What happens if your human rights are violated

After the Second World War, the founding countries of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in , which set out the fundamental rights of all people and declared them a common standard of achievement for all nations.

Since then more than two dozen global treaties, as well as many regional agreements, have provided a legal foundation for human rights ideals. When a government ratifies one of these treaties, it takes on legal obligations to uphold human rights. Other treaties focus on ending specific abuses, such as torture, enforced disappearances and forced labor. Some treaties protect the rights of marginalized groups, including racial minorities, women, refugees, children, people with disabilities, and domestic workers.

In addition to treaties, the United Nations has adopted various declarations, principles and guidelines to refine the meaning of particular rights. Various international institutions are responsible for interpreting human rights treaties and monitoring compliance, such as the UN Human Rights Committee and UN special rapporteurs who work on specific issues and countries.

Corporations and international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have a duty to avoid complicity in human rights abuses. The duty to enforce international human rights law rests primarily with governments themselves. Governments are obligated to protect and promote human rights by prohibiting violations by officials and agents of the state, prosecuting offenders, and creating ways that individuals can seek help for rights violations, such as having competent, independent and impartial courts.

However, when governments are responsible for human rights violations, these protections are often inadequate. In these cases international institutions, like the UN Human Rights Council or the Committee against Torture, have only limited ability to enforce human rights protections.

More frequently, governments that commit human rights violations are held publicly accountable for their actions by nongovernmental organizations. Complaint Information Service. For an action to constitute a breach of a person's human rights: the organisation against which you are complaining must be the Commonwealth or one of its agencies the action you are complaining about must breach or infringe a right recognised in the international human rights instruments scheduled to or declared under the AHRC Act.

Your problem happened before 27 April Your case is a criminal case and you need a lawyer in this case, please call the Legal Aid Board on or visit their offices at your closest Magistrate's Court. You have been convicted of a crime and you want to appeal.

The following information should be contained in the letter: The nature of your complaint. The background and history of the complaint. The reasons why you feel the complaint should be investigated by the Public Protector.

The steps you've taken to solve the problem yourself. Specific details - names of officials, dates etc. Copies of any correspondence between you and the officials. Your contact details. In some instances, the Public Protector may require a statement under oath before investigating. In human rights treaties, states bear the primary burden of responsibility for protecting and encouraging human rights. When a government ratifies a treaty, they have a three-fold obligation. They must respect, protect, and fulfill human rights.

The government must hold everyone and itself accountable. Businesses and institutions must comply with discrimination laws and promote equality, while every individual should respect the rights of others. When governments are violating human rights either directly or indirectly, civil society should hold them accountable and speak out. The international community also has an obligation to monitor governments and their track records with human rights. Violations occur all the time, but they should always be called out.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon.