TRIPLE
STREAM
THE CASE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
I.
V. Chalapati Rao
About half
a century ago the General Assembly of the U.N.O. adopted the historic Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It
has far-reaching influence pertaining to certain noble principles of humanistic
concerns. This was followed by another important event- Bangkok N.G.O.
Declaration on Human Rights. It was attended by 200 delegates from 110 Non
Government Organizations. It was agreed on all hands that the issue of human rights
is of universal concern and cannot be treated by sensitive countries as an
encroachment on their National Sovereignty. This declaration affirms the
independence and the interdependence of the countries. Among other things it
has stated that democracy is not achieved merely by casting and counting of
ballot papers but involves the participation and emotional involvement of
people of all sections and at all levels.
Some of
its notable features are dignity and equal economic rights for women,
demilitarization, freedom of expression, judicial independence, rights of
children and workers, education and training, protection of the rights of
refugees and displaced persons. It has also affirmed the principle of
self-determination, which is the life-line of democracy.
Subsequently,
there was the Vienna Meet of 1993, which was attended by 1500 N.G.Os from all
parts of the globe. It gave a categorical assurance of human rights with a
declaration that they are universal, indivisible, inter-dependent and inter-related.
It has emphasized that the human being is the central subject of human rights
and fundamental freedoms. It has further declared that every one is entitled to
enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications and that the
rights of women and the girl child are inalienable. It has also declared that
the persons belonging to the minorities have the right to pursue their cultures
to profess and practice their own religion and to use their language without
any form of discrimination. It has even reaffirmed the right to seek asylum in
other countries to escape persecution. If the declaration is universally
implemented, our strife-riden world will be a veritable paradise on earth!
The conference also supported an
independent judiciary and legal profession. It gave top-priority attention to
the eradication of all forms of discrimination against women, covert and overt.
However, it did not make a decision on the need for establishing a High
Commission and an international Court on human rights. Of course, subsequently
National Human Rights Commissions came to be established in many countries
including India. We are glad to say
that our Commission is working and curbing violation of human rights by taking
appropriate measures to the extent possible.
Not
withstanding all this, mass killings, massacres, civil wars, terrorist
activities and authoritarian regimes riding roughshod over the civil rights of
the people are the order of the day all over the world. Atrocities on women, kidnappings and rape cases
are on the increase. Military dictators have suppressed the democratic rights
of the defenseless people. As the United Nations has remained a helpless
spectator, an impression is created that these lofty principles are honoured
more in breach than in observance. Yet,
we should not despair. There is an
increasing realization of the importance of human rights and things are moving
slowly in the right direction.
At
international level we find politics. After the disintegration of Soviet Union
and the end of the cold war the world has become unipolar, and United States of
America has become an international policeman lording it over the whole world,
keeping the United Nations under its thumb.
Human Rights is being used as a means of pressure by countries like U.S.
Ironically, some of the countries vociferously championing the Human Rights
appear to have different standards for themselves, and their practices fail to
conform to the standards they preach to others. Their sermons can be taken only with soda water.
For a long
time, U.S. pressurized India on the Kashmir issue with its secret sympathies
for Pakistan on account of India’s NAM role and Indo-Soviet friendship,
Pakistan being its long time military and political ally. Besides, there was the additional motive of
using the issue as a lever to make India sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT). Subsequently there has
been a reappraisal of the relations between India and U.S. President Clinton
changed his policy following the installation of military rule in Pakistan
under General Musharoff. After the
installation of George Bush and the blasting of the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon by Osama Bin Laden’s men, America opened its eyes. Afghanistan was liberated from Talibaans and
human rights were restored in that war-ravaged country.
In
pursuance of its territorial designs on Kashmir, Pakistan has been consistently
indulging in misinformation and malicious propaganda about alleged violations
of human rights by Indian security forces.
It raised the issue again and again in various international fora
including the United Nations. However,
the world has noted how Pakistan has been waging a proxy war by clandestinely
training the terrorists who had uprooted the Kashmiri pundits and have been
continuously indulging in mass killings. Impartial agencies like Asia Watch and
Amnesty International have declared the Pakistan’s charges against India are
biased, baseless and motivated. On the
other hand, Ms. Galex who visited Pakistan has condemned human rights
violations in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and declared that people who lived in
Gilgit and Balistan were even denied the basic human rights like franchise and
equality before law. Today the whole
world has realised that Pakistan is the epicenter of terrorism.
In many
countries we find cases of human rights violations. We have seen the fate of Bosnian minorities. We have read newspaper reports about the
recent atrocities committed by the farmers of South Africa against their white
masters (landlords) and similar racist violence in Germany. Mass killings and arbitrary arrests of
student leaders in China are not yet forgotten. In the U.S.A., the plight of the Negroes has become so miserable
that a prominent Negro thinker Roy Innis suggested some years ago the carving
of a separate state for the blacks within the U.S.A. as their integration into
the White society has become impossible!
It is an open secret that U.S has condoned the human rights violations
in China because of their business interests.
We
can say with pride that in India, which is multi-racial and multi-religious
country with a vast population, human rights violations are negligible. If there is the slightest violence against
minorities, the opposition parties exaggerate it, politically exploit it and
pull up the Government, thus playing the role of gadflies. The National Commission of Human Rights is
doing commendable work. Our ever-alert
print media always acts like watch dogs and sometimes behave like bloodhounds
in tracking down human rights violations.
Besides, we have judicial activism, which has ensured adequate
protection to the victims of human rights.