The Human Rights Day is observed on December 10 since 1948 as on this date the United Nations General Council had adopted the historic Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
After 69 years of its existence, this document has been adopted by almost all countries and it has been translated to more than 500 languages of the world, including in Odia by the UN. The 30 principles placed in the declaration are as relevant today as they were in 1948, and still there are many deprived of their human rights in many ways.
The observation of the day makes us to reaffirm our faith and commitment on human rights and remind us of the sustained attempt for the protection and promotion of it.
The historic document of universal values of human rights had emerged after experiences of human rights violation in the World War-II and related events. It is visualized by the world community to build a world that recognizes civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of each and every human being irrespective of his/her identity and status, as it declared that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and must have equal protection under rule of law.
The world continues with the threat of war, climate change and most importantly, increasing gap between the rich and the poor. The influential military powers and resource rich nations have been dominating over the less powerful and posing a threat to democracy and sovereignty of nations. The conflict over control of natural resources and markets makes the universe more vulnerable in the hands of imperialist forces. The defence budget of each nation is increasing whereas the spending over health, education, poverty eradication and environmental concern is getting less attention. Against all these odds, there has been always a ray of hope by the people all over the world who are dreaming of a world without borders putting human being in the centre.
In case of India, the major principles of UDHR have got a place in its Constitution. The line ‘respect for dignity of human being and brotherhood’ gets a mention in the Preamble of the Constitution.
The last 70 years of experience of implementation of UDHR and constitutional governance in India is not so much encouraging so far as the human rights situation is concerned. In spite of constitutional mandate, protective laws and dedicated institutions, there are prevalence of serious issues of human rights violation and there have been issues of non-implementation of laws by the State and not adhering to the international standards and procedures in ensuring the rights of its people. It is expected that the laws must be translated into action; otherwise they are just good to listen but without any utility in the life of people.
The enforcement of law is the responsibilities of the Government and its institutions which have to address and intervene on issues of human rights violation. It has been largely felt that the human rights institutions in India are largely inadequate in delivering justice to the poor and marginalized and these institutions are also crippled with inadequate human and financial resources to act effectively and timely to respond to the huge expectation of the people suffering with human rights abuses. But realization of human rights is not just limited to a matter of protection by human rights institutions. The human rights activists are facing violence and not getting adequate protection from the State. The social environment and economic and political conditions are equally important for the realization of human rights. Human rights are realized in an environment of freedom and dignity to develop his/her personality and live without fear, threat and restrictions over liberty. But our social, cultural, civil, political and economic conditions are not changing to the desired extent to make an inclusive democratic environment that allows everyone to grow and live a life of equals.
Discrimination based on class, caste and gender continues unabated and that contributes more to the violation of the human rights. The Dalits, Adivasies, ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, women and children, elderly people, PWD, lGBT, displaced families and migrant workers and the homeless and the land less poor are subjected to various forms of human rights abuses that remain unaddressed. India is signatory to all international human rights laws and also a party to the historic UDHR document of UN among other 48 countries who voted it in 1948.
Many of the recent reports show that there has been increase in deprivation, hunger, malnutrition and inhuman atrocities against the marginalised sections of people. Though untouchability practice has been banned since 1950 but still it is very much prevalent in rural villages and continues in practice with active patronization of socially dominant caste. This is one of the biggest human rights abuse in South Asia affecting about 26 crore people with majority from India and there is no specific international law to address the human rights violation. The children of the poor and socially excluded groups live a life of social segregation and economic deprivation and suffer with inferiority and dominance by fellow friends in public institutions like school etc in the village. The family, school and all public institutions where the child starts his/her first lessons must have provision to compulsorily learn the UDHR. It will have an impact on the mindset of the child and enhance his/her world view towards life and fellow human being. Human rights education status in India has not progressed much which should be given priority in all schools and other public institutions to build a human rights friendly conducive social environment.
The sources of domination lies with inequality in ownership and access to public resources for life and livelihood, restricted participation in governance and decision making process, discriminatory religious, socio-cultural discourses and orientations on human relationship. Persistent inequality in many forms is the most dominant danger to human rights and it affects the people in lower ladder of the socio-economic structure. So as a first step towards realization of human rights, the State must take steps for democratization of the intellectual and material resources such as education, air, water, land, energy and minerals for the fullest benefits of its people. Along with scope of equal opportunities in education and employment, all kinds of discriminatory practices, derogatory to the dignity of human beings, must be banned by laws, and to be rejected with promotion of information and awareness among people. Equal participation without fear and discrimination in all spheres of public life is most important to build an inclusive democratic society under rule of law that ensures human rights.
(manasbbsr15@gmail.com)