Human Right Violations – An Outrage to the Society
“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” - John F Kennedy
INTRODUCTION:
There is a whole different level of diversification of human beings around the globe. In every aspect, they are different from each other. But there are some middle grounds of necessities which are alike for everyone. Those necessities are in form of rights whose entitlement bestows upon the right holder completely and he can demand their fulfilment through some kind of channel or authority.
Human rights is a as old as humanity and it includes the rights and freedom which are the basis for a dignified existence. They are not some gift or mercy from the state or ruler. They are so sticked to one’s life that even the arbitrary powers cannot take them away. These rights determine the way a human will have relationship with each other and how they live in the society together. Being basic rights, they are equally bestowed with a person that means everyone is equally entitled.
However, these rights have no legal basis and are moral claims but in practical life they are of great importance which have a recognition in the eyes of law. Often they are recognized in the Constitution of the country. In India, various mechanism and commission are they at both center and state level for safeguarding these rights. Even being so important part of one’s life and existence and in the presence of all measures, human rights violations are the order of the day and these commissions fall short of implementations.
Conventions on Human Rights:
It was over 50 years prior, that the global network made instrumentalities and plans to make a noteworthy pledge to make people live in any part of the world with dignity and respect and not like mere animals. These instrumentalities included Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) embraced by the part conditions of the United Nations General Gathering on December 10, 1948. This laid down the foundation for the standard of accomplishment for the eventual fate of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was embraced by the United Nations on December 10, 1948 contained 30 articles which unequivocally determined some of the common fundamental rights like the right to life, freedom and security of an individual (Article 3): the privilege not to be exposed to torment or merciless barbaric or corrupting treatment or discipline (Article 5); the right or option to approach the security of the law. The right not to be exposed to subjective capture, confinement or outcast (Article 9); the privilege to a reasonable and open preliminary by a free and fair council (Article 10); the privilege to the opportunity of thought, still, small voice and religion (Article 18); the privilege to opportunity of assessment and expression (Article 19); the right to freedom of peaceful assembly (Article 20), right to work, equal pay for equal work (Article 23); the right to a standard of living for health and wellbeing including food, clothing, housing and medical care (Article 25); the right to education (Article 26); and the right to a social and international order in which the rights outlined in this Declaration can be fully realized (Article 28). While Article 29 dealt with the duties and limitations of individuals in the exercise of rights and freedoms, the Article 30 makes provisions for protection against human rights abuses and other such things.
Various causes for this Problem:
It has been regularly seen that the strong interdependence between human rights violations and intractable conflict. Abuse of Human Rights often causes conflict and conflict then leads in violation of human rights. There are many causes for this crisis but mainly it’s the violation of political and economic rights which is observed.
Denial of Education: Illiteracy is India’s one of the biggest factors of backwardness and poverty. A illiterate person is as good as an animal who has no idea about his rights and liberties. In the case of Unni Krishna v. State of Andhra Pradesh, the SC recognized a fundamental right to education in the right of life under Article 21. The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act,2002 added Article 21A which provided that the state will provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years in such as the state may by law determine. Even after 19 years of this amendment, the reality is hard-hitting. The base level implementation seems far away and a gigantic task. Education is the mirror of a civilized society and the lack of it is one of the crucial reasons for the commission of unpardonable crimes and intolerance.
Poverty: Poverty breed poverty and in a massive country like India where there is a huge gap between the incomes of the rich and the poor, it has become a more severe problem. Considering the constitutional and other safeguards becomes pertinent to gauge the efficacy of the law who have no other recourse but the arsenal of justice. Article 21 is the Magna Carta of the Constitution of India and it states that “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.”
In the case of Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. UOI where the question of bondage and rehabilitation of some laborers was involved, Bhagwati, J held that the fundamental right to live with human dignity is congruous with the right to life and derives its life breath from the Directive Principles of State Policy, and particularly clauses (e) and (f) of Articles 39,41,42. And again in the case of Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation, the court held that Right to livelihood is included in the right to life' as " no person can live without the means of living".
However, in real life these rights have no meaning to those who live below the poverty line. The noble ideas enshrined in the preamble about Social, economic and political justice remain a unrealized dream for millions of poor in our country.
Slow Justice Mechanism: Being one of the slowest justice delivery system in the world, sometimes people don’t get what they deserved at the right time. And when justice is delayed, it is injustice. The slow pace makes the recognition of rights late and the implementation of these later later. This leads to the fading of the trust on the rights bestowed with the person.
What can be done?
The role of the Central government is the recognition of the Human Rights is crucial. Human Rights are basically the connections among people and people and the state and along these, the useful errand of securing and advancing them is basically a National one, for which every state must be mindful. At the Central or National Level, these rights can be best ensured through satisfactory enactments, an autonomous legal executive, the institutions and the implementation of personal protection and cures, and the foundation of equitable establishments.
Human Rights are best ensured under National Systems because of some reasons. First of it is that a large portion of the International human Rights instrument regularly leaves the execution to the state parties and second is that the great part of the International Human Rights Instruments requires depletion of household cures, before Human Rights infringement appeal is engaged by International Bodies. And the last reason is that Article 2(7) of the UN Charter guarantees that UN won’t meddle in the issues which are inside the local purview of the states.
Apart from this on the international level, international humanitarian law which have created needs to be efficiently introduced and implemented. These laws rules out the unfettered force or total war and seeks to limit the use of violence in the hopes of controlling and maintaining the necessary conditions for a return to peace. There are various committees which are in place to monitor compliance and consistency with the human rights standards and report any violations if caused which will be reported to the attention of international tribunals or tried in an international court or war crimes tribunal.
Though there is some disagreement about the extent to which outside countries can intervene or engage in humanitarian intervention. Some of them defend the principles of sovereignty of the state and nonintervention and argue that other states must be permitted to determine their own course while other think that only the international community can ensure the proper observance of international standards in the interest not of the one state or another but of the individual themselves. There is one thought that states have diverse conceptions of justice and international coexistence rely on a pluralistic ethic whereby each state can uphold its own conception of the good. The other thought is that certain rights are inalienable and universal and these basic rights should be protected everywhere which means massive violations of human rights can be observed by an international mechanism. At times, when the inside government fails to observe the maintenance of human rights preservation then outside government have a positive duty to take steps in order to protect human rights and preserve life. It is also thought that political systems that protect human rights lowers the threat of world conflict. Thus intervention is required to preserve international security, When whole world becomes one where each one is helping each other to preserve the basic rights of the population then it will sure to implement international security efficiently.
Landmark Cases:
In the case of Sakshi v. UOI, the Supreme Court highlighted the need to establish a mechanism that would help the child victim to testify at ease in the court and held that proceedings of the same will be held in cameras. Again in the case of Abidi v. The State of Delhi, the Delhi High Court observed that child victims are entitled to get a support person during the trial and also established that the child victims can testify outside the court environment.
The Supreme Court observing the protection of the rights of workers decided the case of Balco Employees Union (Regd) v. Union of India. In People’s union for Democratic Rights v. UOI, the Supreme Court held that releasing persons from bonded labour was connected to the rehabilitation process to give a full remedy. In the case of Workmen v. Rohtas Industries, the SC observed that the right to equality became instrumental in protecting the right of workers against unreasonable closures and discrimination in the payment of pensions.
In one of the landmark judgement of D.K.Basu v. State of West Bengal, the SC protected the rights of the prisoners and laid down various guidelines for arrest ad detention to prevent custodial violence and observed that the right to live with human dignity.
Conclusion:
Even being one of the basic issues that everyone understands, it is a huge task to implement the standard of human rights in the practical world. The first towards addressing the human rights violations is to understand the underlying causes of these breaches. It is only by understanding these roots causes and strengthening civil society, we can protect human rights.
The government needs to look to make the population more prosperous, educated and employed. These should be the first step which will lead to a sense of equality and awareness among the public which will further determine in the rights and limits of a person. The person should be made aware of their rights and duties towards other rights. All the international conventions and guidelines should be achieved to their fullest. More than stressing on punishments, the idea should be to reform the wrongdoer. Human Rights violation should not just be concentrated and connected to the international Conventions but also with the preamble and constitution of the States.
-Ankit Anand