History Of Human Rights In Australia

Human rights have existed for thousands of years. Ever since there were people, there were some form of human rights observed by the masses. Although human rights can vary based on tradition and culture and may be constantly changing according to the norm in society, there is now a universal understanding of what human rights are and how they should be observed. One of the many topics relating to human rights that has been of great controversy throughout all of history is capital punishment, or the death penalty. While it was used by all nations in the past and was once a norm in society, civilizations have grown to disagree with the taking of another person's life under any circumstance. Australia, as well as many other democratic countries,
One of the most famous cases of the death penalty was the hanging of Australian citizen Van Tuong Nguyen, which caused much international dispute, particularly throughout Australia and South East Asia. Suffering from serious debts and money problems, Van Tuong Nguyen was willing to do anything for money. A friend of his told him that he knew somebody who could give him work to do for a quick paycheck, but there was a catch. He was to transport nearly 400 grams of heroin from Cambodia back to Melbourne via Singapore. Van accepted and decided that it was worth it, as he was desperate for money and didn't have much other choice. Everything was going well, but on boarding his flight back to Melbourne at the Singapore Changi Airport, he triggered a metal detector and his body, which had the almost-400 grams of heroin strapped to it, was searched. He was convicted
An Australian citizen being hanged in another country was enough cause for international dispute. Many people of the Australian public believed that the Australian Government and criticized them since they had the power to have done a lot more to change the outcome of the situation. International Justice was also unable to prevent the hanging from taking place. Abdullah Tarmugi, speaker of the Parliament of Singapore, wrote: "He was caught in possession of almost 400 grams of pure heroin, enough for more than 26,000 doses of heroin for drug addicts.... He knew what he was doing and the consequences of his actions. As representatives of the people, we have an obligation to protect the lives of those who could be ruined by the drugs he was carrying." Singaporean laws were not broken and there was not much that anybody could have done to break them and save Van from his execution. John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia at the time, stated "I don't believe in capital punishment, he was a convicted drug trafficker and that is to be wholly condemned ... don't have anything to do with drugs. Don't use them, don't touch them, don't carry them, don't traffic in them and don't imagine for a moment—for a moment—that you can risk carrying drugs anywhere in Asia without suffering the most severe consequences.", showing that although Australia was against the death penalty, Singaporean laws were their own laws and had to be carried