Features of Human Rights: Voting - Sarah Seeliger

 A contemporary issue that I looked at and analyzed using the features of human rights was how government officials’ response to the COVID - 19 pandemic in America affected several people’s right to vote. In the article I read, which is from Human Rights Watch, says that they did an extensive 83 page report on the changes to voting made by election officials in Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin as a response to Coronavirus. The changes were all made before the 2020 primaries in these states, and the changes made greatly affected the Black and Latinx communities in a discriminatory way. An example of this is in Wisconsin during their spring primaries. A lot of citizens, specifically Black and Latinx citizens, in Milwaukee were unable to vote because of reasons including feared exposure to coronavirus, lacking transportation, or being physically unable to stand in a line.  


Alison Parker, the US program managing director at the Human Rights Watch said  “During the 2020 US primaries, many voters faced closed polling places or long lines, or had to choose between their right to vote and their health”. I think that this was the main reason a lot of people didn’t vote because they didn’t want to risk contracting COVID-19. 


This situation violates human rights because it is causing people to choose between their health and their right to vote, as Alison Parker said. The right to vote is an inalienable in the United States, and by election officials not providing the resources for people to vote, this right is being taken away in a sense.  The article from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that best applies to this situation is Article 21. This article states that everyone has the right to take part in the government of their country, whether that be directly or through “freely chosen representatives” (UDHR). The right to vote counts as participation in the government of a person’s country because the American people are choosing who they want to represent them and their country. In this particular instance, Article 21 was not upheld because not everyone was able to vote, meaning that they couldn’t participate in their government. 


Links Used:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/22/us-officials-pandemic-response-impaired-right-vote

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

voting

 a basic human right in our democracy is our right to vote. the 2020 election is an interesting one because of the pandemic mail in voting is going to be used more than ever. even though there is no real evidence of fraud with mail in voting, there is a fear that there will be. in fact, people fear that people will be so intimidated that they may stay home and not vote. voting is such an important right that we have and we must exercise it. people really need to vote for this election because it is so polarized. it is my first time to vote and i look forward to my voting experience.  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/us/trump-election-poll-watchers.html
Read more

Features of Human Rights- Police Brutality (Willow Carter)

 Over the past several months the Black Lives Matter protests have been going on across the country, bringing many systemic issues to light. Most prominently, it has brought the issue of police brutality into the minds of many people, and also how the police are treating protestors. I believe that the actions of many police officers during many protests are violating the declaration of human rights.  Since the protests began in June, there have also been hundreds of reports against the police for using excessive force on peaceful protestors. Along with that, the use of rubber bullets, pepper spray, and tear gas has been widespread among police. This is within violation of article 5 of the declaration of human rights, which states: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.". There are dozens of videos of police treating protestors and journalists in ways that can be considered cruel and inhumane. Most notable to me was a video I saw of
Read more

Features of Human Rights: Abortion as a human right

  An issue I find very interesting in regards to the discussion around human rights is the controversy around abortion. Specifically in the U.S., the ruling on Roe V. Wade as well as different restrictions made on abortions in more recent years.  There is a fascinating argument for abortion as a form of health care, this falling under the general umbrella of article 25; refering to having a living standard adequate to maintain health and wellbeing of self and family, and right to security in the cirumstances of a lack of livelihood out of the individual’s control. Pregnancy has the potential to greatly affect a woman’s health, as well as ability to maintain an income to sustain herself or her family. It also could fall under article 23, since pregnancy is an obstacle that specifically prevents women from participating in the work force the same as men.  Universal- The right to healthcare, as well as the right to be able to work and maintain a livelihood is universal, and therefore if
Read more