Human Rights
Although changes in the last hundred years have significantly advanced human rights across the globe, social justice is still a dream for hundreds of millions of people. While women and minorities have gained the right to vote in many places, worker safety laws have been passed in many industrialized nations, and slavery has been outlawed everywhere, human rights for all is still elusive. For example, despite laws against it, slavery is actually on the rise, with tens of millions of people living as slaves around the world. Genocide plagues several continents, with no sign of abating. Starvation and preventable disease – the result of corruption, lack of education, global climate change, diminished resources, human overpopulation, and more – claim millions of lives annually. Women, minorities, homosexuals, the disabled, and the underclass all over the globe still face prejudices and obstacles that prevent them from leading free, safe, and healthy lives.
Human rights are inextricably connected to environmental and cultural issues. For example, the decline in potable water – due to causes such as intensive agricultural systems, pollution, corporate ownership of water rights, and global climate change – is an environmental, cultural, and a human rights issue. Rapid economic globalization – representing a cultural and political shift over the past half century – is resulting in increased slave and child labor. Some religions perpetuate human rights atrocities (e.g., female genital mutilation), making a cultural issue – religious freedom – a social justice issue as well.
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