What Are Human Rights?

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever their nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.

Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups. When those human rights are embodied in law they can become Civil Rights in that country too.

Universal And Inalienable Human Rights

[NOTE: The term State means Country]

The principle of universality of human rights is the cornerstone of international human rights law. This principle, as first emphasized in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948, has been reiterated in numerous international human rights conventions, declarations, and resolutions. The 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, for example, noted that it is the duty of Countries to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems.

All Countries have ratified at least one, and 80% of States have ratified four or more, of the core human rights treaties, reflecting the consent of States which creates legal obligations for them and giving concrete expression to universality. Some fundamental human rights norms enjoy universal protection by customary international law across all boundaries and civilizations.

Human rights are inalienable. They should not be taken away, except in specific situations and according to due process. For example, the right to liberty may be restricted if a person is found guilty of a crime by a court of law.

Interdependent And Indivisible

All human rights are indivisible, whether they are civil and political rights, such as the right to life, equality before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social and cultural rights, such as the rights to work, social security and education , or collective rights, such as the rights to development and self-determination, are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. The improvement of one right facilitates advancement of the others. Likewise, the deprivation of one right adversely affects the others.

Equal And Non-Discriminatory

Non-discrimination is a cross-cutting principle in international human rights law. The principle is present in all the major human rights treaties and provides the central theme of some of international human rights conventions such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The principle applies to everyone in relation to all human rights and freedoms and it prohibits discrimination on the basis of a list of non-exhaustive categories such as sex, race, colour and so on. The principle of non-discrimination is complemented by the principle of equality, as stated in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

Both Rights and Obligations

Human rights entail both rights and obligations. States assume obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfill human rights. The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses. The obligation to fulfill means that States must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights. At the individual level, while we are entitled to our human rights, we should also respect the human rights of others.

Human Rights Violations

Human rights violations occur when actions by Countries (or non-country) actors abuse, ignore or deny basic human rights. Furthermore, violations of human rights can occur when any country or non-country actor breaches any part of the UDHR treaty or other international human rights or humanitarian law. In regard to human rights violations of United Nations laws, Article 39 of the United Nations Charter designates the UN Security Council (or an appointed authority) as the only tribunal that may determine UN human rights violations – however. the U.N. has proven itself non-functional in the real world of protecting human rights. Human rights are ONLY maintained and enforced by the major countries such as the United States and others. For that reason, all guarantees and progress against violations must be accomplished at the national governmental level since only countries have the power to punish other countries for their behavior.

Basic Human Rights

• Right to life
• Freedom from torture
• Freedom from slavery
• Right to a fair trial
• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion
• Freedom of movement (within a Country)

How Are Scams An Infringement Of Human Rights?

This Is A Complex Legal Question And One That Is Not Always Easy To Define.

However, Generally Speaking, Scams (In Certain Contexts) Appear To Infringe On Some Human Rights.

For example – freedom of thought. Certainly, scammers attempt to use manipulative techniques to control their victim’s thoughts and thus their actions. While we recognize the denial of a victim’s human right in this, it is not often recognized as a violation of their civil rights since they retained the power to say no at any time.

Same for freedom of speech – we know of no victims that have this human right denied. Of course, this is not the right to speech in any forum, people can say what they want in public but not on Facebook for example. Is that a denial of a human right? That is more likely a denial of a civil right, but laws currently side with Facebook on this.

However, scammers independently of their scamming do infringe on the human rights of others. Their organizations are frequent funders of slavery and human trafficking either directly or indirectly, and also (in some cases) fund terrorism.

Summary

As you can see in very few cases are scamming a violation of either civil rights or human rights. It doesn’t make them less of a devastating crime, but putting it in the proper context is not only the way to communicate its impact, victims, and solutions but also the way to seek new approaches to solving them. Let us be clear in what we mean when we use terms like “civil rights” and that we actually know what they mean, not what wishful thinking or political indoctrination has told us what they mean.

At SCARS we work towards real-world solutions on many fronts. We are also a “Human Rights” watchdog organization to the extent that governments fail to act to protect their citizens from these crimes. We see far more value in working with the government to solve these issues than to wave signs that just say the government is bad and “civil rights”.

Please Feel Free To Share Your Thoughts – Just Remember, Your Freedom Of Opinion Is Not Guaranteed On Our Pages So Be Civil!

RSN Team
a division of the Society of Citizens Against Romance Scams [SCARS]
Miami Florida U.S.A.