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The International Bill of Human Rights -

While we all have the right to the basic freedoms and protections outlined in the International Bill of Human Rights, we aren’t always capable of providing them for ourselves. Truly, how can we be safe if our country is at war? How can we be educated if there aren’t adequate resources?

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Who is responsible? -

Each nation has the responsibility to provide for and protect the human rights of its citizens, but, unfortunately, they often fail for a number of reasons. Some countries are unable to do so due to a lack of resources, while others choose not to due to prejudice. In some cases, they actively violate and persecute their own people.

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New challenges are emerging -

Despite the amount of overall progress the human race has made in respecting and valuing individual lives over the years, we still face countless human rights issues all over the world. The advancement of technology and the progression of global warming are also creating new issues for future generations. Let's take a look at some of the most pressing concerns.

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1. Refugee crises -

Given that we are at the mercy of our governing state when it comes to the enforcement of our human rights, we are never more vulnerable than when we are stateless. Millions of people either lose or flee their homes due to conflict, persecution, or other human rights violations. Unfortunately, the rates of displacement around the world are higher than ever.

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1. Refugee crises -

The UN Refugee Agency estimated that a total of 89.3 million were displaced around the world by the end of 2021. That’s around twice as many refugees as during World War II. Keep in mind, this number has since surpassed 100 million since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, and continues to climb.

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1. Refugee crises -

Refugee crises are nothing new. We’ve all seen the devastating news stories about boats full of desperate people drowning as they flee their war-torn homes and are unable to find a safe harbor to land in. When your home state no longer takes care of your basic human rights, or actively violates them, all you can do is hope that another nation will show humanity and take you in.

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1. Refugee crises -

But the EU decided to prioritize border control over rescue missions when the Syrian refugee crisis began in 2014, and approximately 25,000 people have drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean since then.

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2. Human trafficking -

Human trafficking is another time-old human rights violation that’s on the rise. Despite the tropes that movies like ‘Taken’ (2008) have created, human trafficking is often a lot more subtle and insidious than snatching young American tourists at the airport.

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2. Human trafficking -

It’s defined as transporting someone into a situation of exploitation, either against their will or through coercion. The majority of trafficking victims are women and young girls who often end up in the sex trade. While trafficking can happen anywhere, it’s rife in places where poverty or conflict are forcing people to look for an escape. They might be offered an opportunity to be taken to another country like the US to find work, but instead a criminal network takes their passports and forces them into slave-like conditions.

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2. Human trafficking -

Both armed groups and terrorists also use human trafficking to enlist people for criminal activities or forced marriages. As refuge crises continue to grow around the world, young girls and women disappear from camps or are targeted by online recruiters.

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3. Workers' rights -

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all people have “the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment.” Even in some of the most developed nations in the world, such as the US, the minimum wage hasn’t changed since 2009 and is not sufficient to keep workers out of poverty.

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3. Workers' rights -

As inflation grows and another economic crisis looms, workers’ rights will become an even greater issue than they are now. In addition to unfair pay, there are also violations such as wage theft, discrimination in the workplace and in hiring practices, and unsafe working conditions. The fashion industry alone employs millions and millions of people, many of them children, to work under inhumane conditions for next to nothing.

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3. Workers' rights -

Growing conflict and environmental dangers around the world are causing mass migration and many companies will readily exploit undocumented workers. The employees are essentially held hostage by their employers as they fear losing their only source of income or being deported. This means they are often underpaid and forced to take on riskier jobs. It’s estimated that 5% of the workforce in the US is made up of undocumented workers.

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4. Gender equality -

Despite the fact that gender equality is the rule (on paper, at least) in most parts of the world, the World Economic Forum predicts that it will take at least another century for true gender equality to exist.

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4. Gender equality -

All over the world women are prevented from receiving an education, developing skills, or choosing if and who they marry. There are countries where women aren’t allowed to drive, vote, or choose what they wear.

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4. Gender equality -

In the US, the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade rolled back reproductive rights by decades in a devastating blow to the rights of those who can become pregnant. Many countries are still fighting for the most basic abortion rights. The two issues are inextricably linked as a person’s right to control what happens to their body directly impacts their ability to control what happens in their economic and social life.

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5. LGBTQ+ rights -

The current state of LGBTQ+ rights varies greatly from country to country. At least 67 countries have laws that expressly criminalize same-sex relations, while only around 30 countries in the world have legalized same-sex marriage.

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5. LGBTQ+ rights -

The laws acknowledging and protecting gender non-conforming people are even more lacking. Discrimination against all kinds of LGBTQ+ people still exists everywhere, with the transgender community suffering in particular.

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5. LGBTQ+ rights -

In addition to being much more likely to be unemployed due to discrimination, trans people are four times more likely to be the victims of violent crimes. The rates of violent crimes reported against trans people have been increasing in recent years, which may indicate that there are more openly trans people as well as an increase in hate crimes. There is still so much work to do to promote and protect the rights of LGBTQ+ all over the world.

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6. Technology -

Technological innovation is progressing at lightning speed. Complex new technology is being developed that is barely understood by its creators, let alone lawmakers who should be establishing policies to limit the negative impacts on human rights.

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6. Technology -

Legal protection has evidently not developed fast enough and our relationships with major institutions are changing. The Cambridge Analytica scandal in which Facebook data was reportedly used to increase Donald Trump’s chances of winning the 2016 presidential election is just one example.

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6. Technology -

Digital security and data privacy are two major factors that human rights groups are grappling to understand and advocate for, from government surveillance to data collection used to target us for marketing purposes.

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7. Nationalism - Despite several decades of moving towards global cooperation through organizations like the UN, nationalism is on the rise in countries all over the world. It can be seen in countries like China, the US, Turkey, and the Philippines. With nationalism comes the threat to human rights in many areas of life.

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7. Nationalism -

Nationalism can be used to control and create competition. Adolf Hitler used nationalist rhetoric to gain and motivate his followers during World War II, while Vladimir Putin is doing the same to keep the Russian population on his side while he wages war on Ukraine.

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7. Nationalism -

In both cases, the rise of nationalism was used to develop the countries involved in a positive way for some of the population, while other minorities and vulnerable groups suffered and are suffering horrific violations of their human rights.

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8. Misinformation and journalism -

Misinformation and the deterioration of journalistic standards are other threats to human rights that are on the rise. Propaganda is being used effectively in Russia to create a totally different narrative about the war on Ukraine than the one the rest of the world is hearing. Many Russians tuned in to state media are convinced it’s a just war being waged to fight Nazism in Ukraine and that there are no unnecessary civilian casualties.

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8. Misinformation and journalism -

Human rights inevitably suffer when access to information and the truth is hindered. It covers abuses and violations and prevents citizens from coordinating to take action.

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9. Climate change - The climate crisis has reached multiple points of no return in recent years and the situation is undeniably dire, yet intergovernmental organizations like the UN aren’t doing nearly enough to combat the destruction of the planet.

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9. Climate change - The need to respond appropriately is only growing. We’re already seeing that underdeveloped nations are suffering the effects disproportionately. For example, the devastating floods that ravaged Pakistan during the summer of 2022 were directly caused by climate change. More than 17,000 people were killed and approximately US$14.9 billion in damage was caused.

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9. Climate change -

This climate disaster raised the profile of an idea called climate reparations. It proposes that the wealthy countries responsible for larger contributions to global warming provide financial assistance to the poorer countries being decimated by the consequences. For example, Pakistan is responsible for just 1% of the Earth’s carbon emissions, while the US is responsible for approximately 30%.

Sources: (UN) (Human Rights Careers) (UNHCR) (HRW) (TGEU) (UAB)

See also: Climate change: how extreme weather is affecting our world

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