WHERE IS OUR HUMANITY? An HONEST REFLECTION

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” Dalai Lama

What Is Humanity?

Humanity is not just a word. It is an action. A person showing humanity takes care of others while personally experiencing their difficulties to help when needed and demonstrates equal respect for every living being. We can express love along with respect and kindness when we do not demand any repayment in return. Humanity becomes apparent when we assist people to cross streets through our generous acts of feeding others and by standing for what is ethical.

Core Values of Humanity

• Empathy describes the power to physically feel exactly what another person experiences in their situation.
• The desire to offer assistance to someone who experiences pain is the definition of compassion.
• Everyone should receive dignity as a matter of respect, regardless of their social position.
• Justice ensures all people receive their due rights alongside their opportunities for success.
• A person demonstrates kindness when they perform good deeds without expecting any type of reward.

When societal values are missing from a community, it turns into a heartless and self-centered organization.

Worldwide Humanitarian Efforts: What Has the World Done?

Despite existing problems, the world has successfully established multiple strong initiatives to safeguard people and advance global peace. The essential worldwide initiatives will be discussed through basic definitions below.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

The UN established this document in 1948 to feature thirty rights for all human beings, including life preservation, liberty, education, and protection. The world established this document following WWII, intending to prevent more crimes that threaten humanity. [ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Universal-Declaration-of-Human-Rights ]

Read more: [https://contropulse.com/the-chess-board-of-politics-sacrifices-of-the-pawns-in-pakistan/]

[https://contropulse.com/family-vlogging-a-tool-to-earn-money-or-a-threat-to-privacy/]

[https://contropulse.com/blood-and-romance-is-violence-glamorized-in-media/]

[https://contropulse.com/street-vendors-of-commercial-market-lived-experiences/]

The United Nations (UN)

The United Nations supports peace and human rights alongside 193 member countries, which function together as an international organization. These groups represent the major operational units of this organization.

• UNICEF protects child rights by providing education, together with food services and health resources.
• WHO maintains operations at both global and disease-fighting levels.
• The organization UNHCR provides support to refugees, along with people who need to leave their homes under forced circumstances. [ https://www.unhcr.org/what-we-do ]

Red Cross and Red Crescent

Emergency relief agencies exist as impartial bodies to provide essential supplies, including shelter and medical treatment, during combat situations and natural emergency scenarios. [ https://www.ifrc.org/who-we-are/international-red-cross-and-red-crescent-movement ]

Amnesty International

The organization conducts investigations into countries to defend human rights that are endangered or violated. The organization fights against censorship of free speech through their efforts to defend against torture, plus their work to secure fair treatment for prisoners.

Doctors Without Borders

The health organization transports doctors alongside nurses to treat people trapped in war zones and healthcare-vacant areas. The medical team provides care to victims while preserving life through their healing actions. [ https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/ ]

Peacekeeping Forces

Peacekeepers from the UN work as defensive soldiers who protect civilians by enforcing peace agreements through monitoring and controlling conflicts to forestall escalation.
Around the world, people continue their initiatives to protect others, although many barriers remain in the path of their efforts.

Global Rules That Protect Humanity

Every nation must follow established guidelines when conflict arises to shield people during times of war. International Humanitarian Law represents the set of rules that every nation should respect.

Geneva Conventions

International treaties named the Geneva Conventions function as documents that nations approve to assert the following points:

• Wars must never result in injuries to those who do not directly participate in the conflict
• Any medical facilities and healthcare personnel need full protection from combat areas.
• The rules require decent treatment for prisoners who must not endure any form of mistreatment.
• However, war crimes develop when national or international laws are violated. [ https://www.icrc.org/en/law-and-policy/geneva-conventions-and-their-commentaries ]

International Criminal Court (ICC)

Soldiers and leaders can face trial at this court because of their involvement in genocide and war crimes. The ICC delivers justice to the population of any state that fails to protect its residents.

The Rome Statute

The Rome Statute serves as the foundation for the creation. It lists serious crimes like:

• A group elimination effort defines a case of genocide.
• The definition of war crime includes targeting civilians as well as hospitals and schools during military operations.
• Crimes against humanity – Widespread and repeated violence against innocent people. [ https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2024-05/Rome-Statute-eng.pdf ]

UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

One of the UN bodies examines the treatment standards that extend to its residents. This institution reports all abuse incidents while attempting to make leaders obey both laws and halt violence.
The international codes function as universal safeguards for human protection provided all members observe those agreements. [ https://www.ohchr.org/en/reporting_violations ]

Life in a Broke Humanity Represents our Actual Existence

The world persists with suffering while governments attempt to establish rules and make efforts.

• Wars kill innocent people.
• Women and children are displaced.
• Groups experience the discrimination of racism together with poverty and religious persecution.
• Migration forces individuals to lose their homes and families, coupled with the loss of their hopes.
• The community in selected regions treats both water and food as privileged commodities.

And the worst part? In such instances, the world observes events but remains silent.

We should undertake a study of this ancient dispute using both understanding and real facts.

After the Holocaust Holocaust where Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler killed 6 million Jews, the state of Israel obtained independence to become a Jewish homeland in 1948. The territory called Palestine already contained Palestinian Arab communities that had resided there for generations.

Palestinian people describe the events following Israeli creation as “Nakba,” which means “catastrophe.” The development of Israel forced approximately 750,000 Palestinians to leave their homes and lose their property, which turned them into refugees. The experience brought enduring injuries that Palestinians continue to carry even in current times. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba ]

Multiple conflicts and perpetual disagreements have followed this initial period. Many Palestinians today find residence in Gaza alongside the West Bank regions that maintain strict Israeli military oversight.

· Gaza suffers from an Israeli blockade that restricts its citizens from accessing necessities such as food as well as medicine along electricity, and clean water.

Israel explains its actions by defending its citizens from aggression. The Palestinian people fight to oppose both the occupation and their daily experiences of injustice.

The Palestinian civilians suffer most, with great numbers of their children facing death in today’s scenario.

Clarifying a Dangerous Misconception

People mistakenly state that Muslims were responsible for the Holocaust, despite this fallacy having no basis. This is not true.

• The Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler completed the Holocaust as a fascist racist political entity.
• The matter did not relate to Islamic beliefs, nor Muslim affiliation. History recorded this European incident as an act committed during World War II (1939–1945). [ https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about.html ]

This is Not About Religion – It’s About Humanity

We must remember:
The ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians does not involve an opposition between Jewish and Muslim faiths. The dispute engages multiple elements, including real estate ownership alongside judicial and human rights principles, along with independence.

This perspective is supported by Human Rights Watch, which discusses the complex legal and political factors in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

[ https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution ]

Every human being has the right to live in security. Parents should never experience the heartbreaking task of placing their offspring in a tomb. All Israeli and Palestinian people need to experience both security and tranquillity.

Martin Luther King Jr. expressed these words:

Every injustice that exists anywhere creates peril for justice across the entire world.

Failure to speak up results in danger for people suffering without guilt. Our support should always align with preserving human existence, defending truth, and achieving peaceful conditions.

Historic Movements That Restored Humanity

History gives us hope. From ancient times, people have come forward to protect others no matter what challenges exist.

• Civil Rights Movement (USA): Fought against racism and for the equality of Black Americans. [ https://www.archives.gov/research/still-pictures/civil-rights#:~:text=The%20American%20Civil%20Rights%20movement,Voting%20Rights%20Act%20of%201965. ]
• Through its activism, the Anti-Apartheid Movement of South Africa abolished the system that denied Black people basic human rights. [ https://www.britannica.com/topic/apartheid ]
• Through the women’s rights movement, women pushed to gain equal rights in all aspects of life, including workplace freedom. [ https://interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/timeline/womenunite/en/index.html#/ ]

What Can We Do?

Every individual can assist in improving our world regardless of political or leadership titles.

• State Facts instead of Hatred.
• Support other people in your daily interactions.
• Donate to organizations that support humanitarian projects instead of contributing to political causes.
• Helping others understand correct information is essential.
• People should evaluate others without considering their spiritual beliefs, nationality, or ethnic background.

Choose Humanity Every Day

Our human nature remains secure, though it undergoes intense trials. If we allow suffering to continue without intervention, we show ourselves as deficient members of humanity. Tough situations get better when we support one another in common causes.

We must come forward to support peace instead of using force. Humanity requires us to repeatedly make the right decision.

Being human is given. Our decision decides whether we retain our basic human nature.

References

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Universal-Declaration-of-Human-Rights

https://www.ifrc.org/who-we-are/international-red-cross-and-red-crescent-movement

https://www.unhcr.org/what-we-do

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

https://www.icrc.org/en/law-and-policy/geneva-conventions-and-their-commentaries

https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2024-05/Rome-Statute-eng.pdf

https://www.ohchr.org/en/reporting_violations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba

https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about.html

https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution

https://www.archives.gov/research/still-pictures/civil-rights#:~:text=The%20American%20Civil%20Rights%20movement,Voting%20Rights%20Act%20of%201965.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/apartheid

https://interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/timeline/womenunite/en/index.html#/