Article 4 of UNDHR
Article in Review
Article 4 of the UNDHR is the article that is being reviewed as part of this paper. The Article 4 bans Slavery. The very first statement of the UNDR “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood” is the embodiment of the spirit of the Ùnited Nations’ declaration of Human Rights. This was a declaration adopted on the 10th of December 1948 Paris. This declaration is directly a result of the World War II and is the true global expression of rights that all the human beings are entitled to. The original Declaration had 30 articles and was further elaborated in other treaties and agreements signed and agreed on later.
The International Bill of Human Rights is made up of The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It was in 1976 after ratification by a number of countries it took the shape of International Law.
The poster features image of two hands freed from the clutches of hand cuffs. This poster was chosen as it aptly suits the discussion about Artic 4 of the UNDHR that essentially bans slavery.
Context
The primary emphasis of Article 4 of the UNDHR is to ban all forms of slavery. This article bans all forms of slavery and total ban on slave trade in all forms. This includes forced, bonded, child labour in all forms and servitude in all forms.
This Declaration of Human Rights has its roots in what the Allies adopted during the Second World War – the four basic freedoms that of Speech and Religion on one side and freedom from fear and want on the other side. This according to the Allies was the philosophy of why they were waging the war.
The United Nations only further affirmed these beliefs. The Declaration was initially commissioned in the year 1946 and was continuously worked on for two years before being adopted by the General Assembly. The Canadian John Peters Humphrey was the chief drafter of this Declaration. At the time of drafting John Humphrey was newly appointed as the Director of the Division of Human Rights at the UN Secretariat. The Commission was the standing body on Human Rights with a mandate of preparing the International Bill of Rights that finally turned out to be the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
Article 4 impresses on all its member states and signatories to have strong laws and legislations as well as administrative framework in place to ensure nothing violates it. The legislative framework must have the capacity to enforce the legislation as well as the teeth for it. Despite all this there are occasional human trafficking incidents that get reported. Human trafficking is also a form of slavery and is covered under the ambit of Article 4.
Human Trafficking is the modern form of slavery and involves recruitment and transport of people by force or coercion. The ultimate objective of trafficking will be to exploit the people in one way or the other.
Typical end uses that have been reported in recent years – popular ones among them are – children being used for camel races in the middle east, women for the purpose of prostitution and sexual slavery.
Also subject to Article 4 is the concept of forced labour by migrants. Migrants could be legal or illegal ones and are often subjected to illegal exploitation by recruiters or owners.
It is typically the migrant labour that are subject to this kind of harassment and slavery. This when brought to the notice of the authorities stringent actions have been known to be initiated and perpetrators of such acts are known to have been brought to book. Despite all this the lure of better living conditions and economic prosperity most often enthuses victims to almost voluntarily subjecting themselves to these kind of acts.
Bibliography
Gluckman, R., 1992. Death in Dubai. [Online] Available at: http://www.gluckman.com/camelracing.html[Accessed 10 December 2014].
Human Rights Review, 2012. Article 4: Freedom from Slavery and Forced Labour. Human Rights Review 2012.
United nations Charter, 2013. United Nations Charter, preamble and Article 55. New York: s.n.
United Nations, 1948-49. The United nations Year Book. New York: United Nations.
United Nations, 1948. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. s.l.:s.n.
