To What Extent is Freedom a Basic Human Right?

International Baccalaureate Languages

Anglo Colombian School

English

Presented To: Miss Tonya Ricketts

To What Extent is Freedom a Basic Human Right?

Daniel Aguirre

8.1

2007-2008

To What Extent is Freedom a Basic Human Right?

We all talk about freedom but do we really know what it means? Well, freedom is doing what you want but always having some limits, also it is freedom from entrapment like from a prison or something similar. There are several types of freedom, like religious freedom that is freedom of belief and freedom of worship, political freedom that is the right to choose who your ruler is and also choosing how to be ruled, and individual freedom from which is meant that people can act according to his or her own will.

Religious freedom is a guarantee by a government for freedom of belief, freedom of worship and religious groups. It can also be said to be the right of not to follow any religion. Religious freedom is considered in many nations to be a basic human right. For instance religious freedom in a country with a state religion is allowing other religious groups besides the state religion. For example in the United Arab Emirates the state religion is Islam but they allow other religious groups and also permit them to build places of worship. However, in other countries such as in Saudi Arabia the official religion is Islam and the law says that all citizens have to be Muslims and it also forbids the practice of non-Muslim religions. So these are two examples of countries with and also without religious freedom.

Getting in deep with political freedom by which is meant the rights such as the one to vote for the person you want to win or to be elected, the one of free association and the right of free political expression. Political freedom allows people to choose who their rulers should be and also to choose how they shall be ruled. For example Colombia is a democratic country with political freedom because people have the rights to elect their rulers and how to be ruled. On the other hand is Germany that in the 1940’s didn’t have political freedom ...

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Getting in deep with political freedom by which is meant the rights such as the one to vote for the person you want to win or to be elected, the one of free association and the right of free political expression. Political freedom allows people to choose who their rulers should be and also to choose how they shall be ruled. For example Colombia is a democratic country with political freedom because people have the rights to elect their rulers and how to be ruled. On the other hand is Germany that in the 1940’s didn’t have political freedom because there was a fascist government that didn’t respect people’s lives and individuals had to do what the dictator ordered or wanted to be done. Another example is Cuba that has a dictator that has ruled the country since the 1960’s. Cuba has a communist government and people are not allowed to elect their ruler.

Individual freedom is the type of freedom in which people have the right/ability to act according to what they want. Liberal conceptions of individual freedom describe this type of freedom as freedom from outside compulsion. However, socialists perspective/point of view relate this type of freedom with equality. Individual freedom is also the right to education, the right to travel, freedom of speech, access to internet/media, etc. Studies have confirmed that there is not one country in the world that has complete individual freedom, if that occurred it will mean that that country would have political anarchism that is practically impossible. But a country that in the last few years is reducing the people’s individual freedom is Venezuela: the president is becoming a dictator and doesn’t allow anyone to oppose him. Also the government is changing from a democratic government to a communist government.

It is a requirement, besides a right to have religious, political and individual freedom because each of these three types of freedoms is very important because of what is said throughout the essay. Also each type of freedom is very important each in its own category/topic. If you have all the three types of freedom you can consider yourself a very happy person. This means that freedom is not just a basic human right, it is also one of the most important human rights, if not the most. Having no freedom will mean being oppressed by society, in fact nobody could live without at least one type of freedom.