Human rights abuse refers to any action that harms someones human rights. It can be committed directly or indirectly by a state or non-state actors. Human rights abuses can take many forms, including:
- Physical harm: Unsafe working conditions can lead to injuries, and people can get sick when their water is polluted.
- Harm to relationships: Discrimination can divide people and lead to conflict, causing some people and groups to withdraw from their community or become isolated.
- Economic harm: Unpaid or underpaid workers can end up with too little food and unfit housing.
- Harm to mental health: Survivors of human rights abuse can experience anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) .
- Harm to a persons identity: People can suffer when they are not allowed to speak their own language or follow their own culture or religion.
- Civil and political rights violations: These can include genocide, torture, and arbitrary arrest, often happening during times of war.
- Economic, social, and cultural rights violations: These can include the right to work, the right to education, and the right to physical and mental health.
Some serious human rights violations and abuses, such as murder, extermination, rape and sexual violence, torture, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, enslavement, forced disappearance, and persecution, may constitute crimes against humanity if they meet the criteria of "widespread" or "systematic". When an act is defined as a human rights violation, it has deprived one or more persons of their fundamental rights and directly contravenes the obligations and duties set out in international human rights treaties.
Human rights abuses are not just morally wrong, but they are also bad for business and short-sighted. Human rights are a sound investment, and respecting them can build resilient and prosperous communities and strong institutions based on the rule of law. It is the duty of all states to dismantle the barriers that prevent victims from obtaining remedy.
Examples of human rights abuses can be found in many countries, including the United States.
