The absence of the Rule of Law

Remember awhile ago, I had a blog post about the Rule of Law? Well, I have been busy researching for my Human Rights essay assessment. I chose Singapore as the country of comparison with Australia. No doubt, the research was very tedious but it was very rewarding. Coincidentally, when I was catching up with world news on google news, I found an interesting article that got me thinking about Human rights and rule of law in particular. I'll share that with you later.

Back to the research of my human rights essay. Human rights is defined as rights given to people because they are human beings. It is irregardless of race, gender, age, citizenship, sexuality, etc. Singapore is a relative young nation that gained her independence in 1965. The Singapore constitution has a list of rights listed in it. The entrenched rights are found in Part IV of the constitution titled "List of Fundamental Liberties". Article 9 - Liberties of a person (includes right to life and right to fair trial) and Article 12 - Equal Protection (Rule of law and freedom of discrimination). Technically, the RULE OF LAW is an important aspect of society. To the person who responded saying that laws need to change and the rule of law is irrelevant and inapplicable to the scandal I previously blogged about, please rethink your argument for it. If your argument was valid, the Rule of law wouldn't even be in our constitution that acts as the "rule book" for governing our country.

In my essay, I had to compare between countries in their efforts in upholding human rights, which does it better. But in practical, it is not so simple to rank them. It is not black and white. It really depends on how the country prioritizes their rights. In Singapore, great emphasis is placed on the rights of the child as they signed the UN covenant of Rights of the child on 5 Oct 1995. In singapore, kidnapping is punishable by death. This is the case to protect the children from the potential harm and trauma they would face if they were kidnapped. It can be argued that a death penalty challenges human rights BUT, Singapore has it in place for the wider society. Firstly, it acts as a deterrence so that people would think twice before committing the kidnap. Secondly, it acts as a safeguard to the potential victims "right to life". A child who has been kidnapped, their quality of life would definitely be affected due to the trauma they experienced.

Anyway, I was on Google news when I came across this article. Kim Jong-Un's ex lover 'executed by firing squad'. It is an insightful article that provides substantiation into North Korea's governance namely Dictatorship. It is evident that communist countries do not take humans rights into account when governing a country. They just do what is beneficial for themselves. I'll try to summarise the article. But to me, it appears that Kim Jong-Un did that on the basis of his wife. Well, you see, his wife, Ri Sol-Ju was apparently in the same orchestra as his ex-lover. She must have felt threaten by her when her husband continued to come in contact with his ex even though they were both married. You know, the typical drama type of scene. In my imagination.... Where the wife acts as the instigator, questions husband's love for her and adds the "if you love me you would...."

I don't know how long the dictatorship in North Korea would last. But I do sympathize with the people there. I do pray that God would hear the cries of His people within North Korea and provide them with His comforting love & presence.

God's love & blessings~

Xoxo

Marissa