Population Control And Human Rights In The World

When an elephant population exceeds what the environment can sustain, we cull them. When rabbit populations skyrocket and cause damage to their environment, we kill them off. When water hyacinths invade a body of water and upset the ecological equilibrium, we cut them back or poison them. Why then do we not do anything drastic to bring a halt to the human population explosion? Why, when the environment is clearly buckling under the demanding weight of the human population, do we not do something about it? The answer is that we are the human species and we have developed a set of guidelines outlining how humans deserve to be treated. These are our human rights. It is these rights that protect us from being sterilized against our will or killed off. Human rights protect us from exploitation but it can also be a barrier preventing necessary steps being taken to prevent the human population from reaching proportions that will have immense repercussions on the our future life on this planet.

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The UN has predicted that by the year 2100 the human population will be 10.1 billion. One may question how the earth will be able to sustain such vest quantities of humans when even now, at 7.2 billion, people are living with their basic needs unfulfilled. Many understand that something must be done and it must be done quickly.

The topic of population control is a controversial one for two reasons: firstly, it is advertised as a quick fix for all the world’s problems and secondly, it is feared that the methods of population control may violate human rights. This research paper will answer the question of how can the human population be brought to ZPG while still respecting the human rights of those...

... middle of paper ...

...ndoms, the (…) followed in their footsteps preaching that the use of these methods of contraception would send them to hell.

(world health organization campaign photo)

(Solution 1: education)

The best method of bringing the world to Zero Population Growth is education. Studies have shown that educated women have less children on average than those who are not educated.

(image of women education)

(image of graph)

(Solution 2: rigorous family planning)

There are 222 million women in the developing world whose needs for family planning are unmet. This is the cause of 85% of the 80 million unintended pregnancies in this region . Family planning, such as encouraged use of contraceptives, is vital to the stabilization of the population and the reduction of poverty. This form of population control supports human rights, rather than infringing on them.

(info-posters)