Roles of the United Nations Inside Middle East Prisons, How This Affects Prisoners Health - Essay Sample

Abstract

Victimization of prisoners in the Middle East is a violation of the United Nations principles. When reviewing the way prisoners are treated when they are imprisoned in this region, it is essential to determine the physical and mental anguish that they endure when they are released. It is critical to determine the role taken by the United Nations to ensure that the prisoners' rights are observed. In seeking to determine the extent of victimization, a literature review of sources and a face-to-face interview with one of the prisoners will help to find responses to the statements. Syria and Iraq are some of the nations that are immune to the effects of violating human rights. Victimization undermines the international law of promoting the rule of law and protecting human rights. Many countries in the Middle East are facing the challenge of ensuring that their prisoners are treated humanly without torturing or abusing them. There exist instances in which the detainees become violent towards each other, and this is making it hard to deal with the victimization issue. The primary purpose of prisons is to offer guidance to the prisoners as they are directed on the measures that they can take to reform their behaviors and contribute to public safety. There is a great need for the prison administration to be accountable for the living conditions in the prisons. The torture inflicted occurs in various forms, such as sexual assault, torture, lack of food, and medical care. These have effects on their physical and mental health, and in severe cases, it may lead to death. The United Nations should take tough actions on the governments that violate the rights of prisoners. It has been documented that the cells in the Middle East are used as secret places where governments torture their people to death. The victims are mostly those who oppose their governments. The killings are violating human rights and they should be addressed by the United Nations to end the violence against prisoners.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Introduction

The effectiveness of prisons can get evaluated by examining the level of victimization occurring in them or by assessing the extent to which the prisons contribute to the rehabilitation of prisoners. The Middle East region faces a lot of challenges when it comes to enforcing and monitoring human rights to ensure that they are violated. It is hard for the United Nations and other human rights centers to access the region as there are constant wars and revolutions. In most of the prisons, treating prisoners with respect and ensuring their rights are not violated has become optional (Caravaca-Sanchez, M Falcon-Romero, 2014). Victimization occurs in various forms, such as torturing, sexual harassment, false accusation, abuse, and general sentiments was common after war. Most of the people in the Middle East believe that prisons are used as revenge centres and not as places where people can reform their behaviors.

Victimization is the most distinctive feature observed when a man is arrested, tried, and sentenced. Cases involving lack of healthcare, sexual harassment, and hatred, which are all considered as the faces of systematic abuse are making life difficult for detainees. In many detention centres, prisoners are denied basic things, such as health care, food, and protection from infectious diseases, which should be provided to each detainee. The United Nations and the Council of Europe have set laws to limit the abuse and damage occurring in prisons to ensure equal health is provided to all prisoners. According to The European Court of Human Rights, it is inhuman to offer inadequate health care, degrading treatment, which then violates article three of the European Convention on Human Rights (Elger, 2011).

The primary purpose of prisons is to enable individuals to discover the type of people they are and define the relationship between their personality and criminality. In the Middle East, prisons are places of severe deprivation with cases of overcrowding, little food, and lack of exercise being some of the problems that they have to experience. In this analysis, the paper will seek to address the ineffectiveness of prisons in the Middle East regarding victimization and lack of fundamental human rights. The paper will help to raise ideas or solutions that can reduce the victimization in the prisons.

Background

Nelson Mandela described the terms human rights in his approach to prison management using multiple definitions and described the detention centres as areas where arrested persons are kept awaiting trial or who have been convicted for some malfeasance business (Gibbs, 2019). For example, in the United States of America, the term prison refers to places where the persons in conviction are kept awaiting sentencing or have been sentenced for a short time, and this kind of detention is called correctional institutions (Coyle, 2009). Without undertaking this study, it is hard to determine the actual level of abuse occurring in prisons.

In most cases, such violations of individual rights are neglected because of the low-status prisoners, with limited financial capability, and social status are not viewed as persons of any benefit. Jails are anxious and overcrowded facilities in which all inmates struggle to maintain their rights and self-respect (Fellner, 2006). The term human rights, according to the United Nations, coincides with human life, and there are a lot of freedoms and rights which are inherent in human dignity and cannot be dispensed.

Aim of the Study

The study aims to investigate the impacts of prisoners' victimization in prisons in the Middle East and how their physical and mental health is affected after being released. The research purpose will be achieved by answering the following research questions.

1. What are the forms of victimization utilized in prisons in the Middle East?
2. What are the impact on mental and physical health does the prisoners in Iraq and Syria experience after being released?
3. How role does the United Nations plays towards protecting prisoners' rights in Syrian and Iraq prisons?

Literature Review

Forms of Victimization in Middle East Prisons

The Middle East prisons have been in the spotlight for the victimization of prisoners. Tens of thousands of prisoners in detention camps have been tortured beyond levels they can endure (Basoglu et al., 2001, p. 102). Research indicates that the prisons in the Middle East are becoming increasingly diverse and violent, and the issue has created widespread implications within detention centers. Although the problem of violence is not new in prisons, the focus has shifted to investigating the effect of prison victimization.

There have been several studies on the various ways in which victimization occurs and how it can get intervened. It has been noted that around 22% of prisoners were forced into some form of sexual harassment in the Middle East Prisons. Some of these acts occurring in prisons are rape, and the problem is leaving many people traumatized and have low self-esteem. Research indicates that about 16% of detainees have been injured while incarcerated (Shalabi, 2017, p. 203). There are more than 5,000 deaths in prisons, with 5% of them classified as homicide (Shalabi, 2017, p. 204). There are also other forms of victimization, such as verbal or emotional assault, that are prevalent but hard to measure.

In most Middle East prisons, detainees get subjected to months of psychological and physical torture. The victimization is so intense that prisoners find it hard to survive, leading to cases of suicide. It is absurd that most of the inmates are accused falsely of participating in wars occurring within the region. Prisoners are tortured using electric shock on sensitive parts of the body, tortured using brutal methods, such as getting suspended from the ceiling (Ajunwa, 2014, p. 128). The environment is one of depriving nature, and it influences how well prisoners adapt to prison life.

Sexual harassment in prisons is difficult to assess because of the fear of appraisal by the perpetrator and the stigma associated with rape. Sexual victimization occurs among 1% to 40% of the inmates (Karayel et al., 2019, p. 75). However, the numbers vary with the method of the survey, including phrasing of the questions and the sample. Sexual victimization has adverse effects on the emotional welfare of the victims. Most of them feel nervousness, social apprehension, depression, and recurrence, which may lead to suicidal thoughts (Iganski & Levin, 2015, p. 169).

According to the United Nations, torture is defined as the suffering or severe pain, mental or physical that is intentionally inflicted with a specific purpose, such as to punish or obtain a confession (Nowak, 2014, p. 148). Torture also includes less but substantial actions like inhumane degrading or cruel treatment which is capable of causing suffering and pain, although not done for a specific purpose. International laws prohibit torture, and there are no circumstances that support it. However, human rights reports indicate that torture is highly practised in Middle East prisons. It is sickening to note that detainees have to endure extended periods of getting bloody beatings, being hanged from the ceiling, use of electric shocks and prisoners getting hanged on the prison fences naked. Detainees are also forced to do inhuman things, such as acting as donkeys, dogs, and cats while being beaten whenever they failed to bray or bark correctly. Such torture has led to the death of thousands of prisoners, and this is made worse when they are neglected when in pain and getting affected by diseases. Based on the details provided by the Human rights groups in Syria, more than 14,000 people die in Syrian prisons due to torture (Shalabi, 2017). They term the deaths as having been caused by dire conditions in the jails that were labelled as extermination by the United Nations.

The lack of medical care in Middle East prisons, together with the inability to get adequate food, has forced inmates to live with various medical conditions that eventually lead to death. Human rights activists in the region indicate that the prison conditions have remained as a problem of significant dimension (Zentella, 2013, p. 291). Human right-center for the assistance of prisoners has continuously indicated that medical care for prisoners is grossly inadequate, especially for those with serious diseases, and the negligence of medical practitioners in prisons requires urgent remedy (Zentella, 2013, p.291). For example, at Saydnaya Military Prison in Syria, the doctor visits the facility once a mon...