Human Right Variations
- People’s access to human rights varies between countries, even though they are meant to be universal (across all countries)
- There are also significant variations within countries, especially for minority groups (e.g. ethnic minorities, women)
- This is especially evident post-colonial countries, such as:
- The Apartheid in South Africa
- The Aboriginal people of Australia
- Religious minorities in India, including Muslims
- Women in Pakistan
- Access to human rights in these post-colonial countries have been problematic due to:
- Post-colonial governments were often authoritarian and largely excluded indigenous people
- Post-colonial poverty led to a focus on economic growth rather than human rights
- The colonial borders did not recognise the importance of traditional ethnic and religious borders, so post-colonial countries often contained ethnic minority groups
- E.g. the Afar people of Ethiopia were split amongst Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti
Exam Tip
Learn some examples of human rights abuses within post-colonial countries, as use of located examples is important in essay questions.
For example:
- Women in Pakistan
- Pakistan was part of British India until independence in 1947
- Progress in improving women’s rights and lives have been slow
- Pakistan is the second most gender unequal country
- Child marriage is still common, even though it is illegal
- Forced marriage is very common
- Female literacy is only 46% compared to male literacy of 69% (2019)
- Honour killings of women are still common in areas of Pakistan; it is often ignored or lightly punished