Violation on Human Rights in Myanmar

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Human rights are the inalienable rights for all human being and it was declared by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948. They have become the universal fundamental human rights for all human being in all nations. This declaration embraces thirty articles of rights and freedom for all (United Nations, 2015). All human rights are related, the right to life is connected to the right to life, right to food, right to health, and so on. If there is no freedom of expression, freedom of speech, we cannot express we do not have food, we do not have good health protection, we cannot say we are being tortured (Petcharamesree, 2017).

Among all thirty important rights, the one that draws my attention is the Article number 24 which states ""Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay."" (United Nations, 2015). In the age of democracy, everyone is talking about the freedom of expression and the right to free speech which are the political rights. This right is not openly mentioned in any of the core human rights conventions (Claiming Human Rights, 2015) , but it got violated mostly.

According to the article, no one may force to work overtime without reasonable payment and everyone has the right to get holidays. Actually, this right is mostly violated in silent way, especially in developing countries (WEEBLY, 2015). This right is mostly violated in the factories, known as sweatshops, in Middle East, Southeast Asia, and southern Asia owned by large, big name brands from the United States and other developed countries such as Nike, Russell's and Adidas and so on. The factories of these brands are built in the developing countries because of cheap labors, cheap cost of production. Unbelievably, the workers of these factories are locking people within the building and not allowing them to leave and getting the low wages than the standard. As an example, the workers in Bangladesh and Pakistan and Indonesia are being paid around 60 cents a day in 2013 (Forester, 2013). The Nike and Adidas factories in Vietnam are facing with trials for violating the article 24 and other rights. As Myanmar is opening up to the international community recently and many foreign companies are keeping an eye on Myanmar to build a factory here, it is highly responsible for government to keep in mind of these violations in other developing countries. These violations are also connected to the child labor case and the slavery issues. As an estimation, 500,000 to one million children ages four to fourteen are being forced to work making clothing, shoes, furniture, carpets, etc, and having extremely long hours to work with very little rest and leisure without holidays (WEEBLY, 2015).

Apart from the international issues, there are a lot of violations in Myanmar as well, just people do not notice about it. The official working time differs from state to state. In Myanmar it is recognized as eight hours a day. However, even if we look at to the government offices, the teachers, officers are working more than eight hours without any overtime payment which must be around 25 percent to 50 percent above the normal hourly payments. They have to go to office even on public holidays without payment for it. Not only the government is the violator, the public companies and even citizens are the violators of the article 24. For example, the employees in the hotel have to work at least ten hours a day. The house maids are working 24 hours a day with very tiny wages. The people could go on strike, protest, or partake in many other opportunities to make a change (Rebecca, 2017). However, people do not know about their rights in depth, do not have time to claim it, do not know their boss are violating their rights, and do not want to do so and do not want to lose their job or title. The main thing is to educate people, both employees and employers, about the UDHR, and about their rights.

Bibliography

(2015). Retrieved from Claiming Human Rights: http://www.claiminghumanrights.org/holidays_definition.html
(2015). Retrieved from WEEBLY: https://humanright24restandleisure.weebly.com/article-24.html Forester, J. (2013, April). sports. Retrieved
from thecollegian: http://www.kstatecollegian.com/2013/04/30/sweatshops-violate-human-rights-american-companies-at-fault/
Petcharamesree, S. (2017). Human Rights in ASEAN.
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Rebecca. (2017, January). Retrieved from Voices of
Youth: http://www.voicesofyouth.org/en/posts/the-right-to-rest-leisure
Release, U. N. (2014). Press Release.
Retrieved from United Nations Meetings Coverage and Press Releases:
https://www.un.org/press/en/2007/hr4922.doc.htm
United Nations, U. (2015). Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. pp. 10-12.

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