Sabrina Anoush Tomarci
Introduction
The definitions of human rights and social justice is one which many have different opinions on. While some feel there is a clear cut answer, others do not. Personal definitions also arise which are often defined based on one's experiences and what political affiliations they may hold. The interest of this journal is to understand what these different definitions are to people and how they have come to these conclusions while comparing these to the legal perspective and to the actual definitions brought forth by the Oxford English Dictionary. The interest of this paper is University of Toronto students responding to the question “What do you think of when Social Justice and Human Rights are brought up”. The data was then collected through a series of phone calls and text messages.
Definitions
Social Justice- “The distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.”
Human Rights- “Rights possessed by humans; spec. the set of entitlements held to belong to every person as a condition of being human.”
Findings
The participants had different definitions and responses which they brought forth. The first participant brought up that social justice and human rights are somewhat of a myth. They did not believe they existed. When asked to elaborate, they went into how they feel that the only people who really have justice are economic and political elites and those who actually need these rights are always being deprived of them. They then went on to explain how the catastrophic events which have continued to occur in Palestine and Nagorno-Karabakh are evidence that these social justice and human rights are in fact lacking in practice. The way in which innocent children and families are suffering in the developing world is truly telling of this. Their depiction of what these words define are clearly in association to current global events.
Another participant explained how to them, this definition has more to do with the legal aspect of justice, specifically mentioning “law and courts.” Continuing, they went on to explain how these measures are necessary to receive such social justice and provide human rights; however they felt that these measures were not being properly utilised. By specifically going into explaining injustice brought forth by the legal system including unfair trials and police brutality, they made it clear that they felt as though the systems in use are not as effective as one would hope they would be. They also went on to explain how crime rates in Canada continue to rise and how the way to combat this issue is not through increasing authority, but instead finding the true social and political issues which form the roots of these issues. Next, they explained how they felt in the context of human rights. We often associate “water, food, and shelter” as the main aspects of this, however they brought up how quality of life is also very important. Things such as education and healthcare are often seen as secondary as opposed to essential. To conclude they stated how “though food and water and all that are very important, the overall happiness and mental wellbeing of people are also super important and should not be seen as a luxury.”
Another participant also brought up “access to food, clean water, the ability to live peacefully without threat of violence, to identify how you want and not be persecuted for it.” Though their definition did not directly align the Oxford definitions it does include the key elements. They also mentioned the safety of women and their ability to live without threats to their livelihood. These participants had the closest response to the aforementioned definition.
One of the last participants said that they thought about social movements when this topic was brought up. Specifically mentioning movements such as the Black Lives Matter protests, the Free Palestine movement, and the protests which have occurred specifically in Canada regarding missing and endangered Indigenous women.
Analysis
There seems to be a new social justice movement to support everyday or a human right which is being violated. This is to say that it becomes difficult for people to easily define what this means to them given that global issues are always changing. The level of injustice around the world can of course be overwhelming but in some ways there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Such social justice cases as R v. Morgentaler, R v. Big M Drug Mart, R v. Oakes and many more are all examples of how the Canadian charter works to fight against injustice and has proven time and time again to be effective. Though it has become increasingly difficult to work towards true human rights being imposed, one must continue to fight for them and not lose hope in their impacts.
Bibliography
Government of Canada, Department of Justice. “Examples of Charter-Related Cases.” Government of Canada, Department of Justice, Electronic Communications, April 5, 2022. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/cases.html.
Oxford English Dictionary. "Oxford English Dictionary." Oxford English Dictionary. n.d. https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=social+justice.
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