Human Rights Acts

As human rights evolves and becomes more popular, more and more Human Rights Acts are spreading across the world. A human rights act depicts the rights of human beings and guarantees that you will not be deprived of these basic human rights at anytime, regardless of who you are or the circumstances. Although these human rights acts are still a work in progress, many countries, including our own, already have developed a document stating what human rights each human being possesses within their country.

In Canada, The Canadian Human Rights Act is a statute passed by the Canadian government in 1977 that extends the law to ensure equal opportunity to all individuals regardless of race, religion, gender, disability or any other such prohibited grounds for discrimination. This human rights act outlines the creation of a Canadian Human Rights Commission, which is set to investigate claims of discrimination, and a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal by which the case will be judged. In order for the case to reached the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, the case must go through several stages of investigation and remediation, and if the parties are still not satisfied, then it will be judged in the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

The United Kingdom also have their own human rights act based off of the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Convention on Human Rights is an international treaty that was designed to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. This act came into force in 1953. Like the Canadian government, this Convention established the European Court of Human Rights. Any person who feels that their rights have been violated, as stated under the European Convention on Human Rights, may take their case to court. However, although the decisions of the court may not be legally binding, the court may still award damages. The European Convention is still the only international human rights agreement providing such a high degree of individual protection.

New Zealand has also instated a human rights act for their country. The Human Rights Act 1993 was a consolidation of The Race Relations Act 1971 and Human Rights Commission Act 1977. This human rights act states that there be no discrimination on a variety of grounds including sex, pregnancy, race, religion, disability, political opinion, family status, sexual orientation, age and employment status. This human rights act also governs the work of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission. It is an independent agency funded through the Ministry of Justice and works to educate New Zealand’s citizens on human rights abuses, dispute over human rights and discrimination related issues.

As countries become more aware of the importance in protecting human rights, many countries are making an effort to define them and setting guidelines and punishments for those who violate them. Although none of these documents are certain to be concrete and free of future revisions, it is the first step in learning to understand humanity and protecting the values we have developed that define mankind today.