MY POINT OF VIEW (1)

A DEBATE ON ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Abbey Hall at the Denver University. Debating Society choice for tonight's subject is ‘HUMAN RIGHTs ‘, “Are they protected by the United Nations Assembly or Not?”

I am Sandra White and will be conducting the debate. The panel deciding the winner of the argument are from the Dept. of Social Science and the Dept of International Law ., of the university. They are Dean Dr T.Manny, Senior lecturer Dr M.Farmer and Mrs A.Benick Phd.

We will also provide electronically voting for your response to this interesting argument. In the event of ‘Draw’, the decision of the audience will count.

Let me introduce you to the teams taking part:

SUPPORT of the motion team members Mr Benjamin Frank and Mr Martin Foster

OPPOSING the motion team members are Miss Jane Brook and Mt Tim Holly.

The rules of the debate are as follows:

Supporting the motion team will present their argument by Benjamin Frank. He will have fifteen minutes to complete his introduction.

The opposing team member will follow that by Jane Brook and also have fifteen minutes to present their case.

Rebuttals of the arguments will follow

First by the support team, their views by Martin Foster within the same time limit.

Finally, the last opposition will be done by Tim Holly again within the same time frame.

There will be an interval of twenty minutes. Drinks are served at the Lounge.

The closing arguments of the debate will be done by Martin Foster and Jane Brook. They will both have fifteen minutes the summarise their points.

I shall be checking the times and prompt the speakers where necessary.

I welcome Benjamin Frank to start tonight's debate.

“ Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a privilege to support the motion of United Nations “ Human Rights” which protects the people all over the world. Initially, I shall present to you brief history of the United Nations Assembly.

UN was set up by fifty-one countries, after WWII.Oct.1945. Its aim was to establish and maintain international peace and security. This could only be achieved by developing friendly relationships among the nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights.UN first set up UNESCO, dated Nov.1946 to promote education, scientific research and cultural improvement. Following that its activities spread around the different subjects and organisations, UNICEF (support of children), WHO (Health Organisation), UNEP (Environmental Programme), UNFPA (Population Fund), IMF(Economical and Development Fund) and to day’s subject HUMAN RIGHTs are essential ones to mention.

United Nations relies on funds provided by wealthy countries, such as the USA (27.9%), China(15.20%), Japan(8.5%), Germany(6%), UK(5.8%), France(5.7%), Italy(3%), Russia(3%). of their budgets.

It set up principles and regulations to run the organisation. In addition to the general assembly in New York, Security Council, Economy and Social Council, International Court of Justice set up to implement its five main activities. They were, Peace&Security, The Rule of Law, Development of Countries, Environment and HUMAN RIGHTs of each individual person. Human Rights are defined as ‘the basic rights and freedom to every person in the world from birth to death.’ The basic rights are based on dignity, fairness, equality, respect, and independence. Humans are not only physical beings but also have moral and spiritual feelings. These are to be protected and preserved.

The Universal Declaration of Human rights was announced and accepted by the General Assembly on Dec.1948. According to the United Nations, 48 nations voted in favour, none against and 3 abstained out of 51 members. This declaration has consisted of 30 universal articles affirming human rights. They are: All humans are free and equal/No discrimination/Right to Life/No Slavery/No torture and inhuman treatment/Same right to use of Law/Equal before the Law/Right to treated fair by the court/No Unfair detainment/Right to trial/ Innocent until proven quilty/Right to privacy/Freedom to movement and residence/Right to asylum/Right to nationality/Right to marry and have family/Right to own things/Freedom of thought and religion/Freedom of opinion and expression/Right to assemble/ Right to democracy/Right to Social security/Right to work/Right to rest and holiday/Right of social services/Right of Education/Right to cultural and art / Freedom around the world/ Subject to Law /Human rights can not be taken

Implementation of these rules over the years will be presented by my colleague Martin Foster.” Benjamin concluded.

“ Thank you Benjamin for your introduction, on behalf of the opposing team, Jane Brook will express her views for your comments,” Sandra announced.

“ Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

We agree on the way the UN was created after WWII. Nobody wanted to repeat WWI and WWII, to have happened again with more serious consequences. Today countries with nuclear power present a real danger to humanity more than at any other time. A huge population of the World can be wiped out just by pressing a simple red button. UN General Assembly, there to provide security of human lives all over the world. But changing technology, AI, scientific types of equipment, computers and present electronic media created a new world. Everything is fast, to protect human rights are very difficult. The thirty basic human rules presented on the paper gives us hope that they are working but in reality, they are not. Since the declaration had been made, 74 years ago, everything changed. Rich countries, such as the USA, China etc., because of the huge contributions they make to UN funds, control the decisions making by the UN assembly. Third world countries have no saying on the rights or wrongs of human principles. In these countries, human rights rules are implemented, by the way, they interpret them. They are spectators at the UN assembly. There are lots of examples. The way they govern may change the rules. The world countries implement human rights declarations the way it fits their tradition, culture and local civil laws. Changing rules cause problems of rights for people living in those countries. In our view, the human rights declaration was designed to guide every country the same as general legal requirements. In today’s world, they are difficult to implement. Basic 4 issues of the world, Race, Religion, Politics and Gender are not covered fully to protect people rights and believes. In its present form, the UN can not act and protect human rights issues. It is an advisory assembly and has no power over any government. UN can not protect human rights the way it has been run now. My colleague Tim Holly will present more evidence that the UN is not a force but an advisory association, Thank you”. Jane finished.

We are in the rebuttal section of our debate, I present the first speaker for the support group, Martin Foster.

“ Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am surprised the opposition claims that the UN can not implement Human Rights when required. It works, the UN provides a relief, given to people suffering from the result of their government's mismanagement. History is full of examples: The Rohingya refugee crises / Helping Iraq to rebuild / Protect the planet, proposing eco rules/ Helping people in Yemen/ Promoting Peace in the area of instability/Addressing violence against women/ Preserving cultural beauty and Standing up to country like North Korea. These are few examples picked for our presentation. IMF and World Bank set up to help the third world countries hoping that financial aid will improve their human rights records. When a genocide happened in Yugoslavia, criminals of the killings have been caught and prosecuted at the International Court of Justice in Hauge. This was a big achievement of the UN Human Rights part to bring justice to the people who suffered the most. In Yemen, the UN helped the 20 million people starving and living in very bad health conditions. UN helped to improve not only their leaving standards but also their rights to live in peace and harmony. In Ethiopia, organised water projects to improve farming that improved their living and social lives. Today, WHO is providing support to vaccinate every person in underdeveloped and poor countries to save their lives against the coronavirus. UN policy of keeping populations alive make today argument valid.

There are many more examples of UN charity and aids to many nations. It will always try its best to bring up its standards to protect each countries citizens.

I rest my case.

“ Thank you very much to Martin,” Sandra said. Now, It is Tim’s turn to present his views.

“ Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

Tonight’s argument of are human rights protected by the UN is not answered by the supporting team. We agree that the different functions of the UN are implemented perfectly such as “ Financial Aids” but that does not mean human rights are protected. It is our view that developed countries bend the human rights rules and regulations the way they fit their purposes. Third world countries follow their example hence lots of human rights problems all around the world. If the UN had regulated and imposed the 30 rules described in their constitution we did not have human rights problems today such as in the USA people sets groups to protect their rights, “ Black Lives Matter”., women set up media group “Me Too “ to protect their selves as the government do not help them. Ethnic groups are ignored and helpless in many societies. China implements its own civil rights regulations over the “Uyghur” population, while the UN is watching it rather than protecting them. Another issue facing the world is the Wars. Wars are business and leader countries of the world are promoting their weapons to help their economies by creating the regional wars as World Wars are history now. Such as Yemen as the previous speaker mention. The war there was created by Iran and Saudi Arabia to strengthen their hold on that peninsula. They killed millions of women, children, young and old and showed no mercy. Not only the UN but over the world countries just watched it happened. UN assembly did not discuss human rights in Yemen at all. Now to praise the UN for helping them financially do not make things right over there. It only shows this institution is powerless and can not implement any rules or regulations to protect human lives. It is an advisory assembly.

I rest my case,” Thank you.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is 20 minutes break time, the debate will be concluded afterwards,” Sandra announced.

“ I present Martin Foster to conclude the supporting argument of Human Rights,” Sandra declared.

“ Ladies and Gentlemen thanks to the United Nations assembly we had no World Wars last seventy-four years. When genocides of humans take place European Court of Human Rights Judicial Body (ECHR) based in Strasbourg in France, is there to protect the rights of individuals in that society. War crimes are generally defined by the Geneva Convention ( precedent of Nuremberg Tribunals) and dealt with International Criminal Tribunal ICT). HQ is in The Hague. This court implements the international criminal law to punish the people who break the law. Examples of the Yugoslavian and Rwandan genocide culprits of generals, presidents, people who were responsible had been brought to justice at the end. The Rohingya refugee crisis was solved by the UN. Briefly, the UN promotes peace in the area of instability to protect the citizen of those countries, such as against crimes of humanity, extermination, murder, kidnapping, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, sexual offences, rapes, racial gender and political grounds. Because of the Human Rights rules, people are free to establish their rights by setting up their own actions such as “Black Lives Matter” and “Me Too”.The UN operates to establish international stability but does not interfere with individual countries problems. Any country governed by a dictator or so-called president who oppresses his countries constitution by banning freedom of the people is an internal issue and only can be dealt with if it becomes an international issue. The future is to protect the status of the UN if we want to protect Human Rights. I rest my case.

“ Thank you, Martin, I shall invite Jane to finalize their argument,” Sandra said.

“ Ladies and gentlemen, our point of view regarding the UN Human Rights is, the UN can’t be selective of the situation where rights are abused. Whether internationally or by the individual country. It has a responsibility to interfere. As nobody is above the LAW, the country responsible for abusing the rights of its citizens should be charged by the international criminal courts of the UN. In the twenty-first century, we do not expect people to set up their own groups to protect their rights. We also suggest that “prevention is better than treatment”. It means the UN should stop regional wars to stop countries from being demolished by the powerful states. It is no good saying ‘ we are rebuilding Iraq’ or It is our obligation to help the people of Yemen or Afghanistan. How small they are, wars should be avoided by the UN by imposing sanctions on aggressors. It can not be one rule for under developing countries another one for the leaders of the world. Just condemning a country that destroys other people lives by bombing, shooting is not enough. The present situation of the world gives us an impression that the UN is a static institution and do not have enough power to be flexible with each Human right problem of the world. Unless what is written as a ‘constitution’ is not implemented regardless of the state of the country, not only Human Rights but the overall peace of the world will always be in danger.

I rest my case, Thank you “.

“ I declared the today’s debate concluded. Next half an hour, please vote for the participant of the argument. Our panel decision will also be received by that time. I shall announce the overall result at the end,” Sandra retired.

“ Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad the announce on behalf of the Debate Society of our University, the winner of tonight’s debate is:

‘OPPOSITION’ to the argument. I thank tonight’s trophy to Jane Brook and Tim Holly. Voting was very closed but of course, there is only one winner. I also thank Benjamin Frank and Martin Foster for their part in this competition. Wish you all the best and see you next month, THANK YOU,” Sandra left the room.