Halle H. answered • 01/16/21
SMU Senior With Experience in Tutoring Middle School Students
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was established in response to World War II and the Holocaust, that outlines human rights that every individual is entitled to, regardless of gender, sexuality, race, religion, language, national origin, property, birth status, or opinion.
Perhaps the most blatant human rights violation was that of Jewish individuals in Eastern Europe by the Nazi party led by Adolf Hitler from 1939 to 1945. This was an extremely blatant violation of human rights because members of the German government intentionally aimed to harm, torture and murder every member of the Jewish community (on the basis of the Nazi's idea of the Jewish racial inferiority), wherein Jews had no protection provided by the state. The mass genocide of 6 million Jewish individuals during World War II violated civil and political human rights, and the aftermath of the Holocaust led to the UDHR being established in order to prevent any future human rights violations to vulnerable populations as well as the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state, where Jewish individuals can go for refuge. The establishment of the UDHR has been effective in ensuring that there is a set-in-stone document that gives every human certain rights that can not legally be taken away from them. However, the rampant antisemitism in Europe did not disappear after the UDHR was established, and many Jews were still targeted and killed due to anti-Jewish riots in Eastern Europe. Israel, however, has proved to be a a helpful solution to antisemitism, serving as a Jewish safe space.
Another major example of a violation of human rights is slavery, and slavery in the United States in particular. In the United States, black individuals were enslaved and owned and treated as the property by white individuals. A slave owner had the ability to harm their slaves in any way they chose and could force their slaves to do whatever they owner wanted of them because slaves were viewed as the property of their owner, and not human beings. This qualifies as a major violation of human rights for many reasons, but as the UDHR highlights, no individual shallowing be held in slavery or servitude, which directly condemns slavery. With the Civil War separating the Confederacy and the Union, in 1862, president Abraham Lincoln declared the emancipation proclamation, making slavery officially illegal and freeing around 3 million enslaved individuals in the United States. 2 years later in 1865, the Civil War ended and the 13th Amendment passed, forever prohibiting slavery in the United States. The passing of the 13th amendment has made owning slaves illegal, and allowed black individuals in the United States to become equal under the eyes of the law, however, much like after the liberation of Nazi camps in 1945, while slavery and public displays of violence towards black individuals on the basis of race became illegal, racism and discrimination did not stop racism in America.
Lastly, the Ugandan bill that outlawed homosexuality in 2014 which threatened long prison sentences for participating in consensual homosexual sex. This Ugandan bill violates homosexual individual's human rights on the basis of discrimination based on sexuality. Luckily, in 2016 the Constitutional Court of Uganda found that oppressing homosexual individuals based on their sexuality is a violation of human rights, and no individual should be discriminated against on the basis of sexuality. This ruling now allowed homosexual individuals to file discrimination lawsuits against their employers who fired or harassed them or landlords who forced them out of their homes due to their sexuality. This ruling has been wonderful for homosexual communities of Uganda because they now have equal opportunities as heterosexual individuals, and face less discrimination and harassment.
