The meaning and importance of the third article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the first of nineteen articles defining individuals’ civil and political rights.
Article 3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Life: the existence of an individual human being.
Everyone has the right to live. It is the supreme right of each individual.
It is a right that needs to be expressly stated because too many governments still allow or support ethnic cleansing and genocide.
These are three current or recent genocides:
Darfuris in Sudan: Darfur has been recognized as the first genocide of the 21st century, but it is still ongoing. Beginning in 2003, Darfuri men, women, and children in Western Sudan have been slaughtered and raped by Sudanese Air Force bombings and Arab militias, armed and funded by the government. Hundreds of thousands have been killed, and millions have been displaced. The flood of refugees to neighboring countries has also caused issues in Chad and the Central African Republic.
The Rohingya in Myanmar: They are Muslims living in a majority Buddhist country. At the beginning of 2017, there were around one million living in the country. Since the government’s ethnic cleansing began, thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled the country to escape the massacres. It has become a massive refugee crisis in addition to the genocide.
Christians and Yazidis in Iraq and Syria: Beginning in 2014, ISIS sought to systematically exterminate Christians, Yazidis, and Shiites throughout Iraq and Syria. Exact numbers are impossible to determine at this point, but thousands have been killed in these genocides, and these minority groups are still in danger today. The Nazarene Fund, one of our favorite organizations, continues to work in the Middle East to rescue persecuted minorities from ISIS.
Ideally, the right to life should also include government efforts to protect life by decreasing infant mortality and increasing life expectancy, particularly by working to eliminate malnutrition and epidemics.
Liberty: the right to freedom from arbitrary or unlawful arrest or detention.
You have the right to not be arrested or detained “just because”.
You have the right to habeas corpus: to see a judge to determine if your arrest or detention is lawful so that if it is not, you can secure your release.
Last year, the United Nations released an official report titled “Abuse Behind Bars: Arbitrary and Unlawful Detention in Libya.”
According to the report summary,
“Men, women and children across Libya are arbitrarily detained or unlawfully deprived of their liberty based on their tribal or family links and perceived political affiliations...Victims have little or no recourse to judicial remedy or reparations, while members of armed groups enjoy total impunity.”
The reported thousands of arbitrary and unlawful detentions of Libyan civilians has led to hundreds of deaths and torture cases. Since 2014, armed groups, both civilian and governmental, have been grossly abusing human rights.
They kidnap, detain, and torture those who protest their civil rights abuses: politicians, journalists, medical professionals, and civilians criticizing the government's increasing acceptance of these pseudo-military groups in their wrongful detaining of Libyans as a means to exert territorial control.
Security of Person: protection of physical security.
It is the right to not be tortured. To not be enslaved. To not suffer cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. To not be mutilated.
A common abuse of this right is female genital mutilation (FGM): more than 200 million girls and women alive today have suffered from this violation. FGM includes all procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to female genitalia for non-medical reasons. It has no health benefits and a multitude of health complications and long-term consequences, including:
Severe pain during or immediately after the procedure
Infection of the cut tissue
·Painful urination
Painful menstruations, difficulty in passing menstrual blood
Pain during sexual intercourse
Increased risk of childbirth complications and newborn deaths
Death, either immediately due to the procedure, or later in life due to complications
Mostly done to young girls, this practice occurs in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. It is a form of extreme discrimination against girls and women and infringes on their rights to physical security, health, freedom from torture, and even the right to life.
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