Human Rights and the concept of Law

The concept of human rights and freedom is very complex thus many people, institutions and governments don’t have a uniform understanding of its principles, functioning and its application. Though many people believe that human rights began during the era of the foremost Charter on the declaration of human rights the concept is as old as creation itself.

When God created the world he made Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden where he instructed them to eat all what they saw in the garden excerpt the fruit of good and evil. At this stage of creation at least God realized that man had the right to food .The right to food today is being cited as one of the fundamental human right. This was one of the very first human rights at the era of creation. When God prohibited Adam and Eve from eating the fruit of good and evil, he was putting a restriction on that human right to food a situation to ring a bell in the modern world that human rights and freedom have some restriction.

Still at the era of creation, God’s original intention of making Adam and eve was to let them live for ever and take care of the things he had created. God therefore realized that man had the right to life .And today the right to life is being cited as one of the fundamental rights. As time went on, Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command and they realize that they were naked and God drove them from the Garden of Eden. They started searching for an abode. This was the beginning of the right to shelter And so the basic human rights came to be known as the rights of life, the right to food and the right to shelter, which to many are classify as traditional human rights.

However, when society evolved during the medieval era, the concept of human right and freedom started developing several facets. And so we past from the basic rights to human right notion, like the right to education, the right to healthy living , the right to be married , etc. Further more when modernity and globalization set in, the concept of human rights and freedom became more and more complicated as notions like women’s rights, children rights; the rights of the disabled, the right of the minority etc became the talk of the century. And notions of freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of associations etc are today being variedly echoed, interpreted and applied by mankind to the extend that some countries and governments recognize the right for some one to even change his or her sex.

There is no gain saying that the advent of the phenomena of modernity and globalization has some serious impact on the legislation of various countries on the issue of human rights and freedom thus making the implementation of most legislation on human rights and freedoms very difficult especially for agencies charged with the follow up of human rights abuses. Difficult again because ¾ of the records of human rights abuses emanate from government agencies such as the administration, the forces of law and order and some other institutions charged with the administration of justice. As far back as ancient times, countries were colonizing others e.g. the partition of Africa, as well as slave trade, which are all aspects of violation of human rights. Furthermore I consider the urge for international trade, and the pressure of international financial institutions like the IMF, and World Bank just to name a few as salient aspects of human rights abuses which if you don’t use a pseudo-political and economic microscope you will not see.

To the least, various governments policies of some states especially the underdeveloped and developing countries as regards to human rights are also impediment to the checking of human rights abuses. Dictatorship is still much practiced in most countries .International conventions on human rights exist but there is a systematic refusal to implement them by some governments. Certain international resolutions on human rights issues are sometimes viewed by some states as an attempt at interference in their domestic affairs just because the concept of human rights is not perceived in the same way in various countries. In Cameroon for example the law enforcement agencies are usually an impediment to the endeavors of human rights Activists. And so in most cases it becomes very difficult if not impossible to pursue to the end an offence of human rights abuse. Sometimes you are frustrated in the process by an administrative authority or the forces of law and order or the institution charged with the implementation of the law. “When for instance the government set up a commission to probe into a particular problem, take for instance an accident which led to the death of human beings and findings of that commission is that no person died whereas people died it becomes so frustrating to imagine such a finding” Says barrister Dang Elias, provincial president of the national organization of human rights for the south west province of Cameroon.

Apart from the case of violation of human rights coming from the government agencies some institutions and individuals are often also guilty of human rights abuses. Ignorance sometimes is responsible for violation of human rights. If you don’t know your right you may not know that you are trampling on someone’s right because your right ends where someone’s right begins. At times the person or personality charged with managing a government agency or a law enforcement structure is responsible for the frequent human rights abuse may be because he is not fit for that post or he is corrupt or simply ignorant of his duties .Reason why it is recommended that only men of integrity should be selected to manage such agencies. This cannot be otherwise because when laws are made no matter how sound and good they may be, if there are no upright people to enforce the rule of law or to execute or cause the law to be executed then the law makers as well as those who render justice labor in vain. What we should note here is that issues of human rights and freedoms are no chocolate issues. They are the very backbone of any good governance.

The way human rights issues are handled by any country or government reflects the image of that country or government. One can conclude just from that aspect alone whether a particular country, government or regime is corrupt, dictatorial, partial or impartial. When everyone knows that all men were born equal and some people think that they are more equal than others then it is an aberration and a serious injury on human rights. The primordial preoccupation for those concerns to ensure the promotion and protection of human rights should consist of mobilization, sensitization and education of the population and where possible institute legal proceedings against persons suspected of human rights abuses. As said earlier you can have the best legislations, best structures, best institutions but if the brains in charge of implementing the laws, as well as those managing these structures and institutions are not capable people of a certain degree of probity (because there is no perfect human being - as a human being each person has his or her own human frailties – shortcomings) then everything will come to naught.
Many people living under authoritarian rule probably feel a strong desire for the enforcement of fair and binding rules for all than for democratic self determination. An independent and credible judiciary must control all state actions. Otherwise corruption, arbitrary decision making and abuse will prevail with hash consequences for human rights as well as for economic development.

Note should be taken of the fact that no where in the world does conform with the letter of the law absolutely. Even in the world’s respectable Unions, not everything is done by the book. But the difference between the law on paper and the law in practice is particularly marked in poor and developing countries. In fact some judges in some countries have for decades rule against state authorities and past orders in favor of civil society organizations such as human rights campaigners.

In doing so these have sparked intense debate and changed perceptions of the law. The big obstacle here is that these judgments need to be implemented by the very administrations the courts repeatedly ruled against.