Qin Dynasty Human Rights

In society, the role of the government is to provide adequate care to all its people and insure that they are protected socially, politically, economically, and even physically. Regardless of the system of polity in place, the sole purpose of the government is to serve the governed. To protect the rights of people all around the globe, the Declaration of Human Rights (D.H.R.) was created by the United Nations. The document cites three basic rights that all people are entitled to.These include Article 7 which states that every human has the right to “equality before the law,” Article 5 which condemns “torture and [degrading] treatments of people,” and Article 21 which states that everyone has the right to “participate in government and in free …show more content…
The Qin Dynasty was the first ruling power of Ancient China that existed from 221 to 206 BC. It was during this time that the Great Wall of China was constructed. At the time, the Chinese empire was ruled by Qin Shi Huang who governed based on the notion that his power came from above. The emperor was a god like figure who believed he had a divine right to rule. This gave him unlimited power which enabled him to inflict his will however he saw fit. A professor from the University of Hong Kong once stated that “Every time [the emperor] captured people from another country, he castrated them in order to mark them and made them into slaves.” (Walsh) The mandate of heaven comes in conflict with Article 21 of the D.H.R because people had no say in who governed them. Power was passed on from family to family and democracy was virtually inexistent. One of the major issues at the time was the class system. Under the Qin social structure, the Emperor and his advisors were at the top, then came the generals, nobles, and workers, followed by the artists and the peasants. At the bottom of the social ladder were the slaves and servants. If anyone acted in a manner that was disrespectful towards the emperor or his advisors, that person would be immediately executed and his/her family would suffer the consequences. In Qin China, there were no human rights protections and everyone existed to serve the Emperor. Servants and slaves were often tortured, killed and raped. To that extent, if a man who belonged to a high social ladder desired the wife of that of a lower one, he had the right to have her without opposition. In this instance article 5 and 7 have been violated because the slaves and servants were often dehumanized and tortured in the most cruel