Essay Example on Nationalism Culture and Human Rights

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All this happened while the international convention of refugee rights was in operation The above actions were violation of almost all articles of the international convention Nationalism Culture and Human Rights The majority of European nations at the height of the refugee crisis violated the international convention on many counts For instance the Article 3 of the convention prohibits the discrimination of employee based on any grounds such as race religion or country of origin Many of the refugees were from Muslim majority states and were therefore Muslims In contrast Many European nations are largely Christian Therefore discrimination of the refugees can be said to be due to their religion which is against Article 3 of the International Convention of Refugee Rights In countries such as Denmark there have been concerns that the influx of migrants is worrying and poses a threat to the Danish Culture These are also issues that have been raised by political parties in countries such as Austria These are examples of violation of Article 3 of the international convention on Refugees Rights Similarly it is also a violation of the international humanitarian law which recognizes all humans as being as equal International human rights require that states restitute aliens for injury protect minorities and adopt international humanitarian law The international convention of human rights seems to have descended from the international human rights and civil liberties

The underlying principle is that states have a duty to treat foreigners as humanely as possible This is also a requirement as stipulated in the international convention of human rights under Article 3 in regard to non discrimination However different reactions of the European states can only be explained through some underlying theories The first is Nationalism According to Riker liberal nationalism is an unthinkable devotion to a person s country and traditions In the recent past Europe has seen rise nationalism This has served to pose a threat to the refugees whose rights have in turn been disregarded In Austria nationalism has taken center stage in politics with politicians arguing that the influx of refugees into the country especially from Muslim areas is a threat to the Austrian Christian traditions This poses a threat to refugees from Muslim countries If such political pundits take power it goes without saying that refugee rights will be abused Germany has also experienced a similar wave of nationalism with politicians crying foul over the influx of refugees into Germany and the threat they cause to the German way of life The question that arises is whether refugees have rights in the countries that they enter while fleeing from their homes Traditionally the theory on human rights identified human rights as a preserve of the people residing in a country provided they are citizens of that country 



This raises questions as to the universality of human rights The notion that human rights are universal has been called to question with many arguing that human rights are of western origin hence only applicable to the western culture The reason for this observation is that even in the democratic states where human rights are supposed to be upheld unconditionally and without discrimination these states find it hard to treat people especially outsiders with the dignity that human rights call for A good example is the treatment of refugees in Europe While majority of western European countries are democratic nationalism has taken a toll on them In such states refugees are not thought to have liberties as other people and boundaries are closed to them In fact nationalists in those countries call for tighter immigration policies closing of borders and ousting of people who are not natives in those countries An observer can only claim that human rights are only common to people from the western culture while people from other cultures are outsiders because they have been treated as so in many democratic states In his theory on libertarianism Hassoun raises a valid point on how autonomy arises or regarding how people gain human rights He argues that where people are so poor to the extent of not being able to secure food and other basic stuffs such as shelter the rights of such people are abused


This is the case with refugees in Europe This discriminatory treatment of refugees is also premised on the theory of liberties where it is believed that people have no rights outside the state in which they were citizens In spite of these shortcomings the thoughts of international human rights date back to the Turkish Empire in which protected the minority Christians were protected by the Ottoman Empire The League of Nations also played a part in the development of humanitarian law Lasson uses the Hardin s lifeboat metaphor to discuss the issue of human rights and responsibilities The life boat metaphor espouses that the developed world has no responsibility to help states in war destruction by natural disasters or generally states in poverty Hardin argued that such action only adds to the destruction It appears that this metaphor has been picked by many European nations to bar refugees from entering their territories Lifeboat in this case refers to the wealthy nations where there are numerous resources and ample room to keep people aboard alive In this context refugees home countries are examples of overcrowded lifeboats which are war torn and people are constantly attempting to jump overboard and swim towards the wealthy nations The denying of refugee rights and in that connection a host of human rights is an impediment to international liberties and international human rights because the refugees become subject to autocracy and abuse Their life is put in danger because they may be forced to go back to their home countries which are war torn This is a violation of the international Convention on refugee rights


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