Human Rights and Social Issues: Definitions and Context

Death Penalty

Attempt on the life of a convicted person by the state as punishment for an offense specified in the legislation.

Article 15 (above): In Spain, the death penalty is abolished, except as may be provided by military criminal law during wartime.

Abortion

An attempt on the life of the unborn; it is to kill the fetus in the mother’s body.

Article 15 (earlier): All persons have the right to life, and depending on the beliefs of each individual, that may or may not include fetuses.

Arbitrary Detention

Carried out without any legal basis, it leaves a person detained for a long time without being judged.

Prisoner of Conscience

An arrest due to religious or political convictions; conscientiously, any person deprived of liberty.

Forced Disappearance

Deprivation of liberty by state agents who deny the arrest and the place where the person is held.

Abduction

Illegal deprivation of liberty of one or more persons to get a ransom or a political or media counterpart in exchange for their freedom.

Refugees

People who have had to leave their place of origin for political, ethnic, religious, natural disaster, or war-related reasons and have been accepted in another country.

Internally Displaced Persons

They have been forced to flee their homes but have found shelter elsewhere within their own country.

Migrants

They had to leave their country driven by poverty; they are unprotected regarding their fundamental rights.

Article 17

The Spanish state ensures that everyone has the right to liberty and security. Each detention may last no longer than strictly necessary. Anyone arrested must be informed immediately of their rights and the reasons for their arrest. They may not be required to declare, which also guarantees the legal availability of any person illegally arrested.

Child Labor

When minors are working in exchange for minimum wages in unsafe and unhealthy conditions.

Child Soldiers

Children used in armed conflicts.

International Court of Justice

Main judicial organ of the United Nations to try crimes against international law.

Poverty

The situation of people who do not have what it takes to satisfy their basic needs.

Market

If the economy of a country is doing well due to its production capacity, exports, and foreign investment, wealth can benefit the population.

State

Ensures peace, combats corruption, encourages participation, distributes wealth fairly, provides education and health for all, creates infrastructure, and so on.

Affected Population

When it comes to helping a population, it is necessary to consider their attitudes and culture and tailor our support to each of them.

First Wave Feminism

Early feminists focused their struggle on defending the rights of women throughout the nineteenth century; this was called the suffrage movement. The vote for women became a symbol of freedom, ability, and participation in public life, and in turn, all of equality with men.

Liberal Feminism

It believed that the liberation of women passed through the control of reproduction. It claimed that only in this way would women get beyond submission to men and have equal opportunities, so its main complaint was the right to abortion and contraceptive use.

Equality and Identity

Many current feminists argue that the ideal would be less equal footing, renouncing man’s identity if that would be the complementarity between the sexes.