An update on Human Rights Day, UDHR and situation in India
SHARE:
World Human Rights Day - 10th December
- The day: The Human Rights Day is celebrated on 10th December all around the world. The "Freedom in the World 2021" report released earlier in 2021 had downgraded India’s status from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free’. This day assumes significance in that context, as also with reference to India's sterling contribution to the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. The 2021 theme was "EQUALITY – Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights”.
- World Human Rights Day: On this day in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
- The UDHR established a set of common basic values both with regard to the view of human beings and to the relationship between the state and the individual.
- The goal was tp promote equality, peace, justice, freedom and the protection of human dignity. Every individual is entitled to rights irrespective of race, colour, religion, sex, language, or social status.
- Human rights: These are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. These include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Nelson Mandela, who followed Gandhian methods closely, had stated ‘To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity’.
- International Human Rights Conventions and Bodies: There are many, and they remain quite busy too.
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) - The 30 rights and freedoms include civil and political rights, like the right to life, liberty, free speech and privacy and economic, social and cultural rights, like the right to social security, health and education, etc. As said, India took an active part in drafting of the UDHR. The UDHR is not a treaty, so it does not directly create legal obligations for countries. The UDHR, together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols (on the complaints procedure and on the death penalty) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its Optional Protocol, form the so-called International Bill of Human Rights.
- Some more international arrangements: These are the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), among others. India is a party to all these Conventions.
- Human Rights Council: The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights. It is made up of 47 United Nations Member States which are elected by the UN General Assembly. The most innovative feature of the Human Rights Council is the Universal Periodic Review. This unique mechanism involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN member states once every four years. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) serves as the secretariat for the Human Rights Council.
- Amnesty International: An international organisation of volunteers who campaign for human rights. This organisation brings out independent reports on the violation of human rights all over the world.
- Human Rights in India: Since inception, the Indian Constitution incorporated most of the rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration in two parts, the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy. For a heirarchical society that never had a concept of citizen rights duly protected by established law, this was a turning point.
- Fundamental Rights - Articles 12 to 35 of the Constitution. These include the Right to Equality, Right to Freedom, Right Against Exploitation, Right to Freedom of Religion, Cultural & Educational Rights, Saving of Certain Laws and Right to Constitutional Remedies.
- Directive Principles of State Policy - Article 36 to 51 of the Constitution. These include 'right to social security, right to work, to free choice of employment, and protection against unemployment, right to equal pay for equal work, right to existence worthy of human dignity, right to free & compulsory education, equal justice & free legal aid and the principles of policy to be followed by the State.'
- Statutory Provisions - The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 (as amended in 2019) provided for the constitution of a National Human Rights Commission at the Union level, which steers State Human Rights Commission in States and Human Rights Courts for better protection of Human Rights and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
- Summary: The moral arc of the world points clearly towards the direction of more and better-ensured human rights for all. No country can pretend otherwise. It is time for humanity to strike a strong blow in favour of genuine human rights, and eradication of authoritarianism that tramples upon such rights.
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the various legal provisions that exist in India to protect human rights. (2) What role was played by India at the UDHR deliberations? (Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
#UDHR #humanrights
* Content sourced from free internet sources (publications, PIB site, international sites, etc.). Take your own subscriptions. Copyrights acknowledged.
COMMENTS