Finance

Human rights is a wide area that needs a lot of approaches before one can comment anything or even accuse another party as to whether it promotes human rights or not. In this regard, this study seeks to evaluate if Australia is genuine in its pursuit to advance human rights in other countries or not. Therefore, the task aims to make a judgment in this matter.  It is worthwhile therefore, to understand that one cannot pass a judgment if there are no material facts. It is imperative to review the available circumstances in Australia that illustrate human rights issues and more so, where Australia is a key player.

Normally, a party is said to promote or violate the rights of another party if it fails to fulfill its duty towards that very party. That is the principle to be considered throughout this study, period. To reiterate, a party can only be said to have violated another partys rights if and only if it has a duty towards that party. Consider the following case. Country X has committed itself to advance 100,000 as donation to country Y which is a third world country. It has even signed several agreements with the government of country Y to re-emphasis its commitment. Now, it suffices that several government officials decide to fraud the funds released such that only 60 of the money is advanced to country Y. In the long run, the intended project fails to be executed and the financial crisis in country Y swells more and more. This is a violation of duty by the fraudulent government officials in country X since they have misappropriated the funds contrary to what the government had unanimously agreed. By virtue of the fact that the government of country X had committed themselves in aiding country Y in its financial crisis, it therefore became a right to country Y and so they were entitled to the money. Any interference with the process would be a violation of rights.

Another important issue to consider is the principle of subsidiarity which obliges well-to-do countries to come to the aid of poor countries. This is a duty in the normative sense and de facto. This means that it needs not be under any written law or any financial regulations. It is an end in itself and should always be regarded as such. Consider the following case. Country X goes to war and leaves a 1000 of its citizens homeless. They in turn seek refuge in country Y which is just a neighboring country. But, they come up with non-citizen policies that make it harder for the refugees. The policies subject them to hardships, economic strain, and lack of sense of belonging just to mention a few. This in itself is a violation of rights as far as human dignity is concerned.

The above examples illustrate human rights as a transitive movement for instance from country X to country Y. However, there are moments when the movement could be directed to the subject itself, hence intransitive. It is in this level that this study can seek to analyze to what extent Australia is genuine in the advancement of human rights in other countries. Consider the following case country X decides to advance 450,000 to country Y and yet is undergoing serious financial crisis. Country X is experiencing instability in the provision of credit facilities. So, it would beat logic for it to advance aid to country Y. Such a move is not genuine at all. Also, consider the following example country X is undergoing a lot of corruption and almost all its financial institutions are undergoing a crisis. The revenue got ends in the pockets of few individuals. However, country X intends to intervene in the financial crisis of country Y and even promises to take part in the improvement of the vice. To this extent it looks awkward and a contradiction and so company X cannot be said to be genuine in this pursuit.

Human Rights in Australia
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights took place in 1948 during the United Nations General Assembly. It was declared that the promotion of the in-born dignity of the person, including his inalienable rights is the beginning of freedom, justice and peace in the world. Human rights connotations have been greatly affected by the ethical relativism that is also cutting across many nations in the name of revolutionizing democracy. This has rendered certain aspects of human rights be looked at from a subjective point of view hence killing the universal value in them.  It is also noted that violations of human rights and freedoms that Australia look down upon are largely evident across the world. For instance, cases of genocide, torture, rape, lack of due process of the law, just to mention a few. Australian government is on record for having been criticized for its failure to address some of the aforementioned human rights violations. In particular, it has been accused of brushing off the human rights violation in neighboring East Timor. Furthermore, it is believed that there remain groups of people in Australia whose rights have not been recognized or protected especially in Indigenous Australians, certain ethnic groups and people with disabilities.

It is worthwhile to note that the laws of a country in turn translate into the rights and freedoms that the citizens are entitled to. In other words, duties and rights are conferred by the laws in place. For instance, if in Australia the law prohibits the use of loud noise in the neighborhood, it therefore becomes a right to the citizens. In one accord, they can argue that they have a right to cool environment without any loud noise. It therefore becomes a duty to the owners of restaurant or extravagant joints to ensure they maintain maximum silence. Again, the law can state that it is illegal for an Australian to harass refugees no matter what the circumstance. In this regard, it becomes a right to the refugees not to be harassed by the Australian natives, and on the other hand, the Australian natives have a duty to respect the refugees.

The Australian rule of law is important in the protection of human rights both locally and internationally. This principle is re-echoed in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights where it is underscored that human rights ought to be safeguarded by the Rule of Law. There were concerns regarding Australias performance in promoting the human rights of the asylum seekers and refugees. In the same context, a section of the Australian government undermined the rule of law that was fundamental for the protection of human rights by lack of accountability in relation to refugee matters.

The Australians Indigenous people experience certain disadvantages in the area of health, life expectancy, employment and lack of adequate basic necessities and quality housing. In addition, poor standards of education experienced by some groups have been associated with the impact of poor health, for instance, hearing damage from chronic ear infection experienced by 93 of children in remote areas. Furthermore, the indigenous health has continued to deteriorate due to the poor condition of households in the same areas. Back in the year 2002, about 9 of Indigenous households lived in overcrowded conditions which made them more vulnerable to the spread of the infectious diseases that derived from stress put on basic household facilities. On the same note, 31 of dwellings in this areas needed repairs while on the other hand, there were no sewerage supply. These poor conditions have been linked to the low mortality rates, where it is believed that 76 of Indigenous males and 65 of Indigenous females dye before the age of 65 years. The Indigenous people are more prone to diabetic related cases, heart problems, respiratory and kidney diseases. This fact has made it imperative for the Australian Medical Association to ask for more government expenditure on Indigenous Health.

Australia is on record for its discriminative tendencies especially the exclusion of Indigenous people from citizenship which lasted until 1967. It was noted that in 1994, Australia subjected migrants who did not possess visas to mandatory immigration detention and deportation a move that was criticized by Amnesty International. It advocated for better viable economic mechanisms and humane ways of dealing with asylum seekers. In the opinion of the UN Human Rights Committee, after its review of Australias Human rights record, suggested that Australia was in breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). There are on-going debates in Australia regarding the length of time that detainees are held in the detention and the impact this has on their mental health.

Refugee-Asylum Issue
It is believed that people choose to seek refuge in Australia and not other countries. In principle, there are certain factors that can attract refugees to a given country. It could be that the country is a signatory to the Refugee Convention or it could be that the country is opposed to the persecutory regime. Notably, migrants get access to Australia territories with no hustles for documentations and this is not considered as a defraud to the system. Australia is among the signatory countries to the refugee convention where under its Humanitarian Program grants permanent visas to refugees and asylums to resettle in Australia. It is believed that Australia intends to resettle 13,500 people in the period between 2008-2009 program and 13,750 people in the period between 2009-2010 program. The Humanitarian program has got two subsections namely the onshore and the offshore. In the former, it offers protection to all those people in Australia who are refugees a prescribed in the United Nations Refugees Convention. In the latter case, it offers resettlement for people not living in Australia but are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The statistics as per the UNHCR 2008 Global Trends, Australia is recorded to have released 20,919 visas to refugees and other refugee-related conditions. This makes it be ranked at the 51st position with a share of 0.8 globally.