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Human Rights, Social Rights, and Civil or Essay
human rights, social rights, and civil or political rights. For each, provide a brief description of an issue from the news that exemplifies each type of right.
Current human rights issues
One supposed danger of an expansive definition of human rights is so-called 'rights inflation,' whereby an increasingly broad definition of human rights dilutes the original meaning of the word. Those who fear such 'rights inflation' stress how definitions of human rights "deal with extremely important goods, protections, and freedoms" (Nickel 2010). Examples of these include freedom from slavery, a fair trial, education, and freedom from genocide. However, arriving at a fixed definition of human rights has proven to be extremely challenging. Human rights tend to be based on international norms, and thus vary over time. But there is controversy even between nations as to what is a 'human right' -- hence the controversy when leaked documents revealed that "U.S. authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct appears to be systematic and normally unpunished" (Davies, Steele & Leigh 2010). The U.S. claimed that its actions did not constitute a human rights violation; many citizens of many nations, however, disagreed.
There is no hard and fast line between what constitutes a civil and political right vs. A human right. For example, some civil or political rights include freedom of speech and voting rights. The Civil Rights Movement in the United States was an example of people agitating for their right to vote. But without such civil rights, it is very difficult for people to enjoy basic human rights such as the right to a fair trial. One example to make a distinction between civil and…
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In general, "some civil and political rights can be restricted by public and private property rights, by restraining orders related to domestic violence, and by legal punishments" in contrast to human rights ( Nickel 2010). For example, in a state of emergency or war, certain political rights may be suspended. President Lincoln famously suspended the right to habeas corpus during the Civil War, and a nation might postpone an election during a time of civil unrest. However, a nation that consistently denies the political and civil rights of its citizens is unlikely to be a nation that is able to uphold human rights in a meaningful fashion, given the lack of accountability to which its leaders are held.
Social rights include matters such as "matters such as education, food, and employment" (Nickel 2010). Within the world's major Western democracies, it is these rights that are most controversial. This is seen most notably in the current American debate over healthcare. American is the only major industrialized nation that does not strive to provide complete coverage for all of its citizens nor does it view healthcare as a right. In fact, by some conservatives the right to 'opt out of healthcare' (and be driven into medical bankruptcy) is presented as a fundamental 'right.'
The growing disparity between the wealthiest and poorest members of society is also presented as a failure of American social justice and a violation of social rights, given the degree to
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