Reflections on Human Rights

I did not realize how much this class has directly affected my opinion after these three months. I guess as being a social work major, I never really understood why things happen the way they do, and even on a more general note, why so much suffering occurs. I have never put the topic of human rights in the framework of a legal background. Although I never really thought it was, the world is run by politics, even when the biggest violations of human rights are occurring. It is important to understand the legal framework that human rights works under. I seriously had little to no knowledge of what actually makes the United Nations work, and which covenants and other various documents a larger part of the world attempts to obey.

I know that learning about the legal framework of human rights will help me significantly in my career as a social worker. It makes me want to work harder to make a difference, and to change the way the world thinks. I want to be the person that starts the next NGO, the next person to make a difference. I can say now that I at least know where to begin, and how to go about “changing the world” in a professional way. Although I know I already had a conceptual understanding of human rights, I can now say I have a realist view of what human rights actually are. My goal in my career is to narrow the gap between the two, and I intend to do so with full force.