Human Rights and Political Violence

I think that one of the most important topics regarding human rights is trying to improve their protection, and I think that an important way to try to go about this throughout the world is through Transitional Justice. The book devotes a little section to this particular topic, but this was actually the title of my freshman archway class, so I learned quite a bit about it. When it comes to determining what to do in order to help a country recover from some kind of violence or mass atrocity, it is important to realize that no two countries or conflicts are exactly the same. That means that while a strategy like Transitional Justice may work for a certain country, has been known to work in the past, it may not be as effective for other countries in trying to overcome their own conflicts. But, for the countries that have or could use it, I think Transitional Justice is an important tool.

Like the book said, Transitional Justice is a way for victims and abusers to confront the atrocity and abuses that took place without being legally punished. This can help people come to terms with things they witnessed or things that happened to them, and then eventually help them to move past it. One way this has been done is through the establishment of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, which allow abuses to be reaveled so they can be confronted. Those who oppose Transitional Justice argue that it is unfair for those responsibile for the crimes to be given anmestry, and that they should be prosecuted by the law. This may be true, but legal trials take a long time and would drag things out, possibly making it more difficult to move past the conflict. Another aspect not mentioned in the book, but one I researched was the possibility of education as a mechanism of Transitional Justice. My research focused on post-genocide Rwanda. In the years following the genecide a number of measures took effect, such as solidarity education camps, a memorial, and the Peace Education Program. All of these things helped to bring knowledge to the people about what happened in their country, and also provided a way to help prevent it from happening again in the future by educating the youth on history and unity.

UPDATE

Another important idea we discussed in class was what exactly should be defined as international human rights. There are already some rights that have been determined to be so in the International Declaration of Human Rights, but it can get tricky. This is because even though this list of rights has been established countries are supposed to follow them, not all of them do. For example, I remember from my Chinese history class last semester that there is an artist from China who uses both his art and the media to speak out against the government and try to inspire other people to do so as well. The Chinese government does not like opposition. At one point he was arrested and nobody knew where he was. He was held for 81 days without any charges being filed against him. They later claimed he had been arrested for economic crimes.

I think that even though there are major flaws in the system of enforcement of the declaration, it is still important. This is because it officially recognizes that international human rights are something that do exist. Even though all of the rights are not protected all of the time, I think that if there was nothing established more countries would be taking advantage of their people, there would be more political violence, and the world as a whole would be in more chaos than it is today.