Human Rights as agreed in the United Nations and the CDHRI

I've been wanting to post this for quite some time, but I had work obligations to attend. Anyhow....

This post will focus on human rights, an issue that is yet to be understood fully by all Malaysians. With the issues that have been ongoing, I think it's more important that everyone establish a clear understanding of this necessity (yes, it is a necessity because the lack of it would only promote injustice).

According to United Nations, human rights is defined as "Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible" (Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights). Simply said, any human that is born into this world have a series of rights that they inherit for their existence. For many years, no correction, for many millenniums the human rights issue has been debated and handled as such that hierarchy system was practiced in history (e.g. caste system in India, class system in the Middle Ages).

With the creation of United Nations, one of the key documents ever made through the institution is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDoHR). You have two choices: either read the full text from the official website (http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a1); or, just watch the video below.

The UDoHR is one of the components that makes up the International Bill of Human Rights; while the other components include: i) the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and ii) the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is a fact that Malaysia is just among the few nations that have not sign and ratify both treaties into the nation's legislation. One might assumed that as Malaysia is projecting toward "developed country" status, the government would accept the treaties into our everyday lives. However, this is not the case for the fact that Malaysia is predominantly an Islamic and Malay state, which seems to be in conflicting in accepting UDoHR which other Islamic nations share the same sentiment.

Among the criticisms set on UDoHR is that the Islamic World (particularly members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference), the UDoHR is biased toward the Judeo-Christian cultures and not to Islam (Universal Human Rights & "Human Rights in Islam" by David G. Littman). Thus, in 1990, the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI) was established, which can easily be viewed as the Islamic treaty on human rights in accordance to the Shari'ah law. Again, this only applies to the Islamic World and is more biased to Islam that there have been criticisms which states the CDHRI lacking respect towards human rights.

In my opinion, as Malaysia is a signatory to CDHRI and not to other treaties (i.e. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), the racial mix in conjunct with cultural and religious elements may not be well saturated within our borders. In effect, this eventually led to misunderstandings (e.g especially the previously-known "the right to use the word Allah" issue). No matter the differences that each human being have in this world, it's a real pity that we cannot achieve utopia where we all can sing, "Why Can't We Be Friends?"

Obama on Abortion

A couple days back, US President Barack Obama has lifted a ban on American federal government on funding to foreign groups that promotes abortion (Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN). This issue certainly has sparked a protest among those who oppose to abortion with sayings such as "We choose life" and accusing of Obama as a baby killer. On another aspect, this move is positively helpful to developing countries where family planning is not handled properly. With the political tension between the Democratic and the Republican party, the abortion issue is just one of the elements that differentiates the two political parties.

Morally, many religions would emphasize that every life deserve not to be killed. Thus, abortion is consider by many a taboo, especially in Malaysia. Even in neighboring countries like the Philippines, where the majority is Roman Catholic, abortion is consider to be a sinful act and to be despise of. In Islam, abortion is definitely consider as a sin. This is because the fetus is considered as a creation of life, and no one has the right to end a life which Allah has given to the mother to give birth to. In addition, the Quran also mentioned that no one should give away their children to the ease their burden of poverty (Dr. Arafat El Ashi, 2006). Unless, in a situation that the pregnancy does risk the health of the mother, only then does abortion is allowed in Islam. In addition, abortion in Islam is also allowed if the woman was raped by her enemy (Mufti Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, 2006). If so, then what about in other cases such as rape?

Democrats have always fought for family planning which includes sex education, use of contraceptive, and of course, abortion. Western ideologies are more liberal as compared to the Asian culture and philosophies that both contradicts each other. There are those who choose to be "pro-choice", proposing for abortion, because they believe a woman has more rights over her body. In this perspective, the fetus is consider as a property of the pregnant woman where she can choose to abort the child due to certain reasons. These may include poverty, health risk to the pregnant mother, no intention of wanting to raise a child, and preventing the child to be born with disabilities or ill conditions. Abortion is considered as a strategy in family planning, and for many agencies that are supported by the new administration of President Barack Obama, this really spells good news for them. As a Democrat, this move has truly upset the Republican party that is unacceptable to them.

One way to look abortion issue in America is the battle between the two stance: Democrat who are "pro-choice" and Republican who are "pro-life". The reason for this is because the Democrat have the tendency to be more liberal as compared to the conservative Republic. Thus, it would be obvious that Republic are more in root to their faith that the fetus is considered as a life and one that has the right to live. For the Democrat, many have opposing views and see that the woman would have more rights over their body including the fate of the fetus. This can easily be seen when America switches from one party to the next, the issue of abortion is directly proportional to the change in office administration.

Overall, as Muslims, the Islamic state that abortion is a sin and should only be considered in few circumstances. However, we should understand that some people view the matter differently because the fetus is defined as being a part of the woman and she has the right to abort the child. As of a result, the viewpoints of how acceptable is abortion to the society reflects upon their political leaders who pass judgment based upon their principles. One thing for sure, to bear the child is an amazing gift from Allah, but must be considered cautiously at the time of intercourse.

For more read:
1) Barack Obama on Abortion (OnTheIssues.org)
2) McCain and Obama on Abortion (TIME)
3) Barack Obama on Abortion and Birth Control (glassbooth)
4) Sources: Obama may quickly reverse abortion policy (CNN)
5) Religion & Ethics - Christian view of Abortion: Roman Catholic (BBC)
6) Islam and Abortion (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children)

THINK BEFORE YOU THROW...

Think before you decide to have sex. Think before you get an unwanted pregnancy. A baby is for life, its not a toy. Use your brain before you dump the baby in a garbage bin and leave the baby to die. You should know whether is your boyfriend are ready to get married or take responsibility or not if you get pregnant. If no then don’t have sex or practice safe sex.

If you thought you were ready to have sex, you should consider what would happen if you became pregnant.

I am not talking about religious part, people know about it. You should get married to prevent committing the sin of fornication or adultery. People won’t do it if they think about religious.

How if you have an unwanted pregnancy today, what would you do? Are you ready to be a mother? If yes, then good for you.

Now you have the child no matter what. It is a life that you have created, and if you are unable to take care of this child, you can do the most unselfish, loving thing, and that is to let a loving family adopt him/her. That is the choice you have to make. Don’t dump your baby..

Where did it happen?