My education has changed the way I think about human rights by taking me out of theoretical reality and into a real world which has structural exploitation. The elements were placed in informative courses that exposed international legal orders and the Intersectionality theory of the concept, which equipped me with analytical frameworks that aid me in studying the overlapping marginalization of race, gender, class and immigration status.
“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” – Steve Biko
My personal research project on temporary migrant workers and the hospitality industry in Canada emerged as the significant experience. In a discussion concerning the operation of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Canada as a legalized form of inequality, I found out that migrant workers, especially women in the Global South, are imported as regulated labor whose bodies are oriented as a commodity that is controlled and monitored but not provided with any protection. The application of embodiment theory by Judith Butler allowed me to better understand that their physical gestures, emotional posturing, and family constructs are all controlled based on immigration laws, which makes their bodies the means of political suppression. By contrasting the system used in Canada and that of agency labor in Great Britain and the Kafala system in Qatar, I realized that all these countries practice the same aspects of racial control and disposability. This comparative analysis has helped me to understand that human rights abuse is allowed different trends around the world that are independent of national context. The study has made me reevaluate the ideas I held concerning Canadian national identity. The world is supportive of diversity and inheritance, and I believed these refugees to be welcome in the country, but the scenario does not follow the above ideas to a large extent.
The access to such contemporary sources of information as the report of Amnesty International-Canada destroyed me, and testimonies of exploited workers confirmed the need for human rights education to not be detached from the contemporary struggles. Education about resistance in the forms of WhatsApp groups and community centers has indicated to me that advocacy is about documenting the violations as well as promoting voices of resistance.
This learning experience showed me that human rights work involves facing uncomfortable facts about how we at times need other people’s exploitation in our comfort. The unseen pain sustaining the hospitality business in Canada taught me that a good advocate must be critical of his/her own society and/or institutions and not always disparaging of other countries and their policies. My coursework not only enhanced my skill in thinking about complex systems but also allowed me to focus on the person and their dignity and agency at the same time, and this, in turn, will contribute to my future human rights work since I will be able to apply a rigorous analytic approach with sincere care about justice. This is my report that I am looking forward to sharing with all.
Stacey, K. (2023). Most of the world’s countries receive failing grade in global ‘human rights report card’. [online] The University of Rhode Island. Available at: https://www.uri.edu/news/2023/12/most-of-the-worlds-countries-receive-failing-grade-in-global-human-rights-report-card/.