It’s disappointing that this world has the belief that we should all have equal and human rights, yet from the day a person is born, their rights and future are basically determined for them. Based on where you are born, you have certain liberties or no liberties to escape and start a new life. Those who would need to have limited access to other nations where they can start a new life for themselves, but why? Why is it that many of these nations are willing to accept any U.S. citizen but not a citizen of a country in Africa? Why are some humans deemed able to access certain land depending on where they were born? If my parents had not left Syria when they did, I may not have been born in the United States. I would have been born in Syria and my access to other nations would dramatically decrease. However, I’m still the same person. However, it seems that where you are born determines the value of your life, not who you are or the fact that you are a human being. Where you are born also seems to determine what human rights you are given, if any, by your own nation or others. Many people who seek and require a life in another nation are prevented from doing so because of where they were born. In this way, your rights are determined by your birth: “A person’s right to move beyond the borders of their own country has long been constrained by the happenstance of their birth,” as Dr. Alexander states in her article “The freedom to move isn’t a basic human right. It depends on where you’re born” which in the title itself perfectly describes this statement. Nations have even gone to the extreme to push their borders back or expand them to attempt greater matters in not allowing these people to enter their land or even their waters.

How can we say that all humans are born with human rights yet we cannot hold nations or forces accountable to withhold those rights nor can we enforce their implementations? Many years after the debate about the ethics regarding Guantanamo Bay, there still exist islands in Australia that torture and punish other human beings. What makes it more appalling is that today it is not suspected terrorists or extremely dangerous criminals that are being tortured in these islands, but women, men, and children who are seeking refuge and asylum from this very nation that is detaining them and violating their human rights. Their crime is seeking survival, safety, and security. Not only do these actions lack any morals or sense, but are even rejected by the nation’s own society. How, then, do we go about stopping these human rights violations when they continue without even the consent of the people?