Week 7 Philosophy

My rights end where your nose begins

Look up the United Nation’s “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and read through all of the Articles. A good website for this information is:

http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/ 

This assignment has three parts.

Part One

• You may have to do a little more research (or even watch the news), but pick three of the many Articles listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Then, take each one separately and explain in detail how the human rights issue being discussed in a particular Article is actually being violated today. So, you will end up discussing three separate human rights violations in three separate paragraphs.

Part Two

• Since “universal” means “everybody and everywhere,” what are some reasons that you think there are still so many nations who are unwilling to sign the UDHR. Do NOT do research for this question. This answer should be your personal thoughts and opinions, because there are so many possible different reasons for nations opting not to endorse the UDHR that looking them all up would take a very long time.

Part Three

• Blocker basically argues that our notion of human rights has been evolving for thousands of years and that it is still evolving. So, try to imagine fifty years from now. What will human rights look like then? Will we still need “Declarations,” like the UDHR, to remind us that everyone is entitled to the same human rights? Will there still be parts of the world that refuse to grant these rights to all of the citizens? If you think the answer is “yes,” which rights do you think will still need work in order to make them “universal”? And, assuming there ever comes a time when universal human rights are truly universal (meaning that everyone world-wide is guaranteed all of the stated human rights), will that be the time when war, poverty, hunger, and so forth finally become a part of history and are no longer a concern for anyone in the world? This is your opinion, but be sure to explain each of your answers in detail.

Instructions for your paper.

Please use APA formatting. Your response should be between 600-900 words. Naturally, you should cite your sources, but make sure that most of the paper reflects your own thoughts.