Consequences of Violating Human Rights

1Why this topic matters

When a child is beaten at home, when a worker is not paid, or when people are insulted because of who they are, human rights are being violated. Some violations seem small; others destroy whole communities. Rwanda knows from its own history how far such violations can go. This lesson studies the forms and the consequences of human rights violations, and what Christianity and Islam teach about them.

2What is a human rights violation?

A human rights violation happens when a person, a group or an authority denies someone a right he or she is entitled to. Examples include:

• violence in the family, including gender-based violence and child abuse;
• child labour and keeping children out of school;
• discrimination because of sex, ethnic group, religion, disability or wealth;
• torture, and arrest or imprisonment without a fair trial;
• corruption, which takes resources meant for health, schools and the poor;
• hate speech, which treats a group of people as less than human;
• genocide, the most extreme violation: trying to destroy a whole group of people.

3Consequences

4A lesson from Rwanda's history

Between April and July 1994, during the Genocide against the Tutsi, more than one million people were killed in about one hundred days. The Genocide did not begin suddenly. For years before it, Tutsi had faced discrimination, and hate speech in newspapers and on the radio had taught people to see their neighbours as enemies. Small violations, left unchallenged, grew into the worst violation of all.

The consequences are still felt: survivors who lost their families, orphans and widows, trauma, and broken trust between neighbours. Some people, including some religious leaders, took part in the killing and betrayed the teaching of their faith; other Christians and Muslims risked their lives to hide and rescue those being hunted. Every year from 7 April, Rwandans remember the victims during Kwibuka ("to remember") and commit themselves to "Never Again".

5What the scriptures teach

When Cain killed his brother Abel, God said: "What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground." (Genesis 4:10). Wrongs done to the innocent are not forgotten by God. The prophet Jeremiah said: "Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place." (Jeremiah 22:3)

The Qur'an teaches that God's blame falls on oppressors: "The way (of blame) is only against those who oppress mankind, and wrongfully rebel in the earth. For such there is a painful doom." (Qur'an 42:42). The Prophet Muhammad taught that injustice will be darkness for the unjust on the Day of Resurrection.

Worked example

Question: Explain three consequences of human rights violations for society. (6 marks)

Model answer: First, violations destroy trust: when people are discriminated against or robbed, neighbours fear one another and cannot work together (2 marks). Second, they lead to conflict and violence, as those who are wronged may seek revenge and hatred spreads, as the path to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi shows (2 marks). Third, they slow development, because money and effort must go into caring for victims and repairing damage instead of schools, health and business (2 marks).

Practice