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Human Rights Violations In South Africa

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Human Rights can be defined as the supreme, inherent and unalienable rights to life, dignity and self-development. Within this definition there are subsections of the different human rights, such as first, second, third generation and debate for a fourth generation. There are also cultural and economic rights. The development of human rights over the years has experienced many changes, starting with natural rights which were grounded on the laws of nature (Freeman, 2011) evolving into human rights as many of us know them today, which are stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
After researching and collecting articles from the 13th to the 28th of April 2015 it is evident that a number of human rights violations are occurring …show more content…

This might not reflect a true indication of the Human Rights violations internationally and on a global scale, but rather are concentrated to South African Society. Although many human rights violations are occurring in other countries, it is not frequently reported on in the media sources available to South Africans.
As for the role that human rights play in society is can be said that there is a general misunderstanding regarding the impact a list of human rights have on a society. One has to question the compliance of society with this list of human rights and their willingness to preserve and fight for ones rights. After reviewing these news articles and seeing the shocking violation of human rights on a day to day basis around the world and very much here in South Africa, and on a smaller scale in Port Elizabeth as well, one is forced to view human rights as an “ideal” of how we wish to live and be …show more content…

The Human Rights violations are so frequent that one questions whether they are in fact rights at all. Does one have the right to peaceful assembly and demonstrations? Does one even have to right to life, or can someone else take that away from you. This does in fact seem to be the case in today’s society. A statistic showing the incidence of murder and violent crimes in 2003 show that the main cause of death in South Africa was violence. Refer to figure 1. This number has decreased slightly but South Africa still is a leader in violent crimes and murder worldwide. The role that human rights have on society is minimal, and the need for the protection of human rights is

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