Global IssuesEurope and Human Rights
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Europe is a small region but has many peoples, cultures and nations. Throughout history, this region has seen many wars and conflicts, as well as progress and developments. The 20th century, described as many as the "Century of War", saw two world wars (centered around Europe), amongst other terrible conflicts. Millions of people were killed. There were human rights violations throughout.
However, towards the 21st century, human rights, while considerably improved, is still an issue. Since the end of World War II, Western Europe, from almost total self-annihilation (as various empires fought each other for control of much of the rest of the world), have emerged realizing these effects of over-competition. As a result, a more cooperative framework has evolved, as leaders have realized that "never again" should such atrocities be committed.
But even though Western Europe is freer than most regions around the world, there is a marked increase in racism and anti-immigrant policies, as well as a rise in poverty. Eastern parts of Europe have seen a marked increase in conflicts since the break up of the former Soviet Union. Numerous conflicts have resulted in gross human rights violations and a lot of suffering and killings of civilians.
The issues listed below attempt to introduce some examples. They are far from exhaustive, and over time, more will be added, but additional links to more information are provided to other sources that cover the details in more depth.
On this page:
Human Rights in the European Union
The European Union, a free trade zone in the making, has sparked many debates in member countries about whether a central, remote, government will end up making, even overriding decisions made by an elected local national government. While the debate will continue, the European Union Court of Justice has ruled that the European Union can lawfully suppress political criticism of its institutions and of leading figures. This is a definite step back in the area of human rights, democracy and free speech. (Or, as this news article from the UK Electronic Telegraph says, it smacks of facism.)
Yugoslavia and Kosovo
The Serb crackdown on Ethnic Albanians was so horrendous that the crisis was regarded as the worst Europe has seen since World War II.
The resulting NATO bombing actually made the situation worse for the Ethnic Albanians (and NATO predicted that it would become worse, yet they continued the course of action that they chose.)
For more about this crisis, go to the Kosovo section on this web site.
Plight of the Kurds
Eruptions in February 1999 all over Europe about the arrest of Turkish Kurd guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan helped highlight an issue about the plight of the Kurds. The Kurdish people are scattered throughout Turkey, Iran, Iraq and other areas in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. They are fighting for their historic Kuridistan and in many countries, including Turkey and Iraq (even after the Gulf War, when protection was meant to be there from the US and its allies).
The crackdown on Kurds has been horrendous. Turkey is a NATO ally and a large recipient of US military aid and weapons. Many human rights abuses (often carried out using those very same weapons) against the Kurds have been overlooked by key influential countries like USA.
The arrest of Ocalan has resulted in a "trial" where he has been sentenced to death, despite many protests and anger throughout Europe. (Note, a lot of the mainstream media reported that he was arrested for his involvement in the conflict where 30,000 people have been killed. It is phrased to make it sound like he and the PKK have been responsible for the majority of these deaths. However, the Turkish military has been responsible for the vast majority of killings. The previous link, from the British Guardian news paper summarizes it quite well: "Every time the name of Ocalan occurs in the British press it is accompanied by the figure '30,000 dead in the last 14 years'. The implication is that Ocalan has brought about these deaths. The PKK has certainly killed, and has also committed atrocities, but the overwhelming number of these 30,000 deaths, not to mention widespread mutilation and rape, are the responsibility of the Turkish military.")
Russia and Chechnya
As the Chechnyan crisis has continued, Russian crackdown has been horredous. However, oil interests add to the complication of this conflict. For more details, see this sites section on the crisis in Chechnya.
More Information
For more information, you can start at the following:
- Amnesty International's reports on the Europe region.
- From Human Rights Watch, their Europe and Central Asia Division. It includes links to Human Rights Watch's annual world reports as well, which also discuss Europe.
- OneWorld Europe as well as the main OneWorld web site has many resources that you can also search.
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