The HRSJ 5010 – Foundations of Human Rights and Social Justice was essential for a deep dive into the complex world of human rights. The right to housing, food, clean water, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom to practice one’s faith, education, work, freedom from slavery, freedom from torture, and the right to be oneself are fundamental rights that all human beings should have.
What helped me understand this more deeply in our Foundations of Human Rights and Social Justice class was learning how these fundamental rights were established and by whom. The idea of defining human rights has several different starting points, depending on each perspective. An important historical fact that expanded my thinking was studying how these rights were established and governed after World War II. From a Western perspective, the countries in power defined human rights according to their elite interests, further reinforcing colonialism, which, through heinous brutality, destroyed the human rights of Indigenous peoples around the world.
As O’Brien notes, “the continued operation of international society depends on the capacity and willingness of dominant states to deploy social, economic and military power” (O’Brien, 2017, p. 54). This illustrates how, within a Western-centred vision, fundamental human rights were further diminished by an economy controlled by a few (the Global North) who exploited the natural resources of those excluded from decision-making power (the Global South), thereby taking away their autonomy of subsistence.
Understanding how the structure of human rights was built helped me open my mind and see the world without stereotypes and biases. This is the foundation for advocating for Social Justice.
Reference
O’Brien, J. (2017). International Law and the Modern World. In International Law (pp. 39–63). Routledge-Cavendish.