Minton 1 Part I The word justice evokes different meanings in different individuals.

There is a wide range of uses of the word that can be applied to such as a way to obtain retribution. Various definitions of justice have been provided by philosophers for centuries going back to the time of Aristotle and Plato. Justice can be perceived in many ways and has changed over the years based on events that have occurred in different time periods. There probably can never be a perfect idea of justice but by putting together important aspects of various theories one can compose a decent concept of justice that can be applied to contemporary society. One way justice can be interpreted is as a standard that all people should be able to live by in order to have the opportunity to increase personal betterment. In order for people to be able to create a life they want for themselves, there needs to be some form of economic justice. One common theory of economic justice is the concept of Utilitarianism. This is best described by Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham when he says, It the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong (Encyclopedia of Philosophy). The philosophy of Utilitarianism is, in other words, the belief that economic justice can be achieved through laws and policies that benefit a majority of the people. The idea that laws should strive to benefit the most people possible is an excellent idea because no law can possibly help every person due to the diversity of peoples. There are a few flaws in this theory though. The Utilitarian method can be disadvantageous to minority groups because laws may benefit majority groups at the expense of minority groups. As Julian Lamont and Christi Favor, philosophy professors at the University of Queensland, explain in an article on distributive justice in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the injustice this economic philosophy. According to them it is immoral to make some people suffer so that there is a net gain for others.

Minton 2 Also, there is no requirement for people to consent to suffering and sacrifice in Utilitarianism or distinctions about types of laws created that the majority wants. This means the majority can make laws based on race and ethnicity that limit the rights and privileges of some based on prejudiced standards solely to satisfy a majority opinion. They can do this without the minority being allowed to have any say in the matter. Examples of this can be seen in history such as Jim Crow laws and laws limiting the rights of Jews during the Holocaust. A theory of economic justice that does not have the flaws that Utilitarianism has is a theory established by the philosopher John Rawls. Rawls accepts the fact that it is impossible to have a world where everyone is completely equal economically. Rawls created the difference principle which states that social and economic inequalities should be arranged to benefit to the greatest extent the least advantaged people (Wenar). This idea is better than Utilitarianism because it increases the minimum standard of living so everyone can benefit whereas Utilitarianism betters the majority by sacrificing the minority. Rawls also has two principles of justice. According to him, each person has an equal claim to basic liberties. In addition, every person is to have an equal opportunity to get offices and positions in society and economic inequalities are to be proportional to offices and positions people have (Nagel 787-788). This is important because it establishes an important idea that everyone should be able to have the potential to create their own destiny in a sense without unfair restrictions getting in the way such as race or socio-economic status. Having income be proportional to rank of jobs people have provides an incentive for people to work hard to get better jobs. At the same time, this is just if everyone is given equal opportunity seek those higher paying jobs. Rawls also realizes the impact of social and political institutions and how they relate to concepts of justice. Institutions have a strong influence on peoples lives and require justification. Institutions must ensure that citizens are free and equal and that there is a fair system

Minton 3 of cooperation established so that economic wealth is based on merit and not some unjust standard such as race. Institutions should also ensure that people can use their freedoms to achieve self betterment. An institution that creates laws to ensure citizens welfare demand even further justification though in order to protect against tyranny by unjust laws (Wenar). If people and institutions work together to ensure that no ones rights are being limited for unfair reasons and that all economic opportunities can be reached by anyone who so desires them then the system can be deemed legitimate. John Rawls touches on the importance of freedoms and fair institutions just like a few philosophers had before him. Philosopher John Locke brings up some good points about the relationship a government and its citizens should have in order to ensure justice. According to him, political states should be evaluated in terms of their ability to protect citizens natural rights. Rawls says institutions should undergo justification and Lockes rationale for what constitutes a good government is an excellent way to determine if a government is just. According to Locke, if the government is tyrannical and does not protect peoples liberties then it should be revolted against (Palmer, 189-191). Ancient philosopher Aristotle also brought up some great points about justice. Justice can be achieved if there are laws that govern peoples actions. This is important because it provides the rationale for the sort of governmental institutions that Locke and Rawls talk about. Laws must be created by a rational principle and can not be created by an individual because it provides the opportunity for a tyrant to come into power. As important as institutions are, they can easily become bodies of injustice which is why it is important to ensure that no single person holds all the power and that there are always checks on the governmental institution to ensure that all of its actions are aimed at protecting citizens and ensuring their welfare (Aristotle). Aristotle said in his book, Nicomachean Ethics, that Since the lawless man was seen to be unjust and the law-

Minton 4 abiding man just, evidently all lawful acts are in a sense just acts, for the acts laid down by the legislative are lawful and each of these we say is just. If a governmental institution can be deemed legitimate because of the laws it makes and its methods of establishing a society that benefits all people, then its laws will be considered just. With this idea in mind, it can be determined relatively easily when people make just acts and when people act unjustly just by determining who is a law abiding citizen. Thus forth, governments can strive to establish justice in society by depriving basic rights to people in a legitimate judicial system who forfeits them by going against the law. In order to create a just government that continuously strives to improve the living standards of its people, there must be guidelines about peoples rights and freedoms on which to base laws off of. The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights is an excellent. According to this declaration, men and women both should have the right to enjoy basic freedoms of speech and belief. No one should be discriminated based on race, sex, religion, political beliefs, socioeconomic status, or any other type of standing. Also, everyone should also be given the right to choose their employment and not worry about discrimination in the work place. There should also be a right to education at least at the elementary level but a higher education should be easily accessible for anyone who desires it. These should all be standards followed by governments in order to create laws that benefit everyone so that each person has equal opportunity to create a life they want for themselves. Justice should be a standard that legitimate governments follow so they can strive to give everyone opportunities for self-betterment. If a government fails to act justly, then it itself is unjust and should be revolted against. A government can only be successful if it effectively helps all people so that no one is left behind and sacrificed for the majority. This can be possible if citizens

Minton 5 take it as their civic duty to apply strict scrutiny to their governments to ensure a better quality of life for all citizens.

Part II. In order for the definition of justice to be sound and logical, it must be able to be applied to a wide variety of issues. Justice being a standard which people live by so they can have opportunities to improve their living standards can be applied to a wide variety of issues concerning human rights. One such issue in the world today is the humanitarian crisis in Somalia. Somalia is a country with some of the worst living conditions. Since 1991, the country has been stateless and subjected to warlords attempting to gain control, and to disputes between Ethiopia and Eritrean. Both countries support a different side of Somalia which causes further conflict in the country (Human Rights Watch). Somalia is essentially torn between many different opposing camps which has been causing death and destruction in the country. The current Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has hardly been able to gain any control of the country because of the many insurgent groups which include the Islamic Courts and the Mugaawana (the resistance). These insurgent groups have been doing everything in their power to destabilize the government (Montero). The absolute poverty of this country has led to a major increase in piracy which is the only job in Somalia that actually offers people a decent income. As one pirate, Salah Ali Samatar says, Is there any Somali who can earn a million dollars for any business? We get millions easily for one attack (Bengali). Piracy does almost nothing to benefit the country as a whole and it further contributes to the civil war in Somalia because the pirates provide funding for people on all sides including governmental officials, Islamists and warlords

Minton 6 (Crilly). This has led to a viscous cycle of destruction and instability in Somalia where basic human rights are not even imaginable. Somalia right now is a country that suffers from a severe lack of human rights due to the terrible instability the country has faced in the past 17 years. Somalia can not continue living in such as state of poverty and chaos where most people are unable to even imagine a decent life that does not include displacement, death, poverty and malnutrition. While keeping in mind the previously stated definition of justice, it can be seen that there is a definite injustice taking place in Somalia because basic rights such as life and liberty as well as education and proper medical care are not even imaginable. Somalia is unable to fix this problem on its own as demonstrated in the past 17 years of conflict and disunity and because of this, other stable countries need to step in to procure these rights for all the people of Somalia. Both sides of this civil war in Somalia have violated human rights. The Transitional Federal government has failed to distinguish between civilian and military objectives. They have bombarded a populated area which has led to innocent people being killed and wounded. In the past, the Transitional Federal Government has also deliberately targeted hospitals which has led even more to people being deprived of much needed medical care (Human Rights Watch). The insurgent forces have also attacked civilians with mortars, small arms, and explosives. They are also responsible for killing journalists and aid workerspeople who are actually trying to help the people of Somalia. One insurgent force, the Islamic courts, has played a huge role in the unrest in Somalia. In simplified terms, they have been seen as a terrorist umbrella that is backed by thousands of jihad fighters. Jheikh Hassa Hahin Aurey, founder of the Union of Islamic Courts sums up their simple objective by saying, We shall continue fighting until we liberate our country from enemies of Allah (Montero). Because of all of this destruction from opposing camps, one of

Minton 7 every four children dies before their fifth birthday and of the children that survive, eighty percent have never seen a primary school (UK mission to the UN). There is not even any sort of standard in Somalia. Peoples greatest concern is simply surviving without being killed. None of the opposing groups have any concern for the welfare of the people of their own country. The corruption is so bad that civilians have no way of standing up for their own rights. If other countries step in and establish peace between each of the opposing camps and some sort of stability in the country, then there may actually be a better chance that the people of Somalia can have a future they choose for themselves. This is not something that should be merely watched by other countries. As argued before, Utilitarianism meaning the greatest happiness for the greatest number can be seen as unjust because it still leaves the minority to suffer. If Somalia is the minority, then the world is letting them suffer in order to in turn provide benefits for the majority which would be the citizens of the stable countries that have their human rights pretty much protected. Though there are country boarders and people are allied to their own countries, everyone is human and because of that we should act as one entity as opposed to several separate apathetic entities. This means helping any group of people such as the Somalis who are seriously fighting for their lives and have almost no way of achieving a better life for themselves. This situation should be looked at more in terms of John Rawlss theories. The world should strive to achieve the highest standard for the least privileged people. Those people would be the Somalis. If people could work together to at least obtain a stable government for Somalia they would be better off because with stability there would be less death and destruction so people could attempt to get educated and improve their life. Other countries do not want to get involved because they have their own problems to deal with. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said at a press conference about the situation in

Minton 8 Somalia and what Americas future role might be, I really dont imagine American forces being a part of a peacekeeping operation. American forces are pretty busy these days (U.S. Department of State). Many countries do not think they have the troops to commit to Somalia without detracting from their own agendas. Committing troops costs money and with the war in the Middle East as well as the economic crisis hitting many countries, helping a fellow country in need not exactly top priority. It is also next to impossible to make a real substantial change there without committing troops because the different groups in Somalia have been unwilling to work together to achieve peace and stability. The UN has attempted to make cease-fire agreements in the past but those have failed because members of the peace talks did not include the hard-line opposition who insisted the mediation was biased which got the country no where close to becoming a stable country (Montero-Christian Science Monitor). Though committing troops does require funds that take away from those that would strive to benefit a countrys own citizens, sometimes those funds are misdirected already. Condoleezza Rice may be right about American troops being these days with the War in Iraq but they are not exactly busy for the right reasons. According to the Washington Post in an article by two Washington Post writers, Dana Milbank and Claudia Deane, more than half of the American Public believes the War in Iraq has not made the U.S. safer. If the U.S. put even a fraction of the number of troops that have gone to Iraq in Somalia to stabilize the country combined with similar numbers of troops from other stable countries then actual change could happen in Somalia. Because Somalia is not attempting to make peace on their own and the civilians of Somalia are suffering because of it, a little bit of force needs to be used by other countries. Once stability is achieved then the UN can concentrate on delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Somalia and forcing the opposing camps to work together to create a government that all Somalis benefit from.

Minton 9 Though this is easier said then done, it can be achieved if countries all over contribute. Included in this world alliance for peace in Somalia needs to be stable Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan in order to quell the tensions of the Islamic Courts in Somalia. Other countries have only decided to use their own resources in order to stop the Somali pirates because that actually affects them economically. The Somali pirates have captured the ships of many countries that contain goods being traded from country to another such as oil. Many countries including the U.S. and China have sent war ships to patrol that area (Bengali-Christian Science Monitor). Much of the reason behind other countries reluctance to send troops to help is greed. They have no desire to help shave childrens lives but when it comes to their own economic goods being in jeopardy they will send warships in an instant. There also has not been much effort by the United Nations to provide aid to the people of Somalia. According to the International Crisis Group, the worlds leading independent nonpartisan source of analysis and advice for governments, in an executive summary about the situation in Somalia, there has not been much diplomacy in the past to solve the problems in Somalia. Any initiatives that have occurred have avoided the core issues such as establishing credible leaders and getting federal institutions to return to the national capital. This year, what the UN has done was authorize a co-operation with the Transitional Federal Government to use all necessary means to repress acts of armed robbery and piracy in Somalia (UK Mission to the UN). By looking at what the Transitional Federal Government has done, such as widespread pillaging and looting of civilian property, attacks on humanitarian workers, and failure to give civilians warning about military operations, it seems as if all UN has done is support human rights violations. If the UN has a declaration of Human Rights, described in part I, and believes that all people should have the same basic rights no matter where they are from, then the UN should be

Minton 10 doing more to actually help the people of Somalia. According to Human Rights Watch, the situation demands immediate aid. Also according to them, the United Nations needs to figure out ways to achieve substantial change in Somalia such as by calling on Somali groups publically and privately to stop fighting and begin working out peace agreements. This cannot be something that only a little effort goes into. The United Nations needs to actually try and raise the standard of living for these terribly disadvantaged people by giving them stability. Even if it is difficult to get substantial humanitarian aid to Somalia right now because of the high death rate for humanitarian workers, the least the UN can do is promote the importance of getting other countries involved to help the people of Somalia. This can be done by letting the citizens of countries know the statistics about the situation in Somalia which will help get public support for international aid to be sent to Somalia. Justice is when people have basic rights so they can create the life they want for themselves. This can only be achieved if a country has stability with an effective government that puts the needs to the people before the objective of gaining power. Somalia is unable to establish this government on its own which is why it needs international aid so that basic human rights such as the right to live a healthy life without concerns of malnutrition, poverty, and death from warring groups. Countries that do have a stable government as well as the United Nations need to take it upon themselves as their duty to provide relief for the people of Somalia. It is unjust to deprive anyone of basic rights and by refusing to give aid so a child can at least have a chance to live to the age of five, one is not all that much better than the people causing the conflict in Somalia.

Minton 11 Works Cited Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics: Book V. Internet Classics Archive. 18 December 2008. <http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.5.v.html>. Bengali, Shashank. Somali pirates risk all for riches, women Christian Science Monitor. 20 December 2008. <www.csmonitor.com/2008/1219/p25s41-woaf.htm>. Crilly, Rob. Pirates help fund Somali Warlords Christian Science Monitor. 27 August 2008. <http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0827/p06s01-woaf.html>. Executive Summary and Recommendations International Crisis Group. 10 August 2006. <www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4333&l=l>. Human Rights Crisis in Somalia Human Rights Watch. 30 March 2008. <www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/30/human-rights-crisis-somalia>. Lamont, Julian and Christi Favor. Distributive Justice Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 5 March 2007. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/justice-distributive/> Milbank, Dana and Claudia Deane. Poll finds Dimmer View of Iraq War Washington Post. 3 June 2005.< www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2005/06/07/AR2005060700296.html>. Montero, David. Shaky Peace Accord in Somalia. Christian Science Monitor. 10 June 2008. <http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0610/p99s01-woaf.html?s=rel>. Nagel, Thomas. John Rawls Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Ed. Honderich Ted. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Palmer, Donald. Looking at Philosophy: The Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy Made Lighter. 3 ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2001.

Minton 12 Rice, Condoleezza. U.S. Department of State. Situation in Somalia Press Release. 16 December 2008. <http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/12/113272/htm>. Somalia UK mission to the UN, New York: Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 26 December 2008. <http://ukun.fco.gov.uk/en/uk-at-un/geographic-issues/somalia>. United Nations. United Nations Department of Public Information. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 1 Decemember 2008. <www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm>. The Utilitarian Tradition Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. Edwards, Paul. 8 vols. New York: Macmillan Company and the Free Press, 1967. Wenar, Leif. John Rawls Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 25 March 2008 <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rawls/>.