Free Human Rights and Social Justice Essay Sample

Provision of health care for all-health is a human right according to United Nations and people should receive the same medical care regardless of their economic status.

Solving the problem using the principles of human rights/social justice

According to the United Nations, there are five principles of human rights that need to be observed to ensure that human beings enjoy their live. These principles can be used to solve the problems that social workers face in their day to day activities. People have their rights regardless of their location in whole world and this is encompassed in the words of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This article articulates that humanity should be considered equal and every person is worth same amount of dignity. People should not be treated differently when in different parts of the world for instance when you work in Europe or America you should receive the same treatment.

These challenges can be solved by social workers recognizing the diversity of the people and differences in community and color.  Most civilized nations abhor the term negative discrimination in preference for just the phrase. The word negative is of real recognition because some nations use the term “positive discrimination” which could be used synonymous with “affirmative action”. These two are used to designate the steps that are positive in nature and try to correct the historical stereotypic behavior of discriminating against certain groups. An example is where in some countries they are redressing gender discrimination by giving women more chances so as to deal with historical injustices of the past.

Social problems can also be solved by a well laid down process of equitable resource distribution so that those who need them get them. This brings about people filling same and appreciated. It is therefore the role of these social workers to alert their employers, politicians, those who make their policies and the public in general in situations where they receive inadequate resources, or where there is an unfair and harmful ways of distributing these resources. They should ensure that these policies and practices are not offensive to their nature. On top of all this one should that social workers work in harmony with each other.

Definition of social justice

This concept demands that people have equal rights and opportunities regardless of their economic status; everyone, from the poorest person on the margins of society to the wealthiest deserves an even place to do their business. In most circumstances, economic status of individuals has given some people an advantage over others in terms of their human rights such as education and health issues. The concept of social justice explains why people need to be treated the same, but attaining social justice in any country is hard because people have their own things according to their ability, you can use the ability of others to satisfy the needs of those who do not work as this could discourage the hard workers and make the others lazy.

Determinism can be described as for everything to be the way it is there are some conditions that must have happened or else it could not be possible to be the way it is. It follows to say that there are prior conditions that determine the end of everything that happens.

Structural determinism can be explained as everything that occurs to individuals or institutions can only be determined or affected by their own structures and nothing outside the structures can change them. Systems are determined by the way they are organized, whereas structure determines how its parts are physically articulated. Organization identifies a system and corresponds to its general configuration

In social work, organizational structure of an institution reflects the way it conducts its activities and the end product, little can affect it from outside for instance the structure of another organization. Organizations that have well established structures performs better and this explains the need to have internal structures that work coherently with each other to achieve desired goals of institutions.

Oppression groups (powerless)

According to Young, those who have power are the ones that oppress those that do not have it, and in most circumstances power comes with the majority and it may be due to race, religion or gender. In my case it is gender. Being a female social worker, the male genders who are the majority and in power give orders on what is supposed to be done and they give time limits in such a way to show that they are in control of the situation. At times you work beyond your expectations just to satisfy those in power for the security of your work.

In day to day life, women find themselves in less powerful situations just because of their gender and the male gender take advantage of these situations to exercise their power over women, and in some circumstances women are afraid to take leadership roles due to male presence who in most cases are the majority at work places. Labor market forces mostly oppress women as women will mostly find themselves in working conditions that are less privileged compared to their male counterparts when it comes to promotions and responsibilities.

Some of the identities that have a positive trait as conferred by the society include nationality, color, economic status, sexual orientation and the political attitude. On the other hand, those that are considered to have a negative values attached to them, especially from a female immigrant are race, norms and values, language and religion

Master (most prominent) identity

Color-Color- despite many people trying to hide this fact, there are some unfair privileges that I have because of my skin color and this does not mean that I receive more than I deserve but it is because I feel someone somewhere In this country does not have them just because of his/her skin color. A sense of belonging to many groups and filling comfortable in many situations and I feel ok to contribute when in meeting without attracting unnecessary attention from other people as I would be if I was of color.

I travel freely within the borders and am free to do anything because am comfortable not to say that people with color are not comfortable but this is an internal feeling. People are free to socialize with and be friends and they do not have formed opinions about me and my religion.

Before defining internal oppression it will be better if some light be shed on external oppression, this type of oppression is where a group exercises power and authority of another in an unjust way. Internal oppression is when oppressed groups believe that the oppressors are right and their way of life is supposed to that way. This can be shown through self-hate and internal racism. Disrespect for God, fighting, drunkenness and disrespecting the women folks were alien characters modeled by the Cavalry, and later found route into the nature of our local societies through the process of internalized oppression

If someone from a group of target that is targeted would understand the misinformation and myths, they are likely to unconsciously have a feeling that in a way they are not as capable, intelligent, worthy, beautiful or good as those who are not among their group. They will then turn the understanding of discrimination or oppression inwards and feel that the belief that the society has and spreads around is in fact true. This will make them absorb it as the real situation. This is what surmounts to internalized oppression.(Understanding culture and diversity in building communities)

As a result of internal oppression people start being shame of themselves and start to disown their cultural reality. Oppressed individuals take the work of oppressors and as a result of these they develop low self esteem and become shyer.

In the process of internalized oppression, the oppressor needs not to do anything because we are already oppressing one another. It is a clinical proof that the analogy of divide and conquer works. Oppressed individuals or groups have low self esteem and hence in public meetings the contribute less due to the fear about what people might think about them, others do not pursue their dreams and end up drunkards or involve themselves in violence, they will shy away from leadership and management roles even if they have the capacities, and sometimes they separate themselves from other people because they feel other people may not want to spend time together with them.

Ways to overcome

People gain confidence through solidarity and having pride in ones culture. Our culture gives our background, home, a reference and a sense of belonging we also get to appreciate ourselves. The forms of discrimination that people have been through over the years include struggling through endurance and tough experiences have strengthened them. It has made people to have survival tactics, educate themselves on how to harness resources, be able to stand and defend themselves, have a good sense of humor and never crumble but bounce right back. They hence get the real meaning of what a long term commitment entails. For one to take pride in his culture it involves extensive reading about our background and gain knowledge about our origin and appreciates our ancestors for what they did for us. People can also organize internal meetings to and share their opinion and fortunes which will bring back joy and sense of belonging. A strong stand should be taken against injustice and oppression; this goes a long way in restoring confidence and stability to those who have internal oppression.

Being fully human

It means to feel truly happy and fulfilled. Not just by frivolous things like thrills and possessions, but by the things that really matter such as our various types of relationships, maybe bringing up children or making a positive difference in the lives of others. It also means living "consciously", or in other words regularly taking the time to think deeply about what your life is about and what you want it to be, and the things that really matter to you.  This also means knowing what you really value and believes in, and being true to those values and beliefs in everything you do.  It gives u room to change according to circumstances and that doesn't have to mean that you stick to the same beliefs and values no matter what, or that your values can never change. It is far better to re-evaluate these constantly as you go through life and learn from different experiences.

According to Campbell, for us to live with dignity, we must have control over our lives and allow others to control theirs by supporting them as much as they support. This is expressed through the way we do our work and interact with other people; we show our dignity by the way we deal with people who have different opinions to ours. Human qualities define who we are and under no circumstances should they be taken away from us. Human dignity depends on these qualities and if we lose them our value and respect as human beings goes with it. For us to live in harmony with ourselves and other living organisms we need to posses these qualities. Inmates are the most common victims whose dignity is affected despite the fact that we ought to respect it. The right to the exercise of freedom belongs to everyone because it is inseparable from his or her dignity as a human person. According to human rights that are internationally recognized, everyone is equal with the same amount of rights and equal dignity. Therefore we should respect each other and socialize in a brotherly manner.
Human rights are indivisible. Whether of a civil, cultural, economic, political or social nature, they are all inherent to the dignity of every human person. Consequently, they all have equal status as rights, and cannot be ranked, a priori, in a hierarchical order. There should be no attempt for instance putting education a head of health, they should be taken as equal and provided to all people without any discrimination. This is the reason why governments are the ones that provide these rather than the private sector, this is because the government aims at equitable provision of services to the citizens and their goal is to fulfill the human rights.

What are some of the challenges associated with using these concepts? 

It is almost impossible to satisfy human rights fully because of the universality and because they cannot be ranked when it comes to delivering them to the people who need to by the government.  When it comes to ranking some issues should be given priority but these concepts do not allow. Not everyone can enjoy these rights due to social and economic factor of the world because some people will always have advantage over others. Developing countries do not have the resources and the capacities to fulfill these rights and therefore some groups are disadvantaged for instance the people who live in rural areas or the urban poor who spend their life in slums or undeveloped neighborhoods. Not all these rights are well stipulated down in legal documents and as a result they are sometimes overlooked by the governments.

Cultural relativism is of the view that all the cultures are equal and truth is relative. When it come s to issues of morality, politics and law all cultures are the same. At times right or wrong can only be defined by the situation i.e. what may right in some circumstances can be wrong in another situation. Cultural relativism can be separated into three: and cognitive relativism, situational relativism, and includes moral relativism.

Cultural relativism is similar to moral relativism in that they both pervade the world of today. The removal of the deep truth has taken with it Godly beliefs as our society has assimilated tolerance and pluralism. Today we do not respect the notion of universal right or wrong. Our legislative system cannot effectively defend our laws because they are finding it hard as our objectives and standards are continuously deteriorating. This also makes it harder for the court systems to interpret these laws. It is barely two decades since it started and yet the world’s entertainment world has forced people to accept indecency to unimaginable degrees. The young children of the day are continuously losing their morals and becoming very violent, worse off even to their parents who are the epitome of their existence. The syllabuses teach that we are just an unplanned result of evolution with even higher institutions claiming that we must accept all the upcoming types of lifestyles or else we can be termed as intolerant, maybe even “hate mongers” at worst. The notion of relativism wants people to accept the outward display of pornography in the media and support rampant fornication in the universities and colleges. There are many things that our grandparents would heartily shun as sinning but we accept them and even promote them in today’s cultures. The realativitists state that all points of view are always true apart from the ones that have an absolute declaration like right or wrong, absolute truth or an absolute God

Vulnerable groups                               

According to WHO, Vulnerability can be defined as a measure to which a group, persons or organizations are in a situation that cannot allow them to deal with , defy and recuperate from impacts of any disaster.

When disasters strike, young people, the old, expectant mothers, emaciated and those people with poor immune systems are the worst affected.  This affects women most because they are the ones that are involved in household work that may affect their health and leads to their exposure to dangerous materials for example women are the ones who are mostly involved in disposing of wastes within a household. Allocating women and young people most of the work in many houses expose them to pollution within the house if there is any because they spent most of their time in the house as opposed to men who spent their time outdoor in most cases.

When it comes to vulnerability women are affected more compared to men and this is mostly due to the nature of work that they partake and this is because of the roles they take which are attached to them by society and market forces and to some extent the politics.. In most countries women are discriminated against in labor market and also in provision of basic services. During pregnancy, women are easily affected by environmental hazards because their system is weak and more sensitive to any changes especially environmental variations

Reducing vulnerability

Vulnerability is influence mostly by the extent to which they are able to cope or deal with impacts of poor health, injuries and early deaths that are caused by natural disasters. For instance these groups can be helped through provision of affordable medication and treatment, provision of emergency services such as fire stations and risk management centers.

These groups can be sheltered by their respective governments, private sectors or community based initiatives in ensuring good health care throughout the pregnancy period and during child birth and also extend to post natal care .centers that deal with emergencies should be established within the communities to reduce  severity of the impacts to the vulnerable groups. Neighborhood should be protected from hazards and children should be provided for such as secure play grounds.

Human rights in relation to child adoption of a child by families of same sex

The international human rights declare that all human beings, man, woman, youth or child has a basic right and is free to choose the sexual orientation they deem fit for them. It declares that it is a fundamental human right and one should not be discriminated upon just because of their sexual orientation or any other reason whatsoever. They say that the freedom from discrimination lays a start point for fulfillment of other human rights. The laws of adoption are different as you move from one state to another. There are those countries that would allow the gays and lesbians to adopt a child as joint parents and they can go to agencies of adoption for children both locally and internationally. However, in some countries that are well conservatives, this may not be allowed.

Provisions that support adoption of children by lesbian parents

Ethical issues are involved

Social workers have a code of ethics which states “Cultural and Social Diversity”. These workers therefore have the duty to respect everyone they work with despite their races, ethnicity, nation of origin, religious and political affiliations, sexual orientations and mental or physical disabilities. Once you are a social worker, your goal is to enhance a person's wellbeing and help him to overcome his problems and struggles, which are most likely caused by one of the forms of discrimination. As a social worker people are not supposed to discriminate against those people of different sex orientation for instance lesbians should not be denied the right to adopt a child on the basis of their sex orientation.

To allow adoption of children by homosexual couples will go a long way in fulfilling international human rights but it will not be realistic in the current world. An idea to actualize a policy that will ensure that all nations will allow all the lesbians and gay couples to adopt children would be ideal but in reality, that would not happen. However, every state that does not allow lesbians and gays to adopt children should be able to justify their objections. This would give each state the freedom to do as it pleases and not to be forced by the federal law.

When the governments do not recognize and agree to couples of the same sex having families, they are denying others the right to form families. These rights are however implicitly given to those of different sex marriages without them even asking for it, and not gone seek for any legal recognition. They enjoy this and many more rights not conferred to gay marriages. This has also made children to be denied the protection from being separated from their parents with basis on the parent’s sexual orientation.

Contribution of the capabilities perspective to my thinking about human rights and social work Capabilities can be defined as what individual can do given a chance and this takes into account the personal characteristics. Given freedom to select is one of the main ways that enables one to exercise his/her capabilities fully. One can choose the way to live his or her life but that does not necessarily mean that he will be able to live that way and this explains why despite the need to satisfy all human rights, governments are unable to do so because they are limited when it comes to capabilities.

Human rights on one hand are there to provide basic needs for human survival such as being healthy, acquiring basic education and being secure while on the other hand capability ensures happiness and having self respect. Some of the capabilities ensure human rights such as one living his/her life to the end normally and having good health and having required shelter. Ones capability to use his senses and thought   reason and think in an expected way which is truly human, he will in a way exercise human rights of freedom and also extent it to other people by granting them freedom in whatever part of the world because he understands these people and what they value most. Use of sense and good reasoning makes one to fully understand others thus may reduce any conflict that may arise.

Human rights provide for different human forms of association and this is supported by being able to have emotions for others such as love, care, and a sense or need of belonging. Through this also one is able to protect the liberty of religious inclination of other people.

For one to respect the rights and not to discriminate others on the basis of their skin color, religion and sex orientation individuals have to develop self-respect and treat other with dignity.

In some circumstances human rights are not observed because of lack of capacities, while human rights cannot be ranked and given priorities, capabilities force this to happen in day to day activities. Governments are supposed to ensure all the human rights are adhered to while those governed should be aware of their rights and exercise a sense of reasoning and understand others, this will reduce unfair judgment and universality of rights will be achieved.

According to Nussbaum human rights entails the moral principles while the capabilities of governments or states should provide the minimum for all individuals who reside in that country or state. Human rights are supposed to be practiced by everyone because failure to do so affects the capabilities of others. 

 

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