The International Human Rights Day on December 10 is observed since Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly. Today, there are 192 countries as members of the UN. The slogan of this year’s Human Rights Day is ‘Stand up for Human Rights-Dignity, Freedom and Justice for All.'
The UDHR is a most-trusted international document of 30 fundamental indivisible and inalienable human rights which has been translated into more than 500 languages for the member countries to disseminate widely among people for promoting awareness on human rights and for its realization by all human beings irrespective of their various identities based on race, colour, religion, sex, language, political opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
The first article of the document says that we are all born free and equal in dignity and rights. It includes a range of rights, the right to life without slavery, discrimination and torture. It says about equality before law and protection of human rights by law. The document affirms the right to freedom, democracy, freedom of thought and expression, privacy, mobility, nationality, right to marriage and family. The right to food and shelter, education, social security, and responsibility are interrelated for a dignified life. The end part of the document says that no one can take away your human rights.
The International Bill of Human Rights is a human rights law which includes UDHR and International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) produced by the UN Human Rights Commission as international law since 1976. The countries which have ratified ICCPR have agreed to allow the human rights committee to investigate allegations by individuals and organisations of their country that have violated human rights but before that the complainants have to exhaust all legal remedies available in their own country.
During the years after the World War II, the understanding and connotations of human rights have been getting widened in the changing global context by including civil rights, peace, anti-war, terrorism, migration, refugees, racism, violence and discrimination, inequality, environment, climate change and pandemic issues. The issues of poverty and increasing inequality, discrimination and exclusion of communities and democratic insufficiencies have become a global human rights concern and emerged as challenges for human rights. The UN has set up the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to achieve some of the basic human rights such as food, shelter, health and education for all.
In spite of progress in many fronts, today millions of people, mostly children, women, elders, PWDs, ethnic minorities, indigenous people, sexual minorities, lGBTs, race and caste discriminated/affected communities and working class continue to suffer in realization of their human rights to live with dignity. The historical battles for human rights witnessed many stalwarts those who continue to inspire the human rights movement in many fronts and their remarkable struggles have changed the human rights discourses. The ideas and work of Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) of USA who is credited for the UDHR document, MK Gandhi, Dr BR Ambedkar, Martin Luther King Jr (1929-1968), Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) and many others are a continual source of inspiration for struggle against race, caste and gender-based discriminations existing around the world.
There have been powerful peoples’ movements going on in many parts of the world to establish civil rights, dignity and equality in social life. The post independent human rights movement in India witnessed multiple issues of human rights violation against the women, Dalits, Adivasies, indigenous ethic groups and religious and linguist minorities who are deprived of their basic socio-cultural, economic and political rights as citizens of the country. Many of them prone to violence and deprived of justice as undertrials in prisons as reported by the NCRB in its reports. There is a series of human rights laws and dedicated institutions such as NHRC set up in the country for the protection and promotion of human rights and specially to defend the poor and weak from injustice and exploitation. But still these laws have not reached to many of the poorest of the poor and vulnerable groups and individuals suffering with miseries and injustice which need a collective commitment of all human beings in the universe. It is globally understood in the famous saying of Martin Luther King that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
The practice of respect for human rights must be reflected in our day-to-day personal life, in families, schools and work places by making all efforts of spreading human rights education as well as practices to build a society based on social and moral values and principles of liberty, equality, compassion, friendship and fraternity and utmost respect for human dignity. The Constitution of India and international covenants and UDHR paved the way for the foundation for the Human Rights Act 1993 under which human rights commissions are in place to address the issues of human rights violation of people in general and the women, SCs, STs, and minorities in particular. There are human rights bodies at State and national levels such as the National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, National Commission for Women and National Commission for Minorities. There have been provisions of human rights courts and special public prosecutor along with provisions of legal aid for speedy trial of offences arising out of violation of human rights.
There are many civil society groups, private bodies, activists and community voluntary organisations engaged in promotion and protection of human rights of the vulnerable groups who are struggling without adequate support of the Government. They are prone to physical and mental harassment and humiliation by anti-social forces and sometimes by police and paramilitary forces. There has been a discussion about the rights of human rights defenders by the UN and it is being reported that sometimes in conflicting situations, the human rights defenders are facing life threat while discharging their duty and a few of them even have lost their life. The Government must take adequate steps to ensure the safety and security of human rights defenders and promote and encourage defenders to strengthen UDHR activism associated with UDHR rights movement to building a law-abiding peaceful society.
The Odisha Human Rights Commission came into operation in the year 2003. It is reported that cases have been pending for trial and only very few cases have been disposed by the commission. It shows an increasing rate of human rights violation in the State. More worrying is the fact that the rate of disposal of cases is very negligible. It is good that in many cases of public interest, the Odisha Human Rights Commission has intervened on its own and passed many exemplary judgments. There should be human rights courts in each district while adequate public prosecutors from among vulnerable communities of the State must be recruited to improve the justice delivery system with social inclusion. The human rights institutions and State must have adequate allocation of funds and investment on human rights mechanism to promote human rights education and for realisation of rights leaving no one behind.