Human rights are important to the world today. Human rights are the rights essential to all people from whatsoever nationality, place, sex, color, religion or ethnic group. Everybody is entitled to their human rights without discernment. Notably, the human rights are articulated and ensured by law. They are also formed in forms of treaties, international laws, principles and other sources of international law. These treaties are put in place to ensure that governments act in certain manners to refrain from particular acts that may not protect the citizens in their countries. The essay explores the articles by Haas Civil & Political Rights and Frezzo’s Deepening Civil and Political Rights on their view on human rights and how they are used. Although, Mark Freezo and Michael Haas have different approaches to the documents of the UN Human Rights, they share a recognition of the importance of human rights in the end.
According to Frezzo, human rights have been documented in various relevant documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is an established framework for the implementation of the human rights across the world. The UDHR is a reference point for the nations and in the national liberal movements all over the globe 1 . The NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are some of the bodies that champion for human rights in the world.
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Hass describes fundamental civil and political rights from a different viewpoint. He posits that the International Covenant and Political Rights of 1967, is one of the two elementary documents that deal with rights concerning to the association between individuals and the government. In this document, there is the First Optional Protocol and Second Optional Protocol 2 . The First Optional Protocol which offers that a person appealing to being victim of a defilement of the civil or political freedoms may file a complaint. Other countries that we the Second Optional Protocol have pledged the abolition of the death penalty. The other primary document in the civil and political rights is the International Covenant on Economic and Social and Cultural Rights.
Frezzo posits that the primary objectives of a sociological approach are to show the connections among the civil, political, social and economic rights as well as the environmental and cultural rights of the people all over the world. Human rights do not hinder people according to their economy and policy roles, but rather offers people freedom and self-determination 3 . Notably, civil and political privileges give people the freedom of association and participation in democracy, which the social movements need to recruit members. Social movements need to have freedom of assembly and speech for them to champion for human rights freely.
However, Haas indicates that there were some contradictions with the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Some of the rights have priorities over others, for instance, the rights dealing with discrimination, civil freedoms, and life 4 . Therefore, a nation that invokes the right of derogation is expected to inform the UN secretary-general of the specific rights being temporarily removed so that other countries can inform their citizens in that country about the dangers that may arise as a result. However, as Haas states, some provisions suspended may be affected by the terrorist actions that have forced may democratic countries to take concrete measures.
Freezo notes that NGO bodies that champion for human rights uses the UN human rights declaration to articulate their grievances, demand and appeal to the UN to pressure member nations to be more inclusive and democratic. In the US, the NGO and the UN agencies have been transforming the language of human rights 5 . Notably many Americans today know about the UDHR, the ICCPR, and the ICESCR among other international treaties of human rights. Due to the holistic vision of the concept of the human rights the longevity and the self-actualization of the people, both on the national and international scale is vital.
Haas argues that the optional protocol in the UN rights, is used in various countries go beyond the covenant agreements of particular practices and processes. The practice of having an optional protocol to a human rights agreement allows for a compromise between nations that are satisfied with the commitment made and those that want specific actions made 6 . Such protocol became sufficient formal ratifications since 1976. Many countries agreed to adopt the nonbinding declaration. Additionally, the treaty of human rights allows a process to monitor the human rights performance of any sanctioning state. Some countries decided to exempt some of the rights stated in the covenant, and thus their ratifications contain reservations that indicate they did not support of the covenant in its totality because they failed to include some provisions in it due to domestic and political issues.
In conclusion, the articles argue that civil and political rights are often considered more important than the other rights. Without free and fair public rights, people cannot seek to recompense the violations of the cultural, economic and the social rights. Nevertheless, as Hass puts it, the protests against the civil and political rights often appear to be the most efficient when people have economic liberties and resources to file complaints. The International Covenant and Political Rights provides for the banning of propaganda for war, and in this case, the civil and political rights are limited to prevent disorder. Freezo asserts that the human rights are critical for both on the national and international scales
Bibliography
Frezzo, Mark. "Deepening Civil and Political Rights." Sociology and Human Rights: A Bill of Rights for the Twenty-First Century (2011): 15.
Haas, Michael. International human rights: A comprehensive introduction . Routledge, 2013.
1 Frezzo, Mark. "Deepening Civil and Political Rights." Sociology and Human Rights: A Bill of Rights for the Twenty-First Century (2011): 15.
2 Haas, Michael. International human rights: A comprehensive introduction . Routledge, 2013.
3 Frezzo, Mark. "Deepening Civil and Political Rights." Sociology and Human Rights: A Bill of Rights for the Twenty-First Century (2011): 15.
4 Haas, Michael. International human rights: A comprehensive introduction . Routledge, 2013.
5 Frezzo, Mark. "Deepening Civil and Political Rights." Sociology and Human Rights: A Bill of Rights for the Twenty-First Century (2011): 15.
6 Haas, Michael. International human rights: A comprehensive introduction . Routledge, 2013.
