right is an empowerment given to individuals to be exactly who they are, not who others want them to be. A person has a right to own and use their body, mind, and property as they please as long as they don’t trespass or violate the rights of another.
The violation of these rights can lead to bad relationships with family, friends, and other people in your community. This is why you must defend your rights against any violation irrespective of ethnicity, religion, or gender. Here are some tips on how you can protect yourself against human right violation:
Identify Your Rights
First, let’s define what human rights are. Human rights are legal entitlements to certain freedoms and protections by law. These include:
- Right to life, security, and work
- Freedom from torture and slavery
- Right to education
- Freedom of association and peaceful assembly
- Reproductive choice
- Marriage equality for same-sex couples
- Voting rights for citizens over 18 years old
- Right to access safe drinking water, etc.
While there is no universal list of human rights, most countries have signed international laws that protect these basic principles and their citizens’ rights under domestic laws based on them. In other words: many countries have laws that give you specific protections against these fundamental rights.
Identify the Violation of Your Rights
Knowing your rights alone isn’t enough; you also need to know when your’s or your loved ones’ rights are violated. You can defend your rights only when you learn to determine a violation.
Once you have identified the violation of your rights, you need to know what kind of violation it is. The simplest way to determine this is by asking whether your right has been violated or not. Another way to identify the violation is by seeing how it affects others and not just yourself, such as in cases where many people have been affected by this particular issue or situation.
You can consider Camp Lejeune Water Contamination case as an example here. United Nations (UN) declared access to safe drinking water as a basic human right on 28th July 2010 through resolution 64/292.
Hence, anyone who does not gets access to clean and safe drinking water or is supplied contaminated water can file a lawsuit. The same was the case in Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Veterans and their families, reservists, and guardsmen stationed at Camp Lejeune or Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) between August 1953 and December 1987 were exposed to contaminated water.
Medical and scientific evidence concluded that the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune led to various health issues, including cancer, leukemia, Parkinson’s disease, etc. Hence, if you or any of your loved ones lived at Camp Lejeune for at least around a month between the mentioned dates, you have the right to justice against this violation of human rights. You can file a Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Lawsuit and get healthcare and compensation benefits.
Do Not Let Anyone Violate Your Rights
As a human being, you have the right to defend yourself against any violation irrespective of ethnicity, religion, or gender. You are expected to be treated with dignity and respect by everyone. You should also expect that people will treat you with courtesy.
If someone violates your rights, it is essential for you not to allow them to get away with it. You should raise your voice against the violation and seek justice for it. You might feel intimidated by the thought of going up against those in a position that is stronger than yours but remember: they have no legal ability at all over what happens within this relationship. Hence, regardless of who violates your rights, you should raise your voice against it.
You can file a complaint against the violation to a local or national agency that handles violation cases. However, if you have solid evidence and still no one supports you, your last resort should be to file a lawsuit with the UN. UN has listed several human rights and allows individuals or groups who face violations to file a complaint with them.
Identify the Persons or Organization Responsible for the Violation
Human rights violations are not limited to any one person or organization. It can be from someone you know or from an organization. If you feel a human rights violation has been committed against you, you must identify the persons or organizations responsible for this. The best way to identify these people is by finding their names and addresses. Once you have found out their names and addresses, then file a complaint with the relevant authority on how they are violating your human rights.
If they do not resolve the matter, then it would be safe if we consider taking legal action against them because they are violating our constitutional rights, which include freedom of expression, among others.
Build Trust With People of Like Minds Around You
If you want to build trust, share. It’s that simple. The more you can show people who are like-minded with your values and goals that you’re willing to help them reach those goals, the more they’ll be inclined to do the same for you when it comes time for some return on investment.
Sharing with like-minded people or victims of the same violation will help create a community. People in this community can then help each other during difficult times. However, you need to identify like-minded people with your values because they may back out at the last minute if they are not interested in this.
Also, make sure that when sharing information with people who are not of like minds to yours, however, you don’t give away anything confidential or too personal about yourself or others.
Conclusion
You have the right to defend yourself against any violation irrespective of ethnicity, religion, or gender. If you have experienced a violation of your human rights, contact your local law enforcement agency immediately. If you do not want to report the crime, you can seek help from a victim advocate or social worker who will advise on how best to proceed with the case. You may also want to contact an attorney for advice about what legal options may be available in your jurisdiction.
