Human Rights Essays - Human Rights, Humanism,

Human Rights I agree that human rights do not lend themselves to neat formulae. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) aims at guarding the interest of people residing in different countries. However, the political and cultural environment of a country would shape these rights. Some of the rights the essay would be discussing are the equality of the sexes, right to freedom of speech and education. Contrary to the West, women in Asia are often exploited and deprived of their rights in many areas, particularly in employment. This phenomenon can be attributed to the tradition and cultural differences between the two. Despite the influence of the west brought about by industrialization, the Asian Society is still rather conservative and very much in touch with the teachings of Confucius. Even till today, they are unable to completely abandon the concept of women being the weaker sex. Although the UDHR proclaims, "Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work." (UN, 1948, Article 23 (2)), it is not uncommon to hear that women are paid lower than men are. Women accept the fact that they are weaker as compared to men in terms of work in this male dominated society. They are taught to be submissive and regard their family as the top most priority in their childhood. Moreover, employers believe that women are home bounded and contributions to t! he company would be minimal as they work fewer days, in comparison to men, due to the entitlement of their maternity leaves. In the eyes of the west, this would be a violation of human rights but to an Asian, a cultural difference. "Everyone has the right to education." (UN, 1948, Article 26 (1)) does not hold in Asian context. Every American child is endowing with the right of education but receiving education is a form of luxury to the unfortunate Asian children. Most Asian countries are agricultural based and children are view as helping hands in the fields. Hence, children below the age of ten are often seen helping in the fields. Agrarian societies are generally poor parents are more concern with earning enough money to feed the family than paying for their children's education. Although the United Nations emphasize the importance of education and stress that "Education shall be free,?" (UN, 1948), these countries have no means of providing education as a free good. Families that are better off would send only the males to school, as they believe that males have to provide for the family in future. Girls are thought to be a burden to the family and would eventually marry off, hence, educating them ! would not be economical to the family. The US is able to provide free education because of its strong economic foundation after years of development. Hence, it would not be fair to accuse the east of being a violator of rights for not providing education as a public good to its people because they simply cannot afford it; education comes after development. This statement manifest in the following extract, "In the developed countries, universal primary education and literacy came after the process of development as well on its way." (Kamla Bahsin, Literacy for Women, Why and How!). "Many governments are inclined to define human rights in the manner most convenient to suiting their own political interests." (Boutros Butros Ghali, 1993). The definition to "freedom of speech" is highly debatable. The differences in political environment between Singapore and the US have cast different viewpoints on this contention. Singapore takes a firm stand in this issue and will hold the speaker responsible for what he declares. The government clamps down on remarks that promote civil unrest such as those of religious and racial issues. Many countries see this as under-mining of the UDHR but this restriction is necessary for the survival of Singapore. Without it, a multiracial society in Singapore would collapse and the consequences, civil unrest and eventually civil war. No doubt that countries are obliged to uphold the UDHR, certain diversities should be tolerated as most countries are "endowed with ancient and sophisticated cultures" (Alatas, 1993) which may differ from one another. Thus, the international community must take into consideration the country's traditions,

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buy custom Virtual Meetings Technology essay The Future of Face-to-face Meetings With the advent of new technology, the face-to-face meetings are greatly affected. The online meetings like teleconferencing, videoconferencing, audio conferencing and chats among other means of meetings have greatly dominated the current communications limiting the use of face-to-face meetings. The change over is attribute to the numerous advantages that are presented by the newly arrived technology over those of the face-to-face meetings. The advantages of the virtual meetings technology that meet the requirements of the users are the cost saving, efficiency, the effectiveness, the renouncement and handiness. The technologies are proving to be economically fit for the needs of the technology consumers. Practitioners prefer to use the technology to minimize the transportation, the risk to losing confidential information and the meeting set up (like the entertainments) costs. Moreover, its use in the world of today is becoming common and no one is willing to lag behind. The other advantages are the usefulness and the usability of the technology. Furthermore, there are day-to-day improvements that foster their usefulness in the lifestyles adopted today. These advantages make them of preference and soon they will lead the face-to-face meetings out of use. This will help to improve on the effectiveness of the large meetings while the face-to-face meetings come to a halt. It will come to a point whereby all the large meetin gs held technologically. While discussing the possibility of the face-to-face meetings being face out, it is important to consider some facts. Considering the type of meetings held it is possible that face-to-face meetings are to coexist. One reason as to why I argue in this direction is that some business meetings require the physical presence of the participants in order to deliver a long-term solution. One may never read the mood of the meeting and may end up making wrong assumptions that will later affect the business. However much the technology is to play an important role, the face-to-face meetings will still have their ways into existence. This could be limited to only small meetings. To conclude, the face-to-face meetings are likely to be specifically for small meetings and that is where the business rules forces. The large face-to-face meetings will be out of question. Buy custom Virtual Meetings Technology essay