The notion of world integration has been much appraised as advancing the human rights situation worldwide considering the fact that globalization has resulted in the formation of international human rights bodies such as the united nation and international criminal court, whereas UNICEF watches the human rights of children, international cooperation has resulted in the formulation of intentional agreements that aim at advancing human rights such as the universal declaration of human rights and the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women CEDAW,globalization has led to the realization of economic rights as there is trade liberalization whereas the advent of globalization in Africa has led to gender equality between men and women however on the other hand globalization has led to human rights violations as there is lack of political freewill and sovereignty in a globalized world as superpowers virtually meddle in politics, there is loss abuse of economic rights’ as international cooperation’s violate workers’ rights and children’s rights ,cross cultural platforms brought about by the advent of globalization has led to the violation of conservative cultures.
To start with globalization refers to the process of interaction and integration among the people, companies and governments of different nations, this process is driven by trade, investment and aided by technology. Globalization implies the opening of local and nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and interdependent world with free transfer of capital, goods, and services across national frontiers, globalization has effects on the environment, culture, political systems, and economic development in societies around the world. whereas human rights on the other hand refers to the basics entitlements that one acquires by virtue of one being part and parcel of the human race. Human rights are based on the principle of respect for the individual and the fundamental assumption is that each person is a moral and rational being who deserves to be treated with dignity (Korey, 1998). Human rights are universal. However, with the removal of physical boundaries human rights are being propelled by agents of globalization such as transnational cooperation’s in a negative and positive way.
The notion of world integration into one global village has been appraised for advancing human rights awareness considering the fact that globalization has resulted in the integration of world nations into one political system this has resulted in the formation of inter-governmental organizations such as the united nation (UN) and African union (AU)that have the sole mandate of explaining and protecting the universalism of human rights in the world and the formulation of policies that aim to recognize human rights as universal worldwide (Waldron ,2010)for instance the declaration of the human rights of men in 1945 is the document that declares the universalism of human rights in existence carrying the thirty fundamental rights that form the basis for a democratic society following this historic act, the Assembly called upon all Member Countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and “to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories. Today, the Declaration is a living document that has been accepted as a contract between a government and its people throughout the world (Steiner and Alston, 2000) hence in this regard one may credit globalization as the main factor influencing the signing of such international understandings that favor human rights awareness.
To add on world integration coupled with the removal of a physical boundary has led to the removal of trade barriers such that there is free trade between countries for instance the world trade organization WTO globally regulates trade whereas regionally there are bodies such as the economic community of western African states ECOWAS and the confederation of common markets for eastern and southern Africa commesa, these bodies ensures that there is smooth trade between countries at reduced tariffs hence globalization has advanced economic rights of countries (Dreher and Siemers,2010) as there is now trade liberalization where countries can virtually trade without heavy restrictions and higher export duties hence in this regard one may say that globalization helps further economic rights worldwide.
Moreover globalization favors human rights considering the fact that globalization has led to the formulation of international bodies such as the international criminal court ICC and the internal court of justice ICJ. The international criminal court was formed to prosecute and bring to justice those responsible for the worst crimes that may be genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, the court has global jurisdiction and is the last resort intervening only when national authorities cannot or will not prosecute. (Keck and Sikkink, 1998) Hence this shows that the countries in a globalized world are trying at all costs to see that human rights are observed as it’s evidenced by the creation of such human rights courts whereas the formulation of the world health organization WHO ensures that world health rights are observed ,this body achieved this through the issuance of medical services ,free medical training and funding for health research ,the world health organization has been renowned for helping with immunization programs for infants in sub-Saharan African .moreover United nation children’s funds UNICEF another body brought about globalization has been working tirelessly to ensure that children’s rights in the war-torn areas of sub-Saharan Africa are observed this has been achieved through the basic issuance of educational equipment and stationery to ensure that basic children’s rights to education became possible whereas in some cases UNICEF has worked in collaboration with the world food program WFP to ensure feeding programs in primary and secondary schools thereby guaranteeing children’s rights to food (Sen,1981) hence in this view one is forced to agree to that fact that globalization has brought about the protection of human rights worldwide.
Furthermore globalization can be attributed to the protection of the human rights situation worldwide especially when we are to consider that globalization has brought sophisticated technologies such as the television sets, radios and the internet these have worked as communication mediums between different nations and has been used by human rights activist in communicating human rights awareness (Larson, 2002)hence in other words one may say that globalization has led to the protection of media rights as the internet has provided anonymity ,previously human rights activists did not have freedom of speech .Moreover the advent of effective communication has also led to the abolition of barbaric African activities such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and gender mainstreaming (Mae,et al 2000) . Previously African communities believed that African societies are patriarchal communities hence this gave rise to domestic violence and oppression of women (Moghadam,2005)however due to global awareness there has now been a paradigm shift in how women are treated within African societies hence in this regard globalization has largely promoted women’s rights violations in a global village.
The opening up of physical boundaries has led the world to interact in the socio-cultural ,economic and political spheres of life this can be a good thing considering the fact that some political leaders particularly those in Africa and the middle east are renowned leaders who engage in crimes against humanity and dictatorship hence it is now imperative for global leaders to politically intervene in these nations and restore democracy and if possible prosecute these leaders in the international courts (Arat,1999),globalization significantly led to the restoration of peace in the 2008 electoral chaos in Zimbabwe as regional leaders pushed for the formation of the global political agreement a consolidated government between the two dominant parties ZANU-PF and MDC hence in this regard one may agree that globalization has been helpful in as far as providing human rights awareness in countries characterized by political crisis where democracy needs to be restored.
However on the other hand the notion of world integration into one global village has brought about human rights violations considering the fact that agents of globalization mainly transnational cooperation’s , that operate in the developing world where there are low operational costs and maximum profits (De Feyter, 2005). hence multinational companies as agents of globalization have brought more harm than good in human rights perspective considering the fact that these companies abuse workers’ rights since workers are forced to work for more than ten hours contrary to the international labor organization standards of eight hours per day whereas working conditions are very hazardous and dangerous to the workers and yet they are then paid little meagre salaries that is below the poverty datum line (Rabet, 2009). hence in this regard one may view the phenomenon of globalization as violating workers’ rights.in addition foreign owned cooperation’s are violating children’s rights since they employ children who are under eighteen years old to work in mines and hazardous working environments which is forbidden by the international labor organization hence judging on the evidence above one may stipulate that globalization does not promote human rights but actually facilitates their violations.
Moreover it is also imperative to note that the advent of economic and trade liberalization brought by globalization violates the economic sovereignty of other countries whilst favoring the prosperity of other countries for instance multinational companies create an uneven distribution of wealth between the developed and the developing countries, yet in most cases the wealth and resources belongs to the less economically developed countries for example foreign mining companies ship diamonds and gold to their respective home countries on the pretext of value addition and in the process acquiring more wealth than the Indigenous people that are supposed to benefit from their resources (Kamminga and Zarifi, 2000)whereas these companies also loot all the profits back to their countries hence in other words globalization has led to the violation of economic rights of indigenous people to enjoy their national resources (Stephens, 2002) hence in this regard one may say that globalization has brought with it human rights violations.
In addition it should also be noted that although there has been political cooperation brought about because of globalization it has been noted that the political cooperation has been extended to countries that are rich in natural resources, one may say that the political assistance is merely a game theory where the more powerful countries in the global community render aid on the pretext of humanitarian assistance yet they aim to achieve an end for instance the invasion of NATO forces in LIBYA was actually a move aimed at securing oil mineral concessions for the united states of America (Rosenau,2003)whereas in some instance the political aid given has caused widespread civil wars and political unrest as the richer countries in the globalized community opt to support rebel leaders whom they know they can control (Dunne and Wheeler,1999)yet in the process violating the sovereignty and political freewill of the people to rule themselves freely without external influences.
To add on globalization has led to the formation of cross-cultural platform where people interact daily and share cultures in language ,travel and education sectors however this has been traced to be a cultural violation of those cultural conservative minority communities that pride themselves with their communities and virtually want no contact with the outside world and let alone the European cultural norms and values which are viewed as barbaric (Oloka and Udagama (1999). therefore in this view one may be forced to say that globalization has brought about cross cultural platforms that violates the cultural rights and integrity of some primitive societies .
In a nutshell globalization has brought about the human rights awareness globally by the formation of various intergovernmental organization such as the world health organization ,united nations and the international criminal court that aim to improve the human rights situation worldwide, globalization has led to trade liberalization that improves economic freedom whereas political integration of states in a globalized world prevents human rights violation and abuse of democracy whereas on the other hand globalization has led to the violation of cultural rights of preservative communities ,loss of economic sovereignty of a people trough transnational companies that loot excess profits and valuable mineral resources back to their countries whilst countries have lost their political freedom owing to the opening up of boundaries such that the superpowers in the global village control the weaker states thereby resulting in lack of sovereignty.
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