It is true that just by being human and alive one should be guaranteed the basic human rights and these include cultural, economic, and political rights, such as the right to life, liberty, education, religion, free speech, nationality, movement, etc. However, this is not the case in reality. The world and its citizens have degenerated to so much over the years that our rights are no longer guaranteed. This has come to be through various atrocities both natural and manmade but mostly manmade.  This has led to a lot of issues that need to be resolved in order for us humans to be guaranteed all these rights which we deserve.

Humans, in the quest for development have engaged in activities that have affected nature around us and this has led to natural disasters such as earthquakes. This has greatly affected some of the rights we have. We all are entitled to a decent life which is compromised when such disasters occur. I am only happy that we are now doing a lot towards correcting these calamities by ensuring that we move towards green business and environment, have proper waste management centres as well as other measures.

Human actions have played a great deal in the deprivation of human rights. I do believe that some of the human rights have been used for selfish ends. Take for example the right of association, people have used this to come up with all sorts of groups with disastrous intentions such as the ku klax klan whose intentions were evil and aimed at take other humans right to life and to freedom.

Poverty has also played a major role in the deprivation of human rights. People will not hesitate to take away your life just because you have a few dollars in your pocket. Some countries are so poor they cannot afford to put in place social services that would benefit their citizens. This leads to lack of proper housing, medical care, social security, old age care facilities and all of the other vital services. Countries especially in african continent do not have the necessary infrastructure to attract foreign direct investment and this means not enough jobs are created for the citizens.

Corruption is one of the biggest problems we have today. It is probably the main issue that has led to poverty and wars. In africa we have leaders who have hanged onto power beyond their productive leadership. Some of these leaders have amassed wealth bigger than that of their nations. This has led to civil wars and when these wars are over the changes brought about do not benefit the entire nation but the new leader. This triggers another cycle of civil wars. One wonders where and when will all this end. The painful thing about war is that the effects are long lasting. Countries that used to be rich are now poor because of war. A lot of lives have lost and people have lost their properties because of war. People are now refugees away from their homes. As much as they have a right to free movement, they also have a right to nationality which becomes compromised in this situation.

Another issue is that of culture being perceived as something else. Some cultures have been defined as abusive to human rights. In some cultures women are not to be equal to men and therefore in some countries there are very few woman holding public offices. This creates a clash between culture as a human right and the other human rights. The same can be said for religion. Do you know that most of the wars we have right now are based on religious beliefs. Look at what is happening in nigeria where moslems and christians are said to be at war with each other. Many people believe that the war in the middle east is due to differences in religion.

Having said all this i believe that core to our problems is the fact that we humans have lost all the love we are supposed to have for one another. We need to love one another in order to be able to respect one another’s basic rights. There is so much hate in this world today that article 1 of the universal declaration of human rights that says “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Is no longer respected. In my culture there are certain things that used to happen as a collective responsibility like bringing up children and taking care of the elderly. If you had a field that needed weeding and you were not able to do it, all the community members would come together and assist you. If your child did something wrong and you were not there to discipline the child, any member of the community would do that and report back to you. If we were to go back to this kind of love and care for one another, i think the world would be a better place for all of us and i am sure all of our rights would be guaranteed. I honestly believe with all of my heart that with a lot of love for one another, this world would have peace and harmony.