Human rights are a basic need, and yet somehow, a few countries each year can't seem to

understand them. Thus, these countries or groups affect other peoples for their gain. This essay
will discuss how three groups have violated the human rights of people in their countries.

Cambodia's communist group, the Khmer Rouge, violated the people's rights by taking away
certain freedoms. The people could not express their religions, as well as having the options of
education and marriage. People were stripped of their resources, such as food and health,
resulting in thousands dying and millions more executed.
This killing continued for three years, and then a survivor decided to write a book based on his
experiences. Dith Pran, a "Cambodian Holocaust" survivor, wrote Children of Cambodia's Killing
Fields, composed of essays written by other survivors of the country's killings. The money
collected from his book is to educate American kids about the events of Cambodia. This project
has seemed to continue, and another project to support Cambodian students is in use too. It
proves that the Khmer Rouge first violated the people's rights and freedoms and that the people
have created awareness of the events.

The country of South Africa had ignored simple human rights, and one of the most influential
people, Nelson Mandela, had to pay the price for it. In South Africa, signs around towns had
segregated the people based on their skin color. The action kept everyone unequal, as not
everyone had the freedom to enter the public locations just because of who they were. Signs
and posters saying "white persons only" meant that the option to enter was for whites only.
Much of the country was white majority because of this, and black people were limited to many
things. The action was labeled apartheid, a form of segregation, as one would call it. Then in
1973, the UNGA called apartheid a crime against humanity. By doing so, South Africa
dismantled apartheid in its country. Thus, this opened up the opportunity of a first all races
election, which occurred in 1994 in South Africa. Now, the majority of black people in South
Africa has increased, and there are equal rights.

The Taliban violated the human rights of the ethnic people based on their ethnic identity. In a
1998 report, the Taliban killed many innocent civilians, causing a massacre. It was considered
one of the worst atrocities in the country's civil war. In the report, the Taliban intended to kill
Muslim ethnic groups, mainly the Hazara group at the time. The purpose of this was to kill
Muslims of the Sh'ia group, a minority of Islams known around the world. While the Taliban are
part of the majority, which is Sunni, it was an aggressive form, killing civilians who did not harm.
To put it simply, the Taliban killed civilians because of their ethnic identity, which was being
Sh'ia Muslims. They did not permit people to express themselves in the way they wanted and
wanted them to revoke their freedom.
The effects of the Taliban resulted in a war between the United States and the Taliban. In 2001
the U.S. would bomb the Taliban's resources, such as air supports and defenses, as well as
their bases of command. The U.S had struggled to find replacements for the Taliban
government so that they would stop abusing the people's rights. However, the war ended, with
the Taliban taking back the seat of government and the war having the Taliban victorious. Not
everyone can get back their rights, even when they fight hard for it.