Right to Participate in Cultural Life-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Right to participate in Cultural life. Answer: According to the Article 27 (1), Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community. This can be better understood using a broader framework, which involves the right to culture and science. Human rights at international level always recognize two other components along with the right to take part in cultural life, which are authorship protection, access to science and technology. The authorship protection states in the article 27 (2) that, Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author. It means any author has right protecting the material and moral interest of any kind (be it scientific, artistic or literary) of the artistic production. Another dimension of the 27 (1) is that Everyone has the right freely.....to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. It means everybody has right to access the advance ment of the science and technology. These three components are interrelated with each other in a sense that everyone is equal rights to engage in the cultural life, access to the scientific advancement and authorship protection. Gender inequality can be seen in the country from the decades. The social norms and local interpretation of Islamic laws in the country is creating a negative impact on the well-being and health of women living in the country. Gender segregation has been a cornerstone in Saudi Arabia where the Saudi women are not allowed to drive. It means that the men and women are considered separated in the public domain in the country (Walker, 2014). It has been beneficial for the women because they are getting the separate public spaces especially for women. It is an opportunity for women where they can participate in the activities conducted by them and for them. Thus, it helps in the reestablishment of their existence in the society. There is no existing law in the country, which states that motor driving by women is illegal. The government of Saudi Arabia does no issue the drivers license to the women living in the country thus not allowing them to drive. This is the reason of protest and gen eration of Women2Drive campaign. Since, it is the human right to actively participate in the cultural life, so driving of motors must be allowed for the women in the country along with other rights such as active participating in every cultural event as per their capability. One could situate the Saudi Arabic culture in the Arab and Islamic setting. The society is commonly strictly religious, traditional, and conservative and family oriented. In the Saudi Arabic culture, many norms and rituals are centuries old as they have been derived from the Arab Civilization, however, a rapid change is taking place quickly as the country is becoming one of the rich commodity producer in the world. The country has its own set of norms regarding the social life, religion, customs, dresses, work and marriage. The country claims that the Quran as its constitution and most of the social norms are based on the Quran. The country has its religious police that roams around the streets and observes that all the rules have been strictly followed. In Saudi Arabic culture, many restrictions are imposed upon the women. The different norms include dress code, education, marriage and even the restriction related to getting the driving licence. Until September 2017, the women in th e Saudi Arabic region have no right to drive motor vehicles. In the country, the women were not allowed to drive motor vehicles. It was forbidden for the women in the country. Many protests and campaign were organized to allow the women to drive in public. However, on 26 September, 2017, an order that allows the women to drive in public in Saudi Arabia was issued by King Salman. New guidelines were created and started to implement in the country. The Arabian countries, women do not have the freedom to express anything and they cannot enjoy their human rights. Empowerment of women is restricted in the country which leads to the inequality and injustice with women due to the backwardness of the country(A E H Mobaraki, 2010). The participation of Arabian Women in the economic and political world is not entertained and it remains the lowest amongst the entire world that can be seen through the mow number of women in parliaments, workforce and cabinets. This low participation of women in the different fields results in unemployment of women in the country due to the strict rules of the Saudi Arabian Government(Shmuluvitz, 2011). Yes, the Saudi Arab must be punished for such kind of strictness on women in their country. These days, protests have been done for the unlawful acts of the country towards the women. One of the major examples of such protest is the Women2drive campaign that encourages the women living in Saudi Arab to post the videos and photos while driving with the foreign drivers licenses because driving without license is also a crime. This protest can help the other Saudi women to get inspired by watching the other Muslim women living in country who are walking along the men and getting their civil and democracy rights. This can encourage the women who are not active politically to get involved in women empowerment(Shmuluvitz, 2011). Another protest towards the right of women in Saudi Arab is turning the Saudi women towards the media to get their empowerment and overcome their barriers. This can be done through the education, which has overcome their social barrier, and they have started fighti ng for their rights. Media act as a tool for their development and progress. The women in the Saudi Arabia cannot be punished for participating in the cultural life. The cultural life includes also driving motor vehicle in public domain. According to the rules of the cultural life, the man and women and every human being has the equal right to engage in cultural life. However, the women in the Saudi Arabia could not enjoy that right. They have struggled a lot for gaining that right. The Women to drive movement was the campaign by the women of the Saudi Arabia, campaigning for gaining the right for driving motor vehicles on the public roads of the country. The campaign was first started in 1990 when dozens of women were arrested for driving in the public. The movement could be seen from the point of view of the human rights. Every woman just like the men has the right to celebrate the cultural life. The women in the Saudi Arabia should be allowed to drive the motor vehicle in the public road. Other movement towards the progress of women empowerment in Saudi Arabia can be observed in a program named as Every woman that unfolds the stories and achievements of women coming from various educational and racial backgrounds. These women wanted to spread their stories with the viewers round the world. The show covered the different subjects such as society, sex, religion, arts and education from the perspective of women. The Association of International Broadcasting had given a prestigious award for broadcasting this show(Rahbani, 2010). There are several other examples which displayed the courage by several brave women journalists in the country. Some of them had to face assassination, danger or even death in response to their courage. A brave Iraqi journalist named as Atwar Bahjat was assassinated while she was busy in covering the bombing incident on a religious shrine during February 2006. Another example is of LayalNajib who was a Lebanese photographer having 23 years of age. She was killed in July 2006 during an Israeli missile that got struck next to her taxi while she was roaming in South Lebanon at the time of Israeli war against Lebanon. Al Arabiya TV reporter, NajwaQasim had bravely reported the Allied invasion of Iraq in the year 2003 where she was wounded. During October 2004, she was attacked by a car bomb while she was at her office in Al- Arabiya Baghdad. During September 2005, LBCs May Chidiac, was lucky to survive while the attempt of failed assassination using a car bomb. She lost her arm and leg i n the attack (Rahbani, 2010). After the identification of all the unlawful acts and the several protests along with the attempts of various women to stand against this discrimination, which prevent the Saudi Arabian women not to enjoy their human rights to participate in the cultural life of the society, it has been concluded that the Saudi Arabia should be punished for such kind of practice. References: A E H Mobaraki, B. S. (2010). Gender inequity in Saudi Arabia and its role in public health. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal , 113-118. Rahbani, L. N. (2010). Women in Arab media: present but not heard . Stanford University- California . Shmuluvitz, S. (2011). The Saudi Women2Drive Campaign:Just Another Protest in the Arab Spring? Telaviv Notes . Walker, L. (2014). The Right to Health and Access to Health Care in Saudi Arabia with a Particular Focus on the Women and Migrants. The Right to Health , 165-192