10 Facts about Human Rights as a Form of Imperialism for Controversial Essay

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Posted on February 11, 2016

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the one and only list of the basic human rights that all people around the world have. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948 after the World War II and introduced Human Rights Day to the world. Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December. On this day, the UDHR, the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.

If you need facts about human rights for your next paper on human rights as a form of imperialism, look at the ten facts about human rights presented below:

  1. Sierra Leone, West Africa has a high rate of female genital mutilation (FGM) cases about 80% to 90% of females. In Sierra Leone, implied sexism, perceived human rights violations, and the resilience of FGM are common. According to a World Health Organization report, approximately 100 to 140 million women and girls are currently facing the contentious issue of FGM globally.
  2. Researchers have observed various factors in respect of FGM in many parts of the world especially in third world nations. Women and young girls are the natural target population for sampling for completing this research. Ninety-two millions of young girls would have gone through this practice at least by age 10 and above.
  3. The Western World perceives FGM as a human rights violation for women and children in various parts of Sub Saharan Africa, some areas of Asia and some Middle Eastern Communities. Culturally, FGM is performed on children (infancy) and young girls where the aim is to change the female genital organs. Health issues may arise during and after the procedure. FGM is done at all ages of girls and women, however the younger a girl is, the less likely a struggle during the cutting.
  4. The Equity and Reconciliation Commission in Morocco ran into many problems throughout their investigations and research which they did their best to manage with pristine confidence. While they were backed by the King himself, thus encouraging people to cooperate, they still faced limited investigative powers and left many victims unsatisfied with the lack of accountability for perpetrators.
  5. The Equity and Reconciliation Commission in Morocco commission covered the expanse of 43 years’ worth of violations, abductions, forced imprisonment, and torture. They were only given but a year for reconciliation and in that time examined more than 22,000 applications for consideration while only discovering the fates of 742 cases. Using the best of their abilities, the limited timeframe in conjunction with the largest expanse of violations to be covered left many truths to be desired. Many of those cases still remain unresolved and the communal reparations, while underway, have yet to be completed. Many other reforms, such as conversions of former detention centers and legal reforms are still in beginning phases. In spite of the weaker aspects of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission in Morocco, many particular divisions of this establishment were a strong foot forward in the progression of truth commissions in terms of the development of a follow-up commission to ensure completion. Morocco, being the first to establish a truth commission in the Middle East and North Africa, had plenty of past truth commissions to examine and learn from, mainly taking positive aspects from Argentina and South Africa.
  6. The Chinese government had to hire a Western public relations firm to work on the 2009 Beijing Olympics because of the negative press which had been attributed to Chinese human rights’ violations and the large number of international organizations which were contributing sponsorship to the games including Adidas, Coca-Cola, and Lenovo. The companies received a lot of bad press and pressure internationally for working so distinctly with China in spite of the international hype against China.
  7. The road to the Olympics was very tricky for China whose games became extremely politicized. During the carrying of the torch, protests for Tibet continued to grab media attention. There was a lot of pressure on China to dedicate their efforts toward the situation in Darfur, then Tibet, drawing more international pressure from NGOs toward China’s external behaviors and their internal human rights conditions. China sought important public relations to respond to the international press and riots. Hiring a Western public relations firm was done to improve the public image of China, accelerate public diplomacy, and respond to the demand to improve human rights in Darfur in an effective and swift manner. The Western PR firm was there to help cultivate media attention toward the representative China established to work with African affairs and Sudan.
  8. Presently China makes up about 5 % of Coca-Cola’s annual revenue which makes it the 4th biggest consumer worldwide. China may be the second-biggest marketplace for Adidas. China may be the first in rank of profitability, with figures doubling to seven billion dollars between 2006 and 2007. These businesses would then be attracted in the spotlight because once attention was attracted to China and what the worldwide population was protesting for example human rights’ violations, the businesses that have been supporting China within their advertisements and media campaigns for those Olympic games would be also known as into question, thus forcing these to pressure China to create better political choices or pull from their support from the Olympic games.
  9. Machiavelli, influenced yet unhindered by Greek classics and the Bible, critiqued the idea of morality. He claimed that the duty of a Prince—or leader in present day—is to preserve his country while protecting his countrymen, no matter the risks or costs. Machiavelli believed that the main responsibility of a sufficient leader was to first preserve a country, being truthful, maintaining promises, and acting in such a way as to avoid harm to the state. This does not leave room for understanding or adhering to the theory of natural law. It would appear, by his definition, that state leaders would exude traditional concepts of virtue. However, the purpose of a ruler being conquering and preserving his state, he would commit wrongdoings in accordance with his duties as a leader. The leaders, by this interpretation, do not respect the natural laws or incorporate human rights or natural justice for citizens of any country but theirs. This supports civic duty, or a moral code for subjects and leaders which contradicts moral virtue or natural law. Machiavelli does not support moral character, but instead, the best actions for utilitarian needs of a state. In the time of great need, Machiavelli supports that virtu’ (the best actions for the state) outweighs virtue.
  10. At the start of the Cold War, Cuba nationalized all the properties held by citizens of the U.S. as well as U.S. corporations which initiated an embargo against economic, commercial, and financial transactions. The purpose of the embargo was meant to limit any economic aid provided to Cuba in any capacity until Cuba agreed to move toward democracy and stop human rights violations. The Helms-Burton Act restricted any U.S. citizen from conducting business with Cuba or in Cuba. When this extended to ending foreign subsidiaries of the U.S. companies trading in Cuba it was meant to benefit the Cubans who were suffering at the will of the government. While the purpose of limiting the frequency of visits for Cubans in the U.S. to family in Cuba and simultaneously limiting the amount of money sent to family members was meant to hurt the Cuban economy in an attempt to encourage better respect for human rights and democracy, it inadvertently made those people suffer. Families who were reliant upon the financial assistance of members living in the U.S. were then made to suffer from a reduction of family visits and financial assistance.

Aren’t these facts about human rights awesome? Hope they’ll help you with proper building your custom written essay. You may also check our set of 20 topics on human rights as a form of imperialism for a controversial essay as well as our guide for this type of paper.
There are so many issues we can discuss in terms of this issue: domestic violence, physical violence, emotional violence, sexual violence, cultural violence, etc. Choose the one you think has to be discussed in your class and work on it.

References:
Deacon, Roger. “Human Rights As Imperialism”. Theoria 50.102 (2003): 126-138. Web.
Glacier, Osire, and Valérie Martin. Universal Rights, Systemic Violations, And Cultural Relativism In Morocco. Print.
GREGG, BENJAMIN. “Anti-Imperialism: Generating Universal Human Rights Out Of Local Norms”.Ratio Juris 23.3 (2010): 289-310. Web.
Moore, Alexandra Schultheis, and Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg. Teaching Human Rights In Literary And Cultural Studies. Print.
Nader, Laura. “Human Rights And Moral Imperialism: A Double-Edged Story”. Anthropology News47.6 (2006): 6-6. Web.
Paupp, Terrence Edward. The Future Of Global Relations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Print.
Roa-de-la Carrera, Cristián Andrés. Histories Of Infamy. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2005. Print.
Saccarelli, Emanuele, and Latha Varadarajan. Imperialism Past And Present. Print.

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