Beyond the Abstract
Akhilesh Singh Jamwal
Human Rights, a phrase heard by everyone yet not truly understood by many. Almost every individual who hears the phrase thinks of high-stake cases in Supreme Court, massacres of innocents or exploitation of workers in conditions one can hardly imagine. Essentially a lay man has completely alienated themselves from the understanding of Human Rights in their day-to-day lives, they believe it is involved only when the topic of discussion is about something severe and at a scale quite grand. But that is not necessarily the case, as Human Rights play an important role in our daily lives as well, a lot of people just don’t know it yet.
Human rights as the legal concept that we know today came into existence with the advent of United Nations, and the publication of United Nations Declaration of Human Rights gave them global legitimacy. And the yearly anniversary of its publication and global enactment is celebrated as the Human Right’s Day, on 10th December.
Human Right’s Day is an annual reminder to people that dignity, freedom and equality are not some privileges that are granted by the government, but rather are inalienable and fundamental rights belonging to every human being. The need for a global acknowledgement of such rights arose after the horrors of World War II, when millions of people, mainly jews, Chinese (Manchus) and Philippines were subjected to unspeakable horrors, marking a black mark on human conscience. And the yearly reminder of the same became important when these ideals were not being inculcated, shown by the prevalence of Apartheid in South Africa, Rwandan Genocide of Tutsi tribe, Bosnian War, treatment of non-muslims in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, among many others.
The global community has been trying to inculcate the values of Human Rights among the general populace for almost eight decades, and Human Rights Day is the most consistent and well known attempt for the same, but the attempts have yet to yielded much success. As mentioned above people still believe Human Rights to be an abstract concept that comes into play only at a scale too grand for a layman to understand. So, this year’s Human Rights’ Day aims to rectify that with the theme of “Everyday essentials of Human Rights”. The focus this year around is to foster awareness among the people about just how important Human Rights are in our daily lives, how things which seem as insignificant as a drinking a cup of coffee in the morning are grave issues of Human Rights. To make people realize that Human Rights are not just complex legal concepts, but the invisible architectures of our daily lives.
Mundane activities of our life that we have taken for granted such as waking up in our homes without a fear of arbitrary arrest, having breakfast, going to our jobs, our schools, posting about our lives on social media, meeting with our friends, etc. all are an expression of our Human Rights. All such activities are protected by law, enshrined in the Constitution that no human can be alienated from the rights he or she is entitled by way of being a human being.
Let’s take morning coffee as an example, a ritual so integral to the lives of many that people don’t even consciously think about it, believing it to be an inalienable part of their lives, unaware that at its core it’s the perfect microcosm of Human Rights. It captures the essence of Human Rights on a minute scale perfectly. The fact that you chose to drink coffee in the morning, is an expression of your right to liberty and bodily autonomy, you are free to consume whatever you want whenever you want. You are drinking coffee after buying the mug, coffee beans and the coffee machine, all an expression of right to property. The fact that you have the resources to afford coffee is an expression of your right to engage in an economic independence and freedom to conduct business. To make coffee clean drinking water, sugar and ta times milk are also required, access to all too is a basic Human Right. The deep involvement of Human Rights in an act as mundane as drinking morning coffee is a testament to how deeply involved they are in ordinary human lives.
Morning coffee while being an expression of our Human Rights, is also a glaring issue that threatens the Rights of many workers, who work in the coffee fields of Karnataka. The issue of workers working in inadequate working conditions is gradually coming into the limelight and attracting mainstream attention. From being economically coerced to work by disproportionate advance payments, to being forced to use unhealthy fertilizers, or the women being paid significantly less than their male counterparts, etc. all make up grave violations of Human Rights which largely remains unknown.
In conclusion, Human Rights while being a complex legal concept that aims to achieve dignified life for all worldwide, is also deeply involved in our daily lives. As they allow us to engage in activities so mundane that we have taken them for granted, unaware that they too are an expression of our Human Rights on a scale that we can easily comprehend, yet chose to ignore regularly.
(The author is a student of law at NLIU, Bhopal)
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