Human Rights as a Global Imperative

The ‘luxury’ of having a human rights standard is to be expected in the advanced industrial democracies of the world because these countries are currently experiencing economic stability, flourishing agriculture, and reasonably stable populations. But in the developing world, the situation is more often reversed. Poverty in India, hunger in the Sahel [sub-Saharan West Africa], population pressures in China, or war and terrorism in Somalia all speak of continuing difficulties in trying to secure basic human rights for all people around the world. The so-called North-South dichotomy is a real one—part economic, part ideological, part ecological. In 1992, the [United Nations] Human Development report noted that ‘developing countries enter the global market as unequal partners and leave with unequal rewards. Furthermore, by 1990, the richest 20% of countries had national incomes 60 times greater than those of the poorest 20% of countries.’ And, on the level of personal income the richest 20% of the world’s people get at least 150 times more than the poorest 20%. It is important to acknowledge these issues while at the same time attempting to move the international system toward a greater global human rights standard.