Muneeb Rashid Malik
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. […] Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” – Eleanor Roosevelt.
Human Rights Day is observed on 10th December every year. It is the day when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. TheUniversal Declaration of Human Rights is a document that proclaims the rights which everyone is entitled to as a human being. This year’s theme for Human Rights Day was related to the COVID-19 pandemic and it focused on the need to build back better by ensuring human rights are central to recovery efforts. In India, the statute which deals with the protection and promotion of human rights is the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.It is in accordance with the Paris Principles, adopted in Paris in the year 1991, and endorsed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 20th December, 1993. Section 2(1) (d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, defines Human Rights as the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India. According to the United Nations, human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights 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. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.
Justice A.S. Anand, in his address at the inaugural session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, said that universality of human rights demand eradication of global inequalities since human rights are interdependent and interrelated and have a direct relationship with human development and because massive inequalities and social evils flowing from poverty render the enjoyment of human rights rather illusory. The National Human Rights Commission of India was established on 12th October, 1993for the protection and promotion of human rights. The Commission’s primary functions are to inquire, suo motu or on a petition presented to it by a victim or any person on his behalf or on a direction or order of any court into complaint of violation of human rights or abetment or negligence in the prevention of such violation by a public servant; intervene in any proceeding involving any allegation of violation of human rights pending before a court with the approval of such court; visitany jail or other institution under the control of the State Government where persons are detained or lodged for purposes of treatment, reformation or protection, for the study of the living conditions of the inmates and make recommendations to the Government; review the safeguards provided under the Constitution for the protection of human rights and recommend measures for their effective implementation; review the factors, including acts of terrorism that inhibit the enjoyment of human rights and recommend appropriate remedial measures; study treaties and other international instruments on human rights and make recommendations for their effective implementation; undertake and promote research in the field of human rights; spread human rights literacy among various sections of society and promote awareness of the safeguards available for the protection of these rights through publications, the media, seminars and other available means; encourage the efforts of non-governmental organisations and institutions working in the field of human rights.
In Arnab Manoranjan Goswami V. State of Maharashtra, Criminal Appeal No. 742 of 2020 (Decided on 27/11/2020), the Supreme Court held that human liberty is a precious constitutional value which is undoubtedly subject to regulation by validly enacted legislation. The citizen is subject to the edicts of criminal law and procedure.In emphasising that the High Court must exercise powers with a sense of restraint, the decisions of the Supreme Court are founded on the basic principle that the due enforcement of criminal law should not be obstructed by the accused taking recourse to artifices and strategies.
The writ of liberty runs through the fabric of the Constitution. The need to ensure the fair investigation of crime is undoubtedly important in itself because it protects the rights of the victim and the societal interest in ensuring that crime is investigated and dealt with in accordance with law. The misuse of the criminal law is a matter of which the High Court and the lower Courts in this country must be alive. Courts must be alive to the need to safeguard the public interest in ensuring that the due enforcement of criminal law is not obstructed. The fair investigation of crime is an aid to it. Equally it is the duty of courts across the spectrum, the district judiciary, the High Courts and the Supreme Court to ensure that the criminal law does not become a weapon for the selective harassment of citizens. Courts should be alive to both ends of the spectrum, the need to ensure the proper enforcement of criminal law on the one hand and the need, on the other, of ensuring that the law does not become a ruse for targeted harassment. Liberty across human eras is as tenuous as tenuous can be. Liberty survives by the vigilance of her citizens, on the cacophony of the media and in the dusty corridors of courts alive to the rule of and not bylaw.Yet, much too often, liberty is a casualty when one of these components is found wanting.
Justice Y.K. Sabharwal has said that India has been at the forefront of the growth of human rights jurisprudence and we are the largest democracy of the present-day world. We see for ourselves a greater role in near future for maintenance of global peace, tranquillity and security with the objective of promoting harmony and the spirit of universal brotherhood amongst the entire humanity. We are committed to work for a world order transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities so that each individual has access to opportunities and resources to aspire and strive for excellence and collective enrichment leading to common welfare. These are the very ideals on which our democratic welfare State is founded. In view of the fact that guarantee of basic human rights lies at the core of true democracy, it is imperative that India leads by example in enforcement of human rights. It being part of the constitutional obligation of our democracy, the objective of ushering in good governance that cherished and zealously guarded human rights is sought to be achieved by establishment of human rights apparatus under the Protection of Human Rights Act. Functionaries of human rights throughout India must bear in their hearts and minds, the proactive approach adopted by judiciary to religiously, and without let, guard the rights fundamental for human existence. The direction of Human Rights Commissions must encompass right to life so as to include within it the right to live with dignity, healthy environment, humane conditions of work, right to education, shelter and social security, right to know, adequate nutrition and clothing, pollution free water and air and many other such rights.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought before us various challenges like poverty, inequalities, discrimination and other human rights violations. We have to take concerted steps to make the world better, sustainable and resilient. Discrimination of any kind has to be eliminated and inequalities have to be addressed effectively by promoting social, economic, and cultural rights. Each one of us has a role to play in building a better world for our present and future generations. Our development has to be sustainable keeping in mind the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement which are the cornerstone of a recovery that leaves no one behind. We have to sensitise people about the significance of human rights. Importance of human rights and liberty needs to highlighted frequently by organizing awareness programmes so that we can achieve universal harmony and peace.
A duty is cast upon the Government to protect human rights and promote education, primary health care, etc. Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari has aptly enunciated that – to sensitise people and Governments of various hues and colours in different countries there is necessity to make them aware of human rights with human duties. That should be inculcated right from childhood through proper education based on human values. Let the activities of the members of the whole human family be directed towards creating universal harmony and peace. Let there be peace in the world, vicious people should become virtuous, all living creatures should think in the interest of each other, minds of all of them should be guided by pious ambitions and everyone’s heart should be filled with selfless love for experiencing inner fulfilment.
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