Presentation

Human Rights

A big topic which cares for worldwide discussions is the violation of human rights. Torture is
more widespread in our modern age than at any time in our history. In many countries
advanced technology is used to develop the methods of torture. Many people must suffer the
cruel tortures and humiliations. The conflicts between black and white people are increasing.
Many newspapers have written about human rights in the world and the topic has gained more
publicity. People established organisations and have risked their lives to improve human
rights.
First steps to improve the conditions were taken. The United Nations passed the Declaration
of human rights in the year 1948 and many decisions were taken for a hopeful future of human
rights.

Declaration of Human Rights:

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and right. They are endowed

with reason and conscience and should act towards on another in a spirit of

brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration,

without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political

and other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore no distinctions shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional

or international status of the country or the territory to which a person belongs,

whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any limitation of

sovereignty.

In Spite of all the assemblies and decisions, human rights are still being violated in many
countries. Violation of human rights most happens in developing countries. Many countries in
the third world were former colonies. They inherited the form of democratic system from the
colonial powers. They have parliaments and elections, but in most cases there is a more or less
brutal dictatorship behind the seeming democracy. The elections are often not acknowledged,
oppositional parties are declared illegal and their leader are imprisoned or killed. The political
situations in these countries are often unstable, because the governments are often overthrown.
After every coup a lot of people are imprisoned, tortured and sentenced to death. In some
communist countries and in the largest part of the Third World the violation of human rights
obvious is more obvious.
You will be forced to share the opinion of the government, to accept their religion, complain
about other racial groups etc...If you don't do so, your basic right as citizen and your human
dignity will be deprived. You will be tortured, held in prison for many years, won't get any
ordinary legal proceedings and perhaps will be killed in a brutal way. People who have been

tortured can find it hard to concentrate, they are maybe unable to work again and they can
become prematurely old.

Why the white man wanted to govern in South Africa?

The reserves of gold, uranium and other minerals are very important for South Africa. But the
people in South Africa never get a profit of these mineral resources.
A worldwide well-known man, who fights against the oppression in South Africa, Nelson
Mandela says: "The white man makes all the laws, he drags us before his courts and accuses
us, and he sits in judgement over us". The Europeans have always been a minority part of
people in Africa. But it seems as they were the majority. They controlled the economy, the
administration, they exploited the country and made the laws for African people. In general
the living and working conditions of African people were very bad.
Other countries which violate human rights are the democratic countries like America and
Central Europe. They often disregard the rights of minorities and the people aren't always as
free as they would like to be. Just look at the yearly report of Amnesty International. Often
innocent people and teenagers were beaten from police officers. An other kind of minorities
whose rights are often disregarded are the immigrants. Many slaves were brought to the USA
in the 18th century and later they were cheap workers.

What we can do against the violation of human rights?

We can support human rights organisations like Amnesty International and take a position
against the violations of human rights.

About Amnesty International...

Amnesty International is a worldwide movement. It is independent of any government,
ideology, political party or any economic interests. It was started in 1961 with a newspaper
article by the British lawyer Peter Benenson. Today there are more then one million members
in over 150 countries.
The members of Amnesty International are politicians, workers, doctors, housewives, farmers,
teachers and students, in short people who feel strongly that political imprisonment, torture
and executions are wrong.
The members collect signatures for international petitions and raise money to send relief, such
as medicine, food and clothing, to the prisoners and their families. If prisoners are tortured,
Amnesty organises a flood of telegrams and letters to be sent to the government responsible. If
you want to support the work of Amnesty just become a member of the organisation.