Throughout history, people’s human rights have been violated, but efforts have also been made to address the violations, and protect their rights. Human rights are rights as regarded belonging to all people. Today we are all entitled to the same rights. In a sense, we are all equal.
Human rights are rights and liberties that are guaranteed to everyone at birth. On December 10th 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was made for every living human in this world to follow and obey. These rights originated after World War II because they don’t want such inhuman event to ever occur again. So by the world agreeing to this declaration it is almost sure the lives of so many people isn’t to be lost again for unnecessary reasons. The main purpose of these rights are to enforce balanced rights of all people.
Making sure that all humans have the right o freedom, justice, and peace in the world. It also says that everyone has the right to nationality, religion, and his or her own opinion Document 1. Despite the holocaust, abuses of human rights have continued in the post-World War 2 era. One of the major abuses of Human Rights in the World War II era was the Apartheid in South Africa. After South Africa won its independence from Great Britain, the Afrikaner Nationalist party gained a whites only parliament.
The nationalists set up a system of Apartheid, or complete segregation of races. Under this system blacks needed permission to travel, and had to carry a pass when doing so Document 2. Other Apartheid laws also created many segregated facilities and denied Blacks the right to vote. The apartheid violated many guidelines of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of them were Article 1; “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. Through the years, world attention focused of South Africa.
In 1973 the United Nations general Assembly declared Apartheid a crime against humanity. And in 1977, the U. N Security Council embargoed arms exports to South America. During the 1880’s many nations enforced economic sanctions against South Africa. These economic sanctions, along with other statutes, led to Nelson Mandela being released from prison in 1990.
In the next four years, newly elected president of South Africa Frederick de Klerk, along with Nelson Mandela dismantled the system of apartheid. In 1994, Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black president of South Africa, in the first all-race election. Document 3Another infringement of human rights occurred in Cambodia in the 1970’s. During this time, Pol Pot and the Khemer Rough took control of Cambodia. In the time of his rule, Pol Pot attempted to create an agrarian society.
The Khemer Rouge also killed many Cambodians by using forced labor, and drove people from the cities and settled them in the country. Countless families were torn apart and educational and religious practices were forbidden. Numerous bodies were deposited in mass graves called the “killing fields” from 1975 to 1978, between one and three million Cambodians out of a total population of seven million were killed by the Khemer Rouge. This went against Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion”. In the 1800s and 900s, violations of rights occurred in China. Deng Xiaoping introduced the four Modernizations in the 1970’s, which gave more political freedom to citizens.
Although these freedoms were granted, some Chinese wanted more freedom. On June 4, 1989, Chinese students held a peaceful demonstration in the Tiananmen Square for greater personal freedoms. When the students refused to “clear out” tanks rolled through Tiananmen Square, shooting at the heads and chests of the poor helpless students. Newspapers such as the San Francisco Chronicle gave information on the rights violations in China. It also stated how students felt it was worth sacrificing their lives for the sake of progress and democracy in China.
The Chinese government has since made very little changes in the amount of freedom it allows. Document 5Human rights abuses have continued in the post-World War II era. These violations have occurred in .
