Assignment #3

Blog Composition

The protection of constitutional rights in Mexico it’s stated by the Mexican Constitution, focusing on the term “individual guarantees”, which describes work, health, housing, and land as rights guaranteed to all individuals in order to achieve a society with a fairer distribution of wealth. The modern day Constitution is a reflection of the historical development of the country, and divides in two classification of articles; dogmatic and organic. The dogmatic section, which ranges from the 1^st article to around the 28^th one, contains most of the individual rights issued in the constitution, and divides individual guarantees in 4 classifications: Guarantees of equality, freedom, property, and legal security.

Equality guarantees look for the same legal treatment to all citizens, and the State is responsible of protecting those rights. Liberty guarantees recognize all areas of an individual where State can’t intervene, and people are free to attain themselves in. Property guarantees administrates all public and private landownership, as well as individual heritage and national resources. Guarantees of legal security ensure that citizens are able to make use of their rights and know when does an authority violates their juridical rights. It’s important to observe that the Constitutional laws, and as a result, all the individual guarantees found in the document, enable us to understand the country’s history in relation with juridical context.

Source:

• http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288489.003.0007

The Importance of Social Networks

Importance of using social networks as part of Human rights communication and defense

It is no surprise that given recent advancements in electronic applications and relatively new programs which concern social networks, and generally social media as a whole, are known to be of much help in the process of organization and expression of ideas in all types of topics, including Human Rights. Such is the impact of social media in recent times that the world has already seen the effects on people, allowing them to stand up against their current living conditions. As the Council of Europe inside the Commissioner for Human Rights stated:  “The Internet and social media have become increasingly important in political activity. Blogging, video-sharing and tweeting were crucial in the political events in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011.”

A great example of this event can be seen during the protests in Egypt at 2011. As many people expressed concerning social media influence on the movement, social networks allowed them to freely interact and discuss important social and political issues of the time. However, we must not forget the role which this media play. Clay Shirky, important author of many works regarding Internet impact and new technologies, views social media as “coordinating tools for nearly all of the world’s political movements”. This means, however, social networks are just that, tools which prove incredibly useful for the initial social change phase, but they should not replace the communication and organization of real-world action. This arises the serious need for discipline and coordination of a Human rights movement.

Sources:

• https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1904319
• http://www.hrlc.org.au/files/Social-Media-and-Human-Rights-Article-Summaries.pdf
• http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/InternetFreedom.aspx
• http://www.ohchr.org/en/newsevents/pages/socialmediainegypt.aspx
• https://www.newtactics.org/conversation/incorporating-social-media-your-human-rights-campaigning