Human rights, war and terrorism: The way forward

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ABSTRACT

After every war come the peace talks; after millions of people had been killed. After the terrorist attacks comes the investigation, reason, or counter-terrorism; after lives had been wasted.  There is time for the nations of the world to come together to understand one another in order to avoid war and terrorism and that time is now.  War is as old as man.  It is a reign of terror when people are always on the run, always hungry, always cold, and homeless and killed in hundreds, thousands, and sometimes in millions.  War and terrorism are almost synonymous since the result of both is the loss of lives.  It is said that when lessons are not learnt from historical event, they will repeat themselves.  The horrors of the World War 1 and 2 still live within us.  The wound of the 9/11 attacks is still fresh.  The occupation of the United States of America in Iraq and Afghanistan is a continuous infringement of their rights to life, peace, self-determination, just to mention a few.  The United Nations Charter provides in its Article 2(4) that “all members shall retrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state…”  No country should invade another country or overthrow their government.  No country should position itself as the police of the world.  There must be full representation of all nations in all the affairs of the United Nations Organisation.  Acts of War is usually a conflict between two heads of states or more and not a conflict between the peoples of those two countries or more.  The Western World must not utilize human rights as purely political instruments while demonstrating foul coldness towards other values and important universal principles cherished by other countries.

HUMAN RIGHTS, WAR AND TERRORISM: THE WAY FORWARD

        Human rights are things which belong to us simply because we are human beings.  Human rights are about you, me, us, them, and how we “should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.  The foundation of human rights is based on freedom, justice and peace.  Human rights as a whole can be traced to the Divine laws, the African communal concept, natural law school of thought, the socialist/Marxist concept, the positivist school, the sociological school of thought, etc.  Human rights violations are carried out by governments on their citizens and also rampant in international politics.  All human rights are important.  All human rights are universal, interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. For example, the rights to life, right to health and right to peace all go hand in hand.  A country at war disrespects its citizen’s right to life and as such cannot guarantee the right to peace or the right to health of those that are wounded on the battle field.

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        The recognition of war as an alternative means of solving disputes runs contrary to the principles of human rights.  The justification of any war is relative.  The shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines war as “any hostile contention by means of armed forces, carried on between nations, states; the employment of armed forces against a foreign power or against an opposing party in a state.  Alexander Nikitin describes war as a critical stage of contradiction between political actors in the form of violent armed struggle.  Most often than not, war is just a show off, of who is more powerful.  There ...

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