Various human Essay Example for Free

Various human Essay Given the widespread human rights violations in the world today, it becomes very important to set up a system that would cater to both the general need of the entire world as well as specific needs of a particular region. An ideal human rights system would be one that would take global ideas and try and implement them locally. It should be both idealistic as well as practical. Various human rights systems across the world have tried various permutations and combinations to achieve perfection in the field of redressing human rights violations. The Inter American system of human rights is one such system which has tried to incorporate as many good aspects of redressal as possible. However, the said system has its faults like all others. The strong point of the system that can be duplicated in any part of the world is the basic conventions on which the system is based, namely, the American Declaration of Rights and Duties of Man and the American Convention of Human Rights. Both these documents provide for all kinds of human rights envisaged in the world and also provide for procedure to redress in case of any infringement. These documents form the basis of the human rights grievance redressal forum that is to be established by the Government. While setting up a new system in a unknown country this is one aspect that can be duplicated. However, care should be taken to make the new law for that particular region inclusive of the rights that are special to that region. Only then will the instrument be as effective as these documents. Another good aspect of the Inter American System of Human Rights is the existence of the Inter American Human Rights Commission and the Inter American Human Rights Court. Both these mechanisms are independent and separate and have different powers and functions. While the Commission receives, analyses and investigates into violations and then gives its recommendations, the Court adjudicates on the various issues brought before it. Commission is recommendatory in nature while Court is adjudicatory. These two separate mechanisms are necessary so as to ensure that the dual aspect of promotion of awareness and protection of human rights can be achieved with minimal problems and maximum effectiveness. The third positive and duplicable aspect of the Inter American System of Human Rights is the fact that it does not consider the Human Rights Court to be an Appellate Authority over the Domestic Judicial System. This helps maintain integrity of both systems. The Human Rights Court has been established to investigate and adjudicate gross violations of human rights. In case a domestic court has refused to follow due process of law and has caused serious violation of human rights to an individual, then the Human Rights Court can intervene and adjudicate. The order so passed by the Court is binding on the parties who have subjected themselves to the jurisdiction of the Court. The fact that such a mechanism exists can help ensure that the domestic judicial systems do not cause gross violations of human rights. The Human Rights Court performs the role of a watchdog over the functioning of the domestic Courts and law enforcement systems. Like all good things, the Inter American System has its problem areas which, if avoided will create an ideal system. The first problem area in the Inter American Human Rights system is the need for a State to subject itself to the jurisdiction of the Human Rights Court. This means that if a State has ratified and signed a particular treaty or convention, and the State chooses to violate the rights enshrined in the said treaty or convention, then in such a case, the Human Rights Court has no right to adjudicate but can only advise the Commission and recommend appropriate action to the State in question. This defeats the entire purpose of protection against infringement of human rights. A State is thus given a protective mechanism but without any teeth, which is of no use. Thus in the new system that is to be created, care should be taken to ensure that ratification of a convention or treaty automatically means accepting the jurisdiction of the Court. This helps enforce the rights enshrined and also ensures adequate redressal in case of violation by the State. Also the Commission in the Inter American System has only investigative and recommendatory powers. This is sufficient in most cases but in some areas it is necessary to let the Commission decide for itself on the proper relief and make it enforceable. The Commission is the first step of the redressal system and after the Commission’s recommendations have been ignored, the Court steps in. In some countries, this would mean more expenditure and more delay in attaining justice. Hence where the Commission feels that the problem is of an urgent and grave nature, then powers should be given to the Commission to pass orders that are binding and enforceable. Secondly, the Inter American System does not allow for individuals to approach the Court directly in person but only through the State or the Commission. In the new system, we can try allowing individuals to approach the Court directly. A victim can appropriately and more effectively put forth his case and this would result in a more positive and direct approach on the part of the Court. Commission on the other hand is a third party which is not affected and hence cannot put forth the problem with the same intensity. The above discussion sums up some of the positive and negative aspects of the Inter American System of Human Rights. If the legislators were to keep these points in mind then the resulting system of human rights protection would be a good and effective one. References Abi-Mershed, E. (1994, November/December).Thirty-Five Years Defending Human Rights. Americas (English Edition). Retrieved March 2, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=od=5000289318 Buergenthal, T. (1982). The Inter-American Court of Human Rights. American Journal of International Law, 76(2), 231-245. Retrieved March 2, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=od=85595942 Pasqualucci, J. M. (2003). The Practice and Procedure of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved March 2, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=od=107345000.

Child Prostitution and Pornography :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Child Prostitution and Pornography Sexual abuse of children has become a public concern only recently in the United States, young girls and boys have been used to satisfy adult sexual desires for most of our history. Castration of boys, fondling, forced genital or anal intercourse, and sale for prostitution were common through much of Western history. "It was not until the sixteenth century that laws were enacted in England to protect girls and boys under the age of ten from rape and sodomy." (Knudsen,106) p In the nineteenth century, after the exposure of the "white slave" trade, in which young girls were sold or kidnapped and forced into prostitution, the concept of "age of consent" developed in England, defining the age at which a girl could consent to sexual intercourse initially at ten, then at twelve, and finally, in 1885, at sixteen."(Knudson,106) Over the past ten years , the availability of literature on sexual assault has increased significantly. However, clinical data are increasingly suggesting that boys m ay be at equal risk for sexual victimization, since they are the preffered targets of habitual pedophiles and victims of child sex rings. Law inforcement investigations have verified the pedophiles almost always collect child pornography or child erotica. Pedophiles do not merely view pornography: They save it. It represents their most cherished sexual fantasies. They typically collect books, magazines, articles, newspapers, negatives, movies, slides, photographs, albums, drawings, audiotapes, personal letters, video tapes and equipment, diaries, clothing, sexual aids, souvenirs, toys, games, lists, paintings, ledgers, and photographic equipment. Ã ¾Better educated and more affluent pedophiles tend to have largewr collections. Pedophiles whose living or working arrangements give them a higher degree of privacy tend to have larger collections. Because collections are accumulated over a period of time, older pedophiles tend to have larger collections. Pedophiles with the economic means are converting more and more to videotape systems. They are even converting their books, magazines, photographs, and movies to videotape . For less than $1,500, a pedophile can have his own video camera and two video recorders, which give him the capability to produce and duplicate child pornography and erotica with little fear of discovery.Ã ¾(Lanning,236-7) There are four kinds of collectors: (a) closet, (b) isolated, (c) cottage, and (d) commercial. Ã ¾The closet collector keeps his collection a secret and is not actively involved in molesting children. Materials are usually purchased discreetly through commercial channels.

The Sound of Writing

I was staring at empty space. I tried to look for the fixed contours on the paper and the silhouette of the pen I was holding. I tried but to no avail. My mind was swimming in an endless array of uneasiness. I was not certain whether I was dreaming or already awake. This was hard, I told myself. I felt a drop of sweat trickling down my cheek. Thomas Edison once said that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. If he was right then I was on the right track. But doubt was slowly lurking and creeping around me. Was it really this hard to be inspired to write? I just comforted myself by constantly saying what Jean Anouilh once said, that inspiration was a farce that poets had invented to give themselves importance.When I was starting to become a writer, I was not even aware that I was trying to be one. Grade school for me was seventy percent playing and thirty percent dreaming. And my dreams during that time were all about winning an Academy Award or being named as one of the sexiest people in the world. Becoming the next president was also in my mind. But the thought of being a writer was like imagining myself eating salad with an alien in a crater of a moon in one of the planets in the Andromeda galaxy; it never crossed my mind.In a nutshell, when I tried to analyze how I was as a writer in grade school, all I could say was that I was a courageously idiotic writer. An idiot, but brave nonetheless. This was largely due to the fact that everything I had written at that time was not even close to being brilliant or great. All the words I wrote were simply inspired by having the guts to just do it. If there was a paper too difficult to do and a word too hard to define, all I did was to write and write because I believed that everything would be just fine.I was stupid enough to go forth while all hell broke loose and still smiled at the end of the day. I was guided by my own foolish belief I was brave simply because I would not back awa y. This was writing for me in grade school. Writing for me back then was not about being witty or being brilliant. Writing was all about just stroking my pen without regret and without regard for the outcome. However, in a sense, everyone who attempted to write had some ounce of courage. I felt that I was a better writer than the other students not because I wrote well but rather, I wrote braver. And I was braver longer than most. As Ronald Reagan once mentioned, heroes were not braver than anyone else. They were just braver five minutes longer.As I made the transition from grade school to high school, I started to become idealistic. I began having these grand notions of changing the world and eradicating poverty. I was dreaming of winning the Nobel Peace Prize or be named the next Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. This time, I was absolutely clear in becoming a writer. Writing for me during high school was all about greatness. I felt the need to write to impress. I wanted to be witty and brilliant. I wanted everybody to be mesmerized in reading every single word I wrote. When I tried to look back during those days, even when I wrote poorly, I blindly presented my written work of art full of hubris and unafraid. I often compared writing to boxing.As Muhammad Ali would say, to be a great champion, a person had to believe that he was the best. If he was not, he should pretend that he was. This was me in high school. I was the writer who was so full of himself. If a teacher or a classmate did not like what I wrote, I simply told myself that these people did not understand the high level of writing I was doing. I understood myself to be a brilliant and confident writer. In reality, compared to who I was as a writer in grade school, only one thing had changed. If I was a brave and idiotic back then, I was not confident but just cocky in high school. And to my realization, I was still stupid for thinking of how great I was.When I stepped into college, a ren ewed vigour was awakened within me. Maybe I got too tired of being cocky and stupid that I started seeing a new side of me I never saw I had. This time I believed I had transcended from being the good and the better man to the being best man. I was no longer the idiot and stupid writer. I was filled with excitement. I was now the fool. Somehow, the words and lines I were using suddenly all sounded a bit poetic and romantic. I often pondered if I was to be the next William Shakespeare.This time, I was inspired by the others that had gone before me. I wanted to sway the hearts and minds of people with my writing. I wanted to invoke their deepest darkest secrets through my words. I wanted to encapsulate each soul with a stroke of my pen. I longed to see their tears and hear their laughs by my artistry in poetry. I would be that whom which T. S. Eliot described as the genuine poet who could communicate his words before it was understood. And to my shock, I did see their tears and heard their laughs because of what I had written. I saw my professors crying in pain because they could not even bear one more word of my work. I heard laughs not because I was funny, but because my work was hilarious. Despite this, I still continued and persevered. As one of my favourite authors, Richard Bach, would say, a professional writer was an amateur who did not quit.Everything was a bit different after that. Somehow, until to this very day, I would still be idiotic, stupid and foolish. But this time around, I was a wise fool at the least. I had been quoting Edison, Anouilh, Ali, Reagan and Eliot just to name a few thinking that by using their words, I would be a good writer; I would sound better. But I soon realized that writing was about finding my voice.I needed to find my own words. Writing was about knowing and understanding who I was. Thus, I resolved to search for the right words, the right imagery, the right tone and the right sound. However, I always asked myself if there were indeed such things. Then, it hit me. I was so concerned with the way I was writing that I forgot to find my purpose for it. Why did I want to become a writer? The answer was simple. It was because in writing, I offered who I was and not what I had. That sounded right, I told myself. It sounded just about right.

How to Identify Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional phrases are a central part of virtually every sentence spoken or written. Simply put, they always consist of a preposition and an object or objects of the preposition. So its good to get acquainted with this essential part of a sentence and how it affects your writing style. Here is the first paragraph of Chapter 29 of John Steinbecks famous novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939. As you read this paragraph, see if you can identify all the prepositional phrases used by Steinbeck to convey the dramatic return of rain after a long, painful drought. When youre finished, compare your results with the second version of the paragraph, in which prepositional phrases are highlighted in italics. Steinbecks Original Paragraph in The Grapes of Wrath Over the high coast mountains and over the valleys the gray clouds marched in from the ocean. The wind blew fiercely and silently, high in the air, and it swished in the brush, and it roared in the forests. The clouds came in brokenly, in puffs, in folds, in gray crags; and they piled in together and settled low over the west. And then the wind stopped and left the clouds deep and solid. The rain began with gusty showers, pauses and downpours; and then gradually it settled to a single tempo, small drops and a steady beat, rain that was gray to see through, rain that cut midday light to evening. And at first the dry earth sucked the moisture down and blackened. For two days the earth drank the rain, until the earth was full. Then puddles formed, and in the low places little lakes formed in the fields. The muddy lakes rose higher, and the steady rain whipped the shining water. At last the mountains were full, and the hillsides spilled into the streams, built them to freshets, and sent them roaring down the canyons into the valleys. The rain beat on steadily. And the streams and the little rivers edged up to the bank sides and worked at willows and tree roots, bent the willows deep in the current, cut out the roots of cotton-woods and brought down the trees. The muddy water whirled along the bank sides and crept up the banks until at last it spilled over, into the fields, into the orchards, into the cotton patches where the black stems stood. Level fields became lakes, broad and gray, and the rain whipped up the surfaces. Then the water poured over the highways, and cars moved slowly, cutting the water ahead, and leaving a boiling muddy wake behind. The earth whispered under the beat of the rain, and the streams thundered under the churning freshets. When you have completed the identification exercise in the original paragraph, compare your results with this marked version. Steinbecks Paragraph With Prepositional Phrases in Bold Over the high coast mountains  and  over the valleys  the gray clouds marched  in from the ocean. The wind blew fiercely and silently, high  in the air, and it swished  in the brush, and it roared  in the forests. The clouds came in brokenly,  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹in puffs, in folds, in gray crags; and they piled in together and settled low  over the west. And then the wind stopped and left the clouds deep and solid. The rain began  with gusty showers, pauses and downpours; and then gradually it settled  t​o a single tempo, small drops and a steady beat, rain that was gray to see through, rain that cut midday light  to evening. And  at first  the dry earth sucked the moisture down and blackened.  For two days  the earth drank the rain, until the earth was full. Then puddles formed, and  in the low places  little lakes formed  in the fields. The muddy lakes rose higher, and the steady rain whipped the shining water.  At last  the mountains were full , and the hillsides spilled  into the streams, built them  to freshlets, and sent them roaring  down the canyons into the valleys. The rain beat on steadily. And the streams and the little rivers edged  up to the bank sides  and worked  at willows and tree roots, bent the willows deep  in the current, cut out the roots  of cotton-woods  and brought down the trees. The muddy water whirled  along the bank sides  and crept  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹up the banks  until  at last  it spilled over,  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹into the fields,  into the orchards, into the cotton patches  where the black stems stood. Level fields became lakes, broad and gray, and the rain whipped up the surfaces. Then the water poured  over the highways, and cars moved slowly, cutting the water ahead, and leaving a boiling muddy wake behind. The earth whispered  under the beat of the rain, and the streams thundered  under the churning freshlets. Common Prepositions about behind except outside above below for over across beneath from past after beside in through against between inside to along beyond into under among by near until around despite of up at down off with before during on without