Human kind is unique.

We are the only specie on planet earth that has a concept of citizenship
and recognition, of justice and law, of privacy and free speech, of assembly and participation,
and of employment and leisure. But, fundamental to all of these concepts is the most basic of all,
one that isn’t unique to us – life. Because we are alive, we can fathom all of these other concepts.
“The right to life, liberty, and security of person,” this is Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, a document all member states of the United Nations are duty-bound to protect.
Article 3 is one of the, if not the most, fundamental right we as a race have sworn to respect. But,
somehow, human kind is also a specie that is unique in another concept: contradicting itself.

Security of Person

The right to security of person is supposed to pertain to safety, both on the state and individual
level. We have sworn to protect our lands from terrorism, war, invasion, and captivity, yet ever
since, human history is riddled with stories of people fighting with people, risking the lives of
thousands upon thousands, putting universal health care in the back seat, not providing for the
basic necessities of our people back home with the excuse of economic development taking
priority, sending our men and women to the front lines of war, calling them brave for fighting for
our freedom, yet completely missing the point that we encroach on theirs by sending them off to
fight our battles for us. Every time our world leaders declare war, on terror or otherwise, we
compromise the security of our people by bringing the war to our shores, even when the fighting
is abroad. Every time we interfere with a supposed humanitarian crisis in a country halfway
across the world, but we send our soldiers and their guns instead of our medics and their
bandages, we become willing to risk the lives of others to push our liberal ideologies down the
throats of unwilling participants. And every time we reject the reproductive health bill, or frown
upon anti-discrimination laws, or shut down universal health care in favor of capitalism, we close
the door on the vulnerable and the oppressed. We send a message that their security of person is
something we are willing to compromise, just so we can be called a liberal, democratic, world
power, as if that means anything when we cannot even protect the people in our care.

Liberty

The right to liberty is supposed to pertain to the right not to be detained or exiled without reason,
not to be tortured or treated inhumanely, and not to be subject to unwarranted searching and
seizure (HRC New Zealand, 2010). The irony is that we think we protect the liberties of our own
citizens by encroaching on the liberties of those who aren’t our own. Today, we tolerate racial
profiling, in our airports, or on the streets, or even in job applications. We take one look at a
person or their name and we immediately ask to either be transferred to a different seat, or that
they be put elsewhere. Today, we throw around the idea of Martial Law like it is a logical and
legitimate option to instill discipline in society, failing to remember the unjustified detainment of
hundreds of political prisoners in the past, and the baseless accusations made on any and all
people who offended those in uniform. We say it’s okay to suspend the writ of habeas corpus,
allowing people to be taken in for questioning or worse, nails removed, electrocuted, water-
boarded, and turned upside down, without thinking about how this is the very thing protecting
ourselves from meeting the same fate. Today, we’re okay with the idea of making others suffer
just so we can get retribution. We allow the very people who swore to protect our Constitutions
and our countries to unduly punish those who think different than they do, thinking that it is only
when we have done wrong that we should fear for our lives, not realizing that when the tables are
turned and their guns and whips are suddenly upon us, we would be wishing to take back
everything we allowed them to do in the first place.

Life

The right to life supposedly needs no explanation. It is the most basic and fundamental of all our
rights, because from it stems everything we are afforded today. Because people have lived to
create these concepts for us, we too can live today. And yet, for some inane reason, the right to
life has become as dispensable as the right to free universal internet connection – more a luxury
than a necessity. Just because our leaders throw around the idea of killing like it’s a natural thing,
we normalize to the idea that unfounded and unexplained deaths happen in our streets every day.
Just because it has become cool to hate criminals and seek retribution at all costs, we warm to the
proposal of the reinstatement of the death penalty, without consideration of other concepts of
justice, like rehabilitation. And just because the limit on our right to live another day has yet to
come knocking on our doors, we’re okay if others don’t get to keep living. But believe you me,
as the sound of their guns keep drawing closer, and the news crews keep parking nearer and
nearer to our neighborhoods, it will only be then that we realize just how important it was to
have afforded the respect for the life others in the first place. By then, it may be too close to
home. It may even be our own.

It is sad to think that so many of what is happening around the world today is a disrespect to the
most fundamental of our rights. We watch the news awe-struck, and allow it to end shaking our
heads and asking what the world has become. But, what we fail to realize is that we have allowed
this to happen. It is because of our normalization and tolerance of the injustices that happen
around us that people elsewhere are given the mandate to rob us and our fellowmen of our right
to life, liberty, and security of person. But it need not be the case. We CAN stand up for these
injustices. We CAN make our voices heard. We CAN make them understand. It isn’t that
difficult to explain. And it isn’t that difficult to fight for it. They will listen to us if we all speak a
single message together. Life, after all, is what enables us to enact all other rights. Life, after all,
is the bare minimum.

SOURCE:

United Nations. (1948). Universal declaration on Human Rights. Retrieved on 27 November

2017 from http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/.

Human Rights Council New Zealand. (2010). Human rights in new zealand 2010. Retrieved on
27 November 2017 from
https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/8214/2388/0502/HRNZ_10_Life_Liberty_and_Security.pdf.