D R Bhagat
Human Rights are fundamental and basic rights which are possessed by all human beings irrespective of sex, caste, race or nationality simply because of their birth as human beings. These rights are not created by any legislation and hence they are not liable to be taken away by any legislation or any act of the Government. They can’t be even amended by any legislation or any legal process. These rights are generally set out in the constitution of a country. They are interdependent, interrelated and indivisible. The basis for these rights is that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. The concept of these human rights is more than 25 centuries old but the oldest written document on human rights is Magna Carta of 1215 A.D. issued in England. The Petition of Rights Charter was passed in Europe in 1928.The US constitution of 1776 also recognized the importance of human rights. The urgent need of human rights protection was felt in the decades of 30’s and 40’s of the previous century when there were large scale persecutions and executions of Jews and other minorities in the Nazi Germany. A large number of human rights violations took place in the Second World War where millions of people were killed or executed for war crimes. The need for an international organization was felt which could take care of these grave violations along with settlement of other international issues. As a result the United Nations

International Human Rights Day

Organization was formed in 1945. The UNO gave the priority to human rights aspect and these rights were given a significant place in the UN charter. The preamble of the charter reaffirms faith in fundamental human rights and in equal rights to men and women.
Giving the importance to human rights protection, some UN bodies were formed exclusively to promote and monitor the progress in the field. The UN commission for human rights was established in 1946. The commission was given the responsibility of preparing recommendations and reports on International Bill on Human Rights, International declaration on civil liberties, the status of women, the protection of minorities and the prevention of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, language and religion. This commission was replaced by the Human Rights Council in 2006. The sub- commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of minorities was established in 1947. Another Commission on the Status of Women was established in 1946. It has done a work for promoting the rights of women in political, economic, civil and educational fields and also in achieving the goal of women having rights equal to those of men. The UN High Commissioner for human rights was established in 1993 with head quarters at Geneva. The High Commissioner will promote and protect civil, cultural, economic and political rights for all and shall also prevent the violations throughout the world. There were also some international conventions on human rights of different segments of international society. These conventions were held on Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination, Convention on Rights of Children, Convention on All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Convention on the Protection of Rights of All Migrant Workers and Convention relating to Humanitarian Laws on War etc.
The most important document which gave the reason for celebration of Human Rights Day is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is also known as the Modern Magna Carta. It was passed by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948. There are total 30 Articles in this declaration which describe the human rights and the fundamental freedoms in detail. The human rights have been classified in three categories i.e the General Rights, Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Under General Rights the Articles 1and2 state that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” and “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms without distinction of race, color, sex, language and religion.”Civil and Political Rights include Right to Liberty, Prohibition of Torture and Inhuman Treatment, Right to own Property, Right to Freedom of Thought and Religion, Right to Freedom of Opinion and Right to Nationality. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights include Right to Social Security, Right to Education, Right to Work and Employment. The concluding article also highlights the duties and responsibilities which the individual is required to be performed. Now almost all the nations have accepted and adopted it as a standard document on Human Rights and have agreed that all these rights are required to be respected and protected.
But despite all these efforts and checks by the United Nations, grave human rights violations are still taking place in different parts of the world. Religious fundamentalism is a big threat to human rights protection. Iraq and Syria are the big sufferers of religious fundamentalism. ISIS, a religious fundamental and terror outfit has mercilessly massacred a large number of innocent people. The number of massacred people is estimated from 4 to 5 lac. More than 7 million people have been displaced and 5 million people have become refugees. In conflict in Afghanistan with the Al-Qaeda and Taliban more than one lac people have lost their lives. In India, there were grave violations of human rights on the caste basis before constitution of Independent India came into force. A down trodden section of the society was deprived of basic human rights. They were deprived of their right to education, right to religion, right to use public utilities and right to have property etc. The women were also not treated as equal in rights to those of men. The makers of the constitution were having concern on this human aspect and they removed all these disabilities through the constitution and gave equal rights irrespective of caste, creed or sex. But still there are some odd incidents in our country where these sections are discriminated on the basis of caste or sex. Justice AS Anand, former chairperson of National Human Rights Commission once said “It is the obligation of the State to ensure every one the right to adequate food, education and enjoyment of highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These rights have to be respected and made available to the citizens by the state”. It is a known fact that about 20 crore people in India sleep empty stomach at night. According to JS Verma, another former Chairperson of NHRC, “It is often the state which is violator of Human Rights in maximum cases in the country. But the maximum responsibility to protect and safeguard the rights of the citizens also lies with the state”. The cases of torture of accused persons in police custody often comes into light. There are recent cases of lynching of innocent people including those of two Sadhus in some parts of the country and the Government failed to perform its duty to save these lives.
Children under the age of 14 are forced to work in factories and are deprived of their Right to Education. India has dubious distinction of having largest number of child workers in the world. Many laborers died on way due to fatigue and hunger on way after traveling hundreds of miles on foot during the outbreak of Corona and the government failed to provide adequate food and other facilities to them. The Human Rights of the women are violated frequently. Sexual abuse of female children, dowry deaths and rape cases are generally reported in news. The pitiable condition of the widows living in Vrindaban and Varanasi shelter homes is an example of violation of human rights of the women. Not much has been changed even after the Supreme Court instructions in 2012.
There are many NGO’s who are working in the field of Human Rights. India has the distinction of having largest number of human rights NGO’s in the world which are assisting the government in protecting these fundamental rights. However, the real progress can be achieved through general awakening which makes everyone understand the eternal values of life and dignity of an individual irrespective of caste, creed or sex. Respecting and protection of Human Rights is must for peaceful survival of humanity.
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