself from terrorism be balanced against the rights of human refugees? What countries are currently engaged in preventing immigration of refugees?
2			In many parts of the world, women are particularly vulnerable to violation of their rights. In what ways are females oppressed? Can you suggest how this situation could be improved? Is it a governmental issue? A social issue? An economic issue? Discuss one of these issues in detail.
3			In what ways would you consider the United States responsible for abuse of human rights?
4			How have the allegations that the United States has systematically violated the human rights of detainees in its war against international terrorism affected the debate internationally between the traditional approach to human rights and the alternative approach to human rights discussed in this chapter? Give specific examples to support your position.