International Human rights are “rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.” Internationally under the umbrella of the United Nations Organization (UNO) “laws lay down the obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.” International human rights are implemented totally differently domestically according to different cultures, traditions, territorial regions, and systems of governance in the world. Different socio-economical systems and political government and socio-culture norms recognized various rights of their populace and citizens. International human rights are considered universal rights that are the same and implement in all countries equally, while domestically every state frame and implement its laws regarding Human rights in a way that suit their sovereignty and are limited to the scope of universal human rights.
Since the United Nations charter on human rights came in 1945, the UN is an international organization of countries of the world. The UN directed and mandated that it is the responsibility of each member state to “maintain international peace and security, uphold international law, achieve higher standards of living for their citizens, address “economic, social, health, and related problems”, and promote “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” As a charter and constituent treaty, its rules and obligations are binding on all members and supersede those of other treaties”.
Further, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948, is an international treaty that was adopted by the UN General Assembly and add the rights and freedom of all human beings. Now it is the choice of the country that they may enter the UNDR by signing the document or may not. As many counties signed and ratified the UDHR, they are bound to follow it because they are part of it by signing the document. However, each country, they have its own cultural and political system and its own laws which may and may not compile with universal human rights.
Moreover, the treaties which are known as International Bills of Human Rights i.e. the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICCPR 1966), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICESCR 1966), these treaties are adopted or accepted by many countries. Apart from that, there are many other treaties such as Women’s Rights, Children’s Rights, Minority Rights, and migrants’ or refugees’ Rights so on and so forth. It is the state to enforce them in a proper way for their citizens.
The purpose of the international Human Rights Laws or Legal Laws, is to preserve and protect human fundamental rights and should be applied to every country or state because the basic needs of human beings are the same everywhere. They are not different in each state, so the state should follow international law if they ratify them. However, many states due to their political system and state interests do not follow the universal human rights laws. Even though they do not follow the said laws, they violate universal human laws. The international laws are cementing one state to another those are signed treaties, to make them peaceful and stable.
Furthermore, there are many regional mechanisms or tools, like the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) formed in 1950 which protects human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Apart from this, there are many barriers like cultural barriers, tribal disputes within the state and etc. with these problems which exist inside a state, if states solve such kinds of problems by force, coercion, and state terrorism, then according to human rights laws or conventions, it is a violation. As the United States of America does not give the death penalty to its prisoners but they are practicing it so it’s a violation of Human Rights. Another example is that if a citizen criticizes the Government of Saudi Arabia, they will be missing the next day or maybe found dead so once again it is a violation of Human Rights, hence within the borders of a country, a number of political issues are happening that must not be taken for granted as they state a lot about the law implementation system.
Though states have signed and ratified the Human Rights treaties when it comes to implementing these Human Rights the states do not follow the Human Rights because of their domestic problems.
In my opinion ‘Human Rights must be universal and thus the same throughout the world. For the Human Spirit, all basic things are the same whether he is living in the USA, Pakistan, the UK, or any developing African country. However, the states need to implement or enforce those Rights that do not conflict with the Universal Human Rights for every country and political system has its own culture but implementing the universal right is necessary for the survival of any citizen. The treaties are protecting the Human Rights of citizens to live their life in a good or standardized way. Hence, the states must follow these Rights otherwise they should not ratify these treaties.
