D.R. Bhagat
The human rights are the certain inherent rights which are available to all humans irrespective of caste, color, creed, religion, nationality or sex simply because they are born as human beings. These rights are based on the universality of all human beings. These rights are necessary for the peaceful existence of humanity. In broader sense, human rights are the right to liberty, equality and dignity of an individual. They are also termed as natural rights or universal rights. The history of human rights is about 2500 years old when the king Cyrus invaded the city of Babylyon in 539 B.C and made its subjects slaves. Later on, he released all of them recognizing that they are human beings and have the right to freedom. After that there was a gradual progress in the understanding and promotion of human rights. The Petition of Right Charter was introduced in Europe as early as in 1628.
The constitution of United States which came into force in 1776 also contained and recognized the importance of human rights. The Abolition of Slavery Act enacted in 1833 by the British Empire abolished the system of slave trade and slavery. The first ever international conference of human rights was held in Geneva in1864 in which the issue of human rights as universal subject was discussed at length. The United Nations Organization came into existence in 1945 as a result of the World War2, which saw grave human rights violations by the warring nations. The protection and promotion of human rights was its core issue. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was formulated and was adopted by the United Nations Council on 10th December 1948. It was declared as human rights day and its regular celebration started from 1950.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) contains total of 30 articles. They have been classified as Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Right. The Civil and Political Rights include the right to life and liberty, prohibition of slavery and slave trade, Prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, right to equality before law, right to Nationality and right to Freedom of expression. The Economic, Social and Cultural Rights include the Right to Social Security, Right to Work and Right to Education.
These rights have been described under various articles. The article 1 states that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” In Indian constitution, the human rights have been enumerated as Fundamental Rights and as Directive Principles of State Policy. Right to life and security has been enumerated under article 21 of the constitution. Right to freedom of thought and religion has been mentioned under article 25. Similarly Right to Work and Right to Education have been provided under article 41 and 45 respectively. But despite the fact that these rights have been ensured under the constitution itself, we see large scale violations of these rights every day and everywhere.
The abject poverty is the major cause of human rights violations in India. The child labour, bonded labour, illiteracy, child trafficking and women trafficking are some the human rights violations which are the outcome of poverty. The children are sexually exploited. In India more than 50% of children have been sexually abused in one form or the other. As per law, the children below the age of 14 cannot be employed as labourers. Despite this, it is a bitter fact that India has a largest number of child labourers in the world. The rights of women are violated from birth to death. They are finished in wombs, tortured and murdered for dowry and forced into flesh trade. Recently there were some shocking incidents of gang rape of the women in U.P when they were travelling for their destinations on the highway. The torture by police by using physical and mental abuse on the prisoners and persons taken in custody are common. There are reports of death in police custody. Justice J.S Verma, the former chairperson of Human Rights Commission of India once said “It is often the State which is often violator of human rights in maximum number of cases in the country. But the maximum responsibility to respect and safeguard human rights of its citizens also lies with the State”.
Communal violence and religious extremism are the other forms of human rights violations. In India, the communal violence emerged with the emergence of freedom. Tens of thousands of people were murdered in communal violence as a result of migration of people from India to Pakistan and vice versa in 1947. The communal violence in Meerut, Gujrat and Bombay took lives of hundreds of people. In the communal riots of Delhi after the murder of Smt. Indira Gandhi about 3000 persons belonging to one community were murdered. The demon of religious extremism has done a great loss to humanity and human values. Thousands of people were massacred in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. The continued insurgency in Kashmir has so for taken the lives of about 50000 people and also made about 5lac people refugees in their own land. In the recent trouble, 27 schools and a number of Government buildings have been burnt and the death toll crossed one hundred. The West Pak refugees of 1947 are being deprived of their right to Education, right to property and right to Employment.
There are various agencies on national and international level which are responsible for protection and promotion of human rights. In addition to various conventions and covenants held by the United Nations, an office of the U.N High Commissioner was permanently set up in Geneva in 1993 which keeps regular watch on human rights violations and arranges meetings and conventions for promotion of human rights. In India National Human Rights commission was set up in 1993 which has tried to check the wide range of spheres of human rights violations.
The commission has rendered a significant work in the field of civil liberties. Its work in the field of prevention of custodial deaths, torture and rape has been praiseworthy. It has asked the states and union territories to compulsorily video film the post- mortem examination in all cases of custodial deaths and also asked them to sensitize the Jail and Police personnel. The State Human Rights Commissions have also been set up in various states which take care of the promotion and protection of human rights within their jurisdiction. However, the commission has no teeth and it can take no action directly. It can only make recommendations which are not binding on the government or the authority concerned. In our J&K State, the commission remained headless for complete 5 years and now recently Justice Nazki took over as its chairman. This shows the casual approach of the State Government towards this much important issue. There are a number of human rights NGO’s and institutions which are working in the field of human rights. India has a distinction of having the largest number of human rights NGO’s in the world. These NGO’s sensitize the people about human rights and also help the victims in approaching the courts and delivery of the justice. But it is a matter of concern that many of these NGO’s are working for their own interest in the garb of human rights.
The protection of human rights is not the duty of State only. It is also the duty of every civilized person of the society. This can be brought about only through general awakening which makes everyone understand the eternal values of life and dignity of an individual irrespective of caste, creed or sex.
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