“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”

-George Santayana

After the horrors of the Holocaust, as well as the atrocities that were committed during the Second World War, fifty one member states gathered to form the United Nations in hopes of preventing such a conflict from ever occurring again. This nation, found in 1945, now holds one hundred and ninety-three member states and main offices in Manhattan, Vienna, Geneva and Nairobi. On December 10, 1948, the UN adopted the still-standing Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled.” (un.org, 2014). In essence, this document proclaimed the human rights that all people are entitled to and that all people should expect to have. Many nations, including Canada, agreed to abide by the human rights stated in this declaration.

United Nation Logo

Despite agreeing to adopt the policies written in the Declaration, Canada does not, in full, live by these policies. The majority of Canadians do live with human rights, such as the freedom from torture, slavery and cruel and unusual punishment, all of which are illegal in Canada. Having so many rights is a rarity and shows how lucky we are to live in a country where we can live in peace and safety as so many around the world do not live in these same conditions. Turning away so many refugees is a direct violation of their human rights. Just because a person is not born in canada does not mean that they are not entitled to 100% of the same rights as those born in free countries and to deny people the basic rights that hey are entitled to causes Canada to become a facilitator. As so many refugees attempt to receive human rights and are then denied these rights by decisions made by the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Eleanor Roosevelt (a main contributor to the Declaration)
with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

How Denying Refugees Breaks Their Human Rights: (All citations come from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, published in 1948.)

• Article 4 says “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms”, article 9 states that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile”, article 2 explains that “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty” and article 11 parts 1 and 2 say that “(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.” In other words, all people have the right to not be cruelly and unusually treated, are equal in the law and should be awarded certain basic privileges upon arrest and detention, such as a fair trial, which is something awarded to Canadians. Many refugees coming to Canada were not awarded similar privileges. As newsweek.org explains, “Some common experiences of persecution include torture, beatings, rape, disappearance or killing of loved ones, imprisonment without trial, severe harassment by authorities, land confiscation, conflict-related injuries and months, years or even decades spent living in refugee camps or urban slums.” (newsweek.org, 2014). All of these monstrous experiences were against the rights that Canada has agreed to try and uphold, like preventing torture and protecting people’s legal rights.
• Article 14 (1) flat-out says that “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” According to the Declaration, we in fact have an obligation to accept refugees and help those who are being unjustifiably persecuted in other nations.
• Article 26 states that “(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.” 70 million children around the world live without education. Every child has the right to go to school, to learn and to have a future. Preventing child refugees from coming to Canada is denying many of them the possibility of receiving an education which yet again breaks the Declaration.
• Finally, article 21 explains that “(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.” Basically, democracy is the right of the people. Again how refusing such a high number of refugees is a breach of human rights- we are preventing people from their basic right to partake in their own government, the government that controls much of their own life and how they are permitted to live. Denying people the right to come to Canada and be a part of their government denies them the basic rights that Canada agreed to try and protect.

So, to conclude, I absolutely believe that more refugees should be accepted into Canada because by forcing people to continue living in oppressive and unsafe nations, we are obstructing their rights that we are supposed to be prepared to protect. Many are forced to continue living poor conditions and without rights because our policy is too harsh on refugees and by maintaining this overly harsh policy, we deny people the rights that we preach.

This video is a visual explication of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The following link is a link to 437 different translations of the Declaration- http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Introduction.aspx

This link reflects how poorly some refugee's rights are infringed upon: https://ccrweb.ca/refright.htm