This paper will discuss why social rights should be human rights. Poverty, capitalism, and government will be the motives used to explain why social rights should be considered human rights and be enforceable in a court of law. Although the costs of social rights would result in higher taxes, the benefits would far exceed the costs. It would greatly reduce the majority of poverty and crime as well as improve overall health within our society. Various aspects of social rights will be examined which include rights to food, health care, childcare, post-secondary education, housing and basic income. This paper will begin by examining poverty and the role social rights could play. This will be followed by examining capitalism and its effects on society. By identifying the negative impact capitalism has on society and how social rights can alleviate some of the socially destructive aspects of it. Lastly, the impact of the government and its policies that have contributed to the demise of social rights and social programs and why social policy should be made a human right on par with civil rights and political rights.
Poverty
Poverty is increased when basic income is not a right. Social assistance in Canada is viewed as a last resort; meaning that in order to qualify you may not have assets or savings. This forces individuals into a downward spiral, making it almost impossible to escape poverty. Social assistance benefits offer very low payments to applicants, payments that only cover the basic needs of the individual. There is increasing evidence that supports the idea that social assistance does little to improve or maintain the quality of life of the applicant, as a matter of fact it may do the opposite with applicants often feeling...
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...itizen’s a place among the world leaders in the human rights field.
References
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McNally, D. (2006). Another world is possible: globalization and anti-capitalism. Winnipeg, Canada: Arbeiter Ring Publishing
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Though, Professor Armstrong makes very good connections between health care policy reforms and its impact on women, all of these connections are eclipsed by the values encompassed within the Canada Health Act of 1984. Health care to this day is provided on the basis of need rather than financial means, and is accessible to all that require it. Professor Armstrong’s argument is hinged upon the scope of services provided under the public health insurance system, and the subsequent affect of these reforms on women as the main beneficiaries of these services and as workers in these industries. However, these reforms were made to balance the economy, and the downsizing and cutbacks were necessary steps to be taken with respect to this agenda. Moreover, as aforementioned the access to medical services ultimately comes down to need, and the reforms to date are not conducive to an intentional subordination of female interests in the realm of health care. Therefore, I find Professor Armstrong’s critique on Canada’s public health insurance system to be relatively redundant because the universal access to care encompassed within the Canada Health Act transcends the conditional proponents of her arguments of inequality. In other words, I believe she is
Curtis, J. E., Tepperman, L., & Albanese, P. (2012). Sociology: A Canadian perspective(3rd ed.). Don Mills, Ont: Oxford University Press.
Poverty is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as a lack of something or when the quality of something is extremely low. All over the world, poverty is present. Charles Darwin once said in the Voyage of the Beagle: “if the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions” (Charles). First Nations across Canada are being put into a position of poverty and the Canadian Government are to blame. The Canadian government is only worsening the problem, rather than helping our First Peoples. The First Nations are disconnecting them from their traditional way of living, not funding their given lifestyle and not raising any awareness of the issue of Aboriginal poverty. But why should Canadian’s help the Aboriginals?
The issue of poverty is not without resolve. Awareness programs can be set up to educate the aboriginal peoples of the need for education. Low income and subsequent poverty are...
Health care services are important to all, but what happens when our First Nations are allowed to those services but they themselves don’t always use it? In Canada, the health care system is supposed to be a ‘discrimination-free envornment’ (Tang, 2008) but that is not always the case. The right to an adequate health is all ours, but then for many nurses and physicians ethnic groups such as Aboriginal people are victims of racial gestures. Therefore, the health of the Aboriginal population is much worse than the non-Aboriginal people.
“Human rights are not worthy of the name if they do not protect the people we don’t like as those we do”, said Trevor Phillips, a British writer, broadcaster and former politician. Since the day of human civilization and human rights are found. No one can argue against the idea that God created us equal, but this idea have been well understood and known after the appearance of many associations that fight for human rights as The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) that showed up in 1948. Human rights are those rights that every person, without exceptions, is born with. They are the most important human basic needs because no one can live a decent appropriate life without having those rights as a human. In fact, these rights
Poverty is a serious issue in Canada needs to be addressed promptly. Poverty is not simply about the lack of money an individual has; it is much more than that. The World Bank Organization defines poverty by stating that, “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time”. In Canada, 14.9 percent of Canada’s population has low income as Statistics Canada reports, which is roughly about two million of Canadians in poverty or on the verge of poverty. In addition, according to an UNICEF survey, 13.3 percent of Canadian children live in poverty. If the government had started to provide efficient support to help decrease the rates of poverty, this would not have been such a significant issue in Canada. Even though the issue of poverty has always been affecting countries regardless of the efforts being made to fight against it, the government of Canada still needs to take charge and try to bring the percentage of poverty down to ensure that Canada is a suitable place to live. Therefore, due to the lack of support and social assistance from the government, poverty has drastically increased in Canada.
Poverty is the state for the majority of people in this world. In Canada there are over 4.5 million people living in poverty. Poverty is not only an issue in canada but an issue that needs to be focused on all over the world. About 14% of canada is living under the yearly income threshold which means they are living in poverty.
Makwana, R. (2006). Globalization: neoliberalism and economic globalization. Retrieved April 05, 2014, from Share The World’s Resources website: http://www.stwr.org/globalization/neoliberalism-and-economic-globalization.html
Poverty among Aboriginals entails poor living conditions on reserves, health and well-being struggles, and financially unstable families; relatively speaking to the majority of Aboriginals who are living in impoverished communities, these hardships usually commence in some way, shape, or form. The Canadian Feed the Children Charity (2017) notes that “Indigenous children in Canada are over two and a half times more likely to live in poverty than non-Indigenous children.” This number is quite high and is extremely unfortunate for children to have a potentially traumatic and unpleasant upbringing resulting in challenges throughout adolescent and adulthood years. Furthermore, statistics from a study conducted years before, in 2013 with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives state the rate at which Aboriginals in Canada are living in poverty. It was determined that 50 percent of status First Nations children in the Canadian context live in poverty based on the Low Income Measure (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2013). With Manitoba being the highest percentage from this resource, sitting at 62 percent living in poverty, it is evident that Aboriginals in Canada are struggling
In today 's society, there is 1 in 7 people living in poverty which is costing Canadian citizens’ money as they are paying for taxes. There are many standpoints in which people examine the ways poverty affect society such as Marx’s conflict theory. Marx’s conflict theory goes over how social stratification being inevitable and how there is a class consciousness within people in the working class. Another way that poverty is scrutinized is by feminization. Feminization is the theory that will be explored throughout this essay. Poverty will be analyzed in this essay to determine the significance of poverty on the society and the implications that are produced.
David McNally (2006). ‘The Invisible Hand is a Closed Fist: Inequality, Alienation, and the Capitalist Market Economy’ from Another World is Possible: globalization and Anti-Capitalism, 2nd edition, Arbeiter Ring, 60-95.
Furthermore the question of who has rights has a constant impact on what it means to have rights, as the definition of it varies from person to person, and society to society. This question is contested and debated, as it tends to effect the unity of a nation, as is shown in the case of gay rights activists and those in o...
Social and economic rights are protected in several international human rights instruments, the most comprehensive of which is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR or Covenant). In fact the approach commonly adopted to identify such a right is to assess whether it is included in the ICESCR.
...o we can achieve our dreams in life: “we are now living in a world where time and space don’t matter anymore” just like J.Mittleman said. Globalization as we just learned is relative, whether it’s an opportunity or an exploitation depends on where you sit and how you look at the world. Kent, J., Kinetz, E. & Whehrfritz, G. Newsweek. Bottom of the barrel. - The dark side of globalization (2008/March24). David, P. Falling of The Edge, Travels through the Dark Heart of Globalization..Nov 2008. (p62)