blog entry human rights day

Every year on the 21^st of March in South Africa we celebrate Human rights day, now any average person knows what their rights are, but are we actually aware what these rights entail and that they go hand in hand with responsibilities as well. So today I’m going to discuss two rights that are important to me and discuss how one can exercise their rights without infringing other people’s right. The first right is the right to Freedom of expression which basically means, everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes— freedom of the press and other media; freedom to receive or impart information or ideas; freedom of artistic creativity; and academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.  The right in subsection does not extend to— propaganda for war; or advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and that constitutes incitement to cause harm( chapter 2, bill of rights). The reason why I chose to talk about this right is because it is the right that many people abuse, what many people do not realize is that freedom of speech is not without conditions and that you cannot use this right to hurt others or say things that maybe harmful to other people or incite violence. As much as it is your right to express yourself it is also your responsibility to ensure that you express yourself in a manner that is respectful towards other people. I let people exercise their right to freedom of expression by acknowledging that we have different opinions as humans and always being respectful of other people’s ideas and cultures because Freedom of expression without respect implies that you think that your opinions and views are better, more important than those of the others.

 The second right I’m going to discuss is the right to privacy 14. Everyone has the right to privacy, which includes the right not to have—  their person or home searched; their property searched; their possessions seized; or the privacy of their communications infringed(chapter 2, bill of rights). As stipulated by the constitution you have the right to privacy which means that people are ought to respect your possessions and space, it is also your responsibility to make sure that you respect other people’s right to privacy, which means going through other people’s stuff and sticking your nose in their personal affairs. I let people exercise their right to privacy, by minding my own business and always being respectful of other people’s possessions and not going through their personal information.