The global economy is governed by institutions that are run by organising principles. These principles are more often than not, found to serve the elite few in society at the cost of the environment and the rest of the population. Social movements rise up and sometimes become explosive due to this fact (Stephen, p.313). It is our role as humans to maintain a healthy balance in society and provide equal opportunities to all. The environment should also be taken care of by us, the humans, since only we have the ability and the understanding. The creation of a harmonious, democratic and sustainable society is dependent on specific principles. These are the principles that are in use during a social movement in attempt to reverse trends of neoliberal/economic globalization (Cavanagh and Mander, p.167).
One of these very important principles is food security and food safety for all. Human beings have to eat every day and they should eat healthy at that. Any stable community or nation is comprised of healthy people. For a nation to ensure its stability, it has to ensure there is food security for all its citizens. In the Human Rights movement (Cavanagh and Mander, p.260), food is a basic need for any human and every government should ensure by all means that all its citizens have access to healthy food. There is no form of development that can take place in any country where food safety is an issue (Cavanagh and Mander, p.267).
In order to ensure that there is food security in a country and the world at large, every government should make food security the first priority. Agri-business should be encouraged and supported by all means by the governments. Scarcity of food can bring even the strongest economies to its knees. According to the Human Rights Movement, it is any government's role to ensure that all its citizens have access to food and food distribution is not exploited by business men. Food security for the poor in the community should be ensured at all times because their lack of food may bring the whole country down both economically and socially.
The Human Rights movement also stresses the point of Equity of all people (Cavanagh and Mander, p.261). Economic globalization has had its various advantages but it has not gone without some disadvantages. It has tremendously increased the distance between the rich in society and the poor. This is a fact that can be seen in most countries of the world. In any case setting, the rich will always have an upper hand be it in securing a good education for their children, better food, and food security in general and even better health care (Cavanagh and Mander, p.279).
This difference of classes creates tension build up in the society. This tension is the greatest threat to the peace of any country and the security of the whole world. This gap between the rich and the poor should be reduced. This can only be achieved if the people in power in any country can place checks and balances where the limits of wealth distribution are set in favour of the lower class citizens. Aid can also be made available to these lower class citizens to help them grow economically. This can be achieved by the provision of small loans and business advice and follow up to ensure that the small businesses do not fail.
There is also the gap between the rich states and the poorer states in the world. This is the same problem as in a single country only in a larger scale. The poor nations are more often than not in constant debt. For equality to be achieved, these debts should be looked over and reduced and in the possible cases, cancelled. The current international institutions should be replaced with new ones that will be put to task to ensure that there will be global fairness in their operating principles (Holmberg and Henrik, p. 146).
Another principle highlighted by the Human Rights movement is basic Human rights for all. There are certain core rights that should be available for all humans regardless of race, social status and any other ranking that may be used to differentiate human beings. These rights are stipulated in the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Some of these rights such as health care and food should not be compromised. These basic rights comprise of the right to live, first and foremost. Access to food, clothing, shelter and medical care are very basic. In the recent past, the right to a basic education has risen and is now ranked as a basic right. This is because; educated people have easier access to the other rights. Security in the event of unemployment has also risen to become a basic right. This is due to the high rate of development in most countries. Lack of a job essentially means lack of money to access the other basic needs. The right to employment or a source of livelihood is in itself another principle (Stephen, p. 314).
The right to a legal means of obtaining an income is very essential. Every human being should have a source of livelihood. Any country that prides itself to protecting the rights of its people must provide easy accessible means to obtain a livelihood. Lack of a source of livelihood essentially means lack of the other basic rights such as food and health care. Most of the population is employed formally. The employed citizens should be informed of their rights in the work place. This is to avoid exploitation by the owners of the businesses.
Fair wages should also be available for any employed person. Since the employee gives in his time, he should be able to obtain a livelihood from the job that he does. Another part of the population is not employed but to obtain their livelihood, they run small businesses. These small businesses have a very high risk of collapsing. This is mainly due to lack of adequate capital and also lack of proper running of the business. It is the obligation of the governments to ensure that adequate financing is available for these small businesses (Holmberg and Henrik, p. 155). The principles of democratic and sustainable societies should be adhered to if the world wants to be able to expand the global economy. These principles are all intertwined and once one adheres to one, the others fall into place.