Story of Tamils Asylums - Essay Example

Name: Professor: Course: Date of Submission: Reflective Review Story of Tamils Asylums The story of Tamils covered in the Guardian newspaper clearly illustrates the experiences of many people that seek asylum in United Kingdom. The ways in which cases of asylum seekers are treated in different countries including the United Kingdom continue to draw increased human rights concerns. Despite the increase in the number of asylum seekers in UK, it downed on me that the process of granting, declining, and deporting such people raises various questions on existing government policies. For instance, the government is obligated to provide protection to all people within their jurisdiction as provided for in the European Convention on Human Rights (UCHR). The laws apply non-selectively on both granted and refused asylum seekers, hence the need for the involved countries to ensure all the people get adequate protection while there and during the deportation process. The article was explicit to portray the status quo in that all asylum seekers are vulnerable to different forms of injustices from their countries of origin as well as in the countries where they seek asylum, hence the increased need for support and protection from the concerned governments. The Story of Hari, a Tamil migrant who had sought refuge but forcibly deported from UK that was covered in the guardian newspaper clearly reflects the suffering that asylum seekers go through after deportation (Malik 2012). The article entails narrations of different Tamil asylum seekers who have been denied the right to seek asylum in UK, and the suffering they have had to go through because of the UK government’s failure to respond to their humanly quests for protection from torture by their country of origin. The understanding of the ordeal that refused asylums have to face in their countries of origin is enhanced in the news piece through featuring of photographs of one of the victims of torture by the Sri Lanka government in the article (Malik 2012). The article is effective in communicating the brutality refused asylum seekers go through after the governments obliged to protect them deny them their right for unclear reasons. From a personal point of view, the UK government ought to investigate the situation in the country of origin before deporting or refusing asylum seekers the right to protection. This article is instrumental in unveiling protracted failures on the side of the UK Government to comply with rights of asylum seekers as provided in ECHR. The article enhances my understanding on the issue of asylum seeking, and the obligation the countries have to ensure protection of both the granted and refused asylum. The move by the court to stop further deportation of asylum seekers to Sri Lanka by the UK Government serves to support the obligation of the government to protect all the asylum seekers regardless of whether they have genuine claims or not (Malik 2012). Through this story, I discovered that the UK government has wanting weaknesses in handling asylum seekers’ cases especially with the establishment of a policy stating that people of Tamil decency that seek international human right granted refuge in other countries that must be protected. It is agreeable that the policy contradicts the requirements of the multilateral ECHR hence the need for the state to review the law and appertaining regulations on handling claims presented by asylum seekers. This article has been effective in enhancing my understanding on the issue asylum seekers through illustration of evidence based cases on the ordeal that asylum seekers face due to poor policies in some countries like UK. The article was very useful in providing practical lessons on the topic of international relations since the issue of asylum seekers forms an important part of the topic. Guardian Article on the Nato Peace Talks This article was instrumental in enhancing my understanding of the different views held by people on various international relations matters including the role of Nato, protection of human rights, economic and social issues. The clear communicative approach elicits various actions undertaken by the European nations or the developed countries in the development of security and stability. I realized that the primary focus in this article is criticism of various issues perceived as important in the global arena. Indeed, the superpowers including United States have concentrated on promoting peace and respect for human rights while their own people continue to perish from criminal gang attacks and other forms of insecurity. The article ridicules the commitment of Nato in ensuring that people in other countries live peacefully and their basic human rights are not violated whereas cities like Chicago and New York continue to record heightened violation of human rights everyday including brutal killings and general lack of peace. People continue to suffer and perish both in the hands of gangsters and state authorities, specifically the police force (Younge 2012). I personally find it disturbing to read that innocent lives including children continue to die from insecurity issues within countries such as U.S. and UK that have been in the forefront in providing security in other countries faced with political unrest. The greatest irony depicted in this article is that of Nato holding meeting to discuss international security while the internal security of member states continue to put the lives of people at a great risk. According to Younge (2012), the murder rate in cities such as Chicago remain significantly highly attributed to high number criminal groups as well as murders committed by the police force. It is indeed saddening for the same police force given the responsibility to protect the city dwellers from the gangsters to turn and become contributors of the murder rate in such cities. Like in developing countries where lack of peace is compounded by poverty and intolerance, the insecurity within developed states like U.S. is exasperated by racial discrimination and poverty. The press release created in me an impression of the activities of Nato as aimed at protecting the states’ interests at the international arena. The security status and inequalities observed in Chicago serve to support the notion that the concept of developing world applies even within the developed countries. Some of the experiences attributed to inequality in the developed countries compared to those in developing countries include high mortality rates, health status, and poverty in some groups. According to Younge (2012), mortality rates among blacks in the West Bank are as high as in other developing countries, and a great number of black people are unemployed. This article is important in understanding some of the issues that the developed countries need to address within their borders, especially inequality. Although the article entails some claims that may require verification, it provides a good platform for understanding some of the issues that may be overlooked in study of international relations. The information in the article is presented in a manner that every individual can read and form informed opinions about the involvement of developed countries like United States in issues affecting other nations. This article is important because it points out at some of the issues that many at times go unaddressed by most scholars, authors of books and international political, social and economic analysts. The Corporation as a “Legal Person” The Corporation as a ‘Legal person’ film explains the different ways in which entities are treated as individuals before the law. The content of the film indicates numerous corporations that have been given the powers and traits of an individual including the right to be recognized as an individual before the law. It is this recognition of corporations as a natural persons that has seen them continue to amass wealth through exploitation of people with limited returns to the society (Achbar, Abbort & Bakan n.d). Indeed, it is interesting to discover how the concept of corporation came to existence as suggested by the actors in the film. Before emergence of the corporate social responsibility in the business world, the corporation as a legal person had amassed wealth with negative effects on the natural people it transacts with as well as third parties. Such negative attributes include pollution, exploitation, deaths, injuries and causing of illnesses without being held accountable. I find this article crucial in understanding how multinational corporations have succeeded in their venture through the legal immunity they enjoy due to their recognition as ‘legal persons’ The corporation is depicted as an entity that exists only to create wealth, and can as well as take advantage of natural disasters to increase their profitability. Despite the crucial role played by corporations, they emerge quite inhumane when they only focus on profitability at the expense of the human society. It is clear that the corporation as a legal person has turned to exploit people even through essential resources such as water that ought to be enjoyed freely by every individual at no cost. Since the government recognizes corporations as persons, it has failed to control the extent at which they exploit the contemporary society (Achbar, Abbort & Bakan n.d). The film basically shed light on some of the unfairness propagated by some individuals covered at the corporation as a ‘Legal person’. This makes it somehow difficult to hold them accountable for their negative actions against the society. The film is crucial in enhancing understanding of the corporate world and the manner in which legal structures serve to protect the interests of minority elite groups while disregarding the wants of the masses. In comparison, ideas in the newspaper articles are easily deducible and understandable compared to the film. The three sources of information are however important in understanding topics covered in the course work as well as contemporary issues in the society. References Achbar, M, Abbort, J & Bakan, J n.d. The Corporation [3/23] a legal “person”. Accessed June 9, 2012 Malik, S 2012, ‘Tamils deported to Sri Lanka from Britain being tortured, victim claims’, The Guardian, Accessed June 9, 2012 < http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/05/tamils-deported-sri-lanka-torture> Younge, G2012, Nato talks peaces in a city at war, The Guardian Weekly. Read More