War on terrorism vs. Human Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

War on terrorism vs. Human Rights - Essay Example When the truth was finally revealed by Miliband, questions were raised about the honesty of the government. And because the public already knew that there were two cases of renditions that have happened, there were doubts that maybe out of the 170 stopovers in the United Kingdom, there might have been more than two renditions that have transpired. As Tom Porteous, the Human Rights Watch' London Chief would put it, "We now know that in at least two cases, the U.S. didn't ask permission. How many other times did the U.S. fail to inform the British government" 3 The said confession on the controversial matter thus stained the trust of the people to their leaders in the government. But what was more disturbing on this matter is that there were human rights violated in the said extraordinary renditions done by the CIA. group, both locally and internationally, which firmly believe in the possibilities that there were rights violated in the said measures of renditions. ... about kidnapping and secret detention."4 And even if one views such matter in so many ways and in different perspectives, it will never look all right. Just the thought of detaining and torturing the suspects is already unfair and discriminatory. Though it is given that "Extraordinary rendition violates the universal declaration of human rights,"5 it is still not enough reason to physically abuse the suspects. They are called as suspects because they are not yet convicted to have committed the accused crimes. Now, if justice would always be done in this way- people without even undergoing the proper court proceedings, we might as well disregard the promulgated laws because the reason that the laws exist is for the people to be protected. In this case, these people- the suspects- are not protected. It is stated under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights that there is a "fair trial before an independent tribunal, andsuspects are innocent until proven [sic] guilty." 6 In this light, suspects, no matter what, are still human beings entitled with their own rights. And for that reason, I believe that they too have the claim to exercise their civil liberties and human rights. These norms then that protect people from various places around the world against 4BBC News,"UK Apology Over Rendition Flights"; available from http://www.khilafah.com/kcom/index2.phpoption=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=2005; 5 David Weissbrodt et al., "Extraordinary Rendition: A Human Rights Analysis," Harvard Human Rights Journal 287, Vol. 19 (2006), http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss19/weissbrodt.shtml. 6Sabina Zaccaro, "Rights: European Parliament Turns Policeman Over Renditions, http://ipsnews.net/news.aspidnews=36499. several forms of abuse, torture, and

Does the idea of equal opportunity demand or prohibit cultural and Essay

Does the idea of equal opportunity demand or prohibit cultural and religious exemptions in the multicultural society - Essay Example On the other hand, it should be noticed that in most countries around the world the development of various legal and social ethics is based on certain principles the most important of which is equality; the specific principle is often used by governments internationally in order to justify their decisions on a variety of issues related with people’s daily life. The principle of equality is further divided into sub-principles like the equal opportunity one. Generally, it could be stated equal opportunity should prohibit the exemptions related with culture and decision within modern societies; of course, there are cases where such exemptions should apply – when the criteria for the development of these exemptions cannot be related with the principle of equal opportunity (e.g. specific religious exemptions based on the existed religious rules of a particular region). In order to evaluate whether the principle of equal opportunity can be used in order to impose or prohibit cultural and religious exemptions in modern society it is necessary to refer primarily to the general framework of equal opportunity – as developed in modern states influenced by the relevant theoretical and empirical studies on this field. Other issues, like the relationship between the state and the church and the involvement of culture in the development of specific social principles could be also examined. In order to understand the importance of equal of opportunity within the modern society and its interaction with various social and cultural principles and ethics, it is necessary primarily to refer to its meaning and its characteristics. In accordance with a definition published by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2002, online version) equality of opportunity is a political ideal that is opposed to caste hierarchy but not to hierarchy per se; the background assumption is that a society contains a hierarchy of more and less desirable, superior and inferior positions’. The