TRIPLE STREAMtc
"TRIPLE STREAM"
THE CASE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
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.tc " "
