Universal Declaration of Human - how are we doing?

The United Nations stands for unity and peace like no other organization. It was founded in 1945 by 51 countries, including prominent powers like the Soviet Union and the United States, and currently it has 193 member countries.

One of the main reasons for founding this organization was WW2, which highlighted the need for world peace treaties and better conditions around the world.

The UN is based on a charter, which is kind of like the contract joining countries had to sign.

The charter includes rules about war interference/prevention, better living standards and safety for the whole of humanity.

The preamble reads: “We, the people of the United Nations are determined to save future generations from the scourge of war that has brought unspeakable suffering to humanity twice in our lifetime”

Three years after the charter was formed, the UN released a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948:

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should meet one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

In short, this declaration is about treating every human being fair and equal.

Every country that joins the UN has to sign this declaration.

Eleanor Roosevelt holding poster of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (in English), Lake Success, New York. November 1949. FDR Presidential Library & Museum

Many countries in the UN signed this declaration, but are breaking laws/precepts of this declaration.

Not only Asian and African countries violate human rights, but some wealthy Western nations too.

Probably the most recent case of human right violations is in Afghanistan.

They rapidly changed their policies in terms of women’s rights and rights of people with other genders.

This resulted from the coup by Taliban this year. The misogynistic “sharia” law, for example, forbids women from working and love marriage. Among other rules Taliban introduced includes the temporary rule which forbids women to enter the university of Kabul too.

But according to article 26 of the UDHR: “Everyone has the right to education…”

Barring women from education is a breach of the rules, an afront to human rights, because everyone should have the same chances to attend university. This is one of many human rights violations of the Taliban.

Another violator is the country Myanmar/Burma, which agreed in favor of the declaration in 1948.

The active discrimination/murders of the Muslim ethnic minority, Rohingya, in Burma, is a violation of human rights. Responsible for these crimes is the military. Just in 2017, about 400,000 Rohingya fled from Myanmar. But the most horrific facts are coming out now: Over 10,000 Rohingya were mass murdered, and the military and other radical groups raped thousands of women and girls.

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” (UDHR Article 5). The Declaration was clearly violated.

The most prominent Asian country violating the Declaration of Human Rights is China, which currently has a system of kidnapping and “reeducating” Uigurs in camps. The Uigurs are a Muslim minority.

The Uigurs have to live in camps with high walls and electric barbed wire fences. Inside these walls, their heads are shaved bald. It’s been reported that Uigurs are being used as guinea pigs for medicines, rape and other kinds of torture.

Every person should have the freedom of practicing his or her religion in peace. What China is doing is nothing short of genocide.

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion” (UDHR article 18). But the West is also cause for concern.

One recent case is the Polish judge scandal. According to the UDHR, article 10, “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal…,” a judge should be independent, but it isn't guaranteed in Poland, because Poland can remove with the help of a disciplinary committee the judicial immunity of a judge in Poland.

That way they can butt in fights at courts, which is a huge problem. For example, the polish government could sentence some random person, just because they don’t like the person’s attitude or views.

That is a huge no-go for a democracy and for the UDHR too.

But Western democracies also breach the treaty. The US’ most famous human right violation is the one I am going to talk about: their jails and policing.

US-American jails are famous for their inhuman conditions.

These are made up of things like violence/fights, overcrowding in jails, no educational help/systems at jails and sometimes even sexual abuse.

Another big problem is the brutal relationship between racist police and minorities, specifically black-Americans or Latino-Americans in US.

One tragic famous case is that of Mr. Floyd. Last year a police man strangled this black man on a street without the need of self-defense.

Due to online videos and articles about this incident, this whole thing went viral and many people went on the streets to demonstrate for equal rights.

The US violated the Declaration of Human Rights, because of Article 1 and Article 2: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex…” and article 26: “Everyone has the right to education.”

Of course, there are more countries I could’ve mentioned, e.g. India, Nigeria, but these four examples are enough to show that human right violations are around the world.

The UN and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are great inventions, but there still is room for improvement. For example, many countries that are in the UN aren't following their policies.

That's why we should always keep our eyes open when we hear about human right violations. We shouldn’t fear to criticize these countries and should search for ways to demonstrate against these, because after all: these are our rights, which exist solely because of our existence.