Dr. (Mrs.) Johani Xaxa & Dr. B.K.Mahakul*
(1) Government
Human
Rights are the rights, which every human being is entitled to enjoy and to have
protected. The underlying idea of such rights- fundamental principles which
must be respected in the treatment of all men, women and children, exists in
some form in all cultures and society. The contemporary statement of those
rights is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration covers two
broad sets of rights- civil and Political rights and Economic, Social and
Cultural rights. These two sets of rights aim to give all people ‘ freedom from
fear and want’. The protection of the equal and inalienable rights of all
members of the human society is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in
the world. It is the responsibility of the Government to protect the human
rights as the highest aspiration of the common people, proclaimed by the
declaration.
The
covenant on civil and political rights recognizes the right of every human
person to life, liberty and security of person, to privacy, to freedom from
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and from torture, to freedom from
slavery, to immunity from arbitrary arrest, to a fair trail. The right to
freedom of thought, conscience and religion and to freedom of expression is to
be protected. Under this provision, the individual has to enjoy the right to
liberty of movement, includes the right to emigrate, to peaceful assembly and
to freedom of association. The second covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights recognizes the right to work and to free choice of employment, to fair
wages, to form and join unions, to social security, and to adequate standard of
living conditions for their people. These rights implies that all governments
are expected to try progressively to improve the living conditions of their
citizens. For example, they should try to guarantee the right to food, clothing
and medical care, protection of the family and the right to social security,
education and employment. They are to promote these rights without
discrimination of any kind.
The
foundations of a modern democratic state are strengthened by the existence of
human rights and their enjoyment by the individuals. Human Rights in fact
ensures dignity of the ‘human beings’, which are the lifeblood of Democracy.
The quality of democracy would therefore depend to a large extent on the degree
to which the rights are available to the individuals.
Human
Rights can be regarded as the civic counterpart of the political power, which is
vested in those who govern the state. There is the power of the people and the
power of the state arising from human rights. The power of the people is
otherwise called “Lok Shakti’, which is developed by the propagation of human
rights among the people, and their enforcement by the people. The ‘Lok Shakti’
is more powerful than the ‘Raj Shakti’ in a true democratic country. In fact
the whole movement of human rights is a people’s movement.
Therefore the Human Rights are
essentially not merely to fulfill the biological needs of mankind, but far the
dignity of the individuals as well. Without recognizing the concept of human
rights, no polity can be democratic one. The Indian Constitution like any other
democratic country, recognizes the concept of human rights through its
preamble, besides the chapter on fundamental rights and the Directive
Principles of state Policy are an expression of the fundamental human rights of
their individuals in the form of civil liberties and democratic rights
respectively. These rights are essential for the fullest development of the
human personality and for human happiness. Undoubtedly, the concept of human
rights has always been regarded as the backbone of every democratic set up. The
defence of human rights is considered as a condition necessary for the growth
of democratic organizations at the grassroots level, which ultimately
strengthens people’s confidence and faith in the functioning of democratic
institutions. In a state, the government is the “ official reservoir of
‘coercive powers’. Hence these powers of the state are to be restrained in
order to prevent it from becoming arbitrary and tyrannical, by approving the
very concept of human rights. In the last two decades or so, a large number of
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which are voluntary organizations of the
people, have grown allover the country.
The functioning of NGOs represents the civic counterpart of political
power. These organizations are important as promoters of civil liberties. Their
work is aided by other important institutions, such as the independent
judiciary and free press. Particularly in the recent years they have played a
vital role in defence of human rights. The defence of human rights from outside
by other agencies could be successful provided; it should be defended from
within the individual. Hence it becomes important that awareness about human
rights by each and every individual is indispensable for them and society as
well. The human rights are of paramount importance for full realization of
human dignity and for the attainment of the legitimate aspirations of every
individual.
After the Second World War, it
was cleared that the United Nations was founded two objectives, the first was
to prevent war in the future and the second was to protect and promote human
rights. The Charter of the United Nations gave due recognition to the
importance of international co-operation in dealing with economic and social
problems and to the need of safeguarding basic human rights (Article I (a) of
the Charter of the United Nations (Article 55 is more emphatic in this
respect). And thereafter, in order to
make them even more specific, two conventions- one on civil and political
rights and the other on Economic, Social and Cultural rights were passed by the
United Nations in 1966. Thus the entire gamut of human rights is contained in
the Universal declaration of Human Rights and the two conventions. To educate
and to make aware of those rights, United Nation’s declared a decade from 1995
to 2004 as ‘ decade for Human Rights Education’.
Human Rights Education
The
United Nation’s decade for Human Rights Education is based upon the provisions
of the international human rights instruments, with particular reference to
those provisions addressing human rights education, including Article 26 of the
Universal declaration of Human Rights, Article 13 of the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 29 of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All
forms of Discrimination against women, Article 7 of the Convention on the
Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination, Paragraphs 33 and 34 of
the Vienna Declaration and Paragraphs 78 to 82 of its programme of Action.
In
accordance with those provisions, for one decade from 1995 to 2004, human
rights education shall be defined as training, dissemination and information
efforts aimed at the building of a universal culture of human rights through
imparting knowledge and skill and moulding of attitudes and directed to:
- The strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
- The full-development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity.
- The promotion of understanding, tolerance, gender equality and friendship among all nations, indigenous people and racial, national, ethnic, religious and linguistic.
- To enabling of all persons to participate effectively in a free society.
Objectives
The
objectives of the decade for human rights education shall include:
The assessment of needs and the formulation of effective
strategies for the furtherance of human rights education at school levels, in
vocational training and formal as well as non-formal learning,
The building and strengthening of programme and capacities
for human rights education at the international, regional, national and local
levels,
The coordinated development of human rights education
materials,
The strengthening of the role and capacity of the mass-media
in the furtherance of human rights education,
The global dissemination of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights in the maximum possible number of languages and in other forms
appropriate for various levels of literacy and for the disabled.
Principal Actors
The
following are the principal actors of the human rights education:
(1) Government
(2) National Human Rights Institutions,
(3) National Non-governmental Organisations,
(4) United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
(5) United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights- in
consultation with (UNESCO) United
Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organisation,
(6) United Nations Human Rights Treaty monitoring bodies,
(7) United Nations specialised agencies, involved in human rights
educational activities, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
International Labour Organisation (ILO), the office of the United Nation High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), the United Nations Voluntary (UNV) etc.
(8) Other International
Organisations including Intergovernmental and Non-governmental Organisations
active in the field of human rights.
Target Groups
The target groups who receive the
human rights information/education shall public in general include the women,
children, the aged, minorities, refugees, indigenous people, persons in extreme
poverty, persons with HIV infection of AIDS and other vulnerable groups.
Special attention shall be given to the training of the police, prison
officials, lawyers, judges, international civil servants, development officers
and peacekeepers, non-governmental organizations, the media, governmental
officials, parliamentarians and other groups that are in a particular position
to effect the realisation of human rights.
The School, Universities,
Professional and vocational training programmes and institutions should be
encouraged and assisted in developing human rights curricula by incorporating
into formal education at the early childhood, primary, secondary,
post-secondary and adult-education level.
The Civil Society including
governmental organizations workers and employers organizations, labour unions,
the mass-media, religious organizations, community organizations should be
encouraged and assisted in developing and delivering such non-formal
programmes, with the help of Governments and international donars and
progrmmes.
Human Rights Education in India
In a developing society like India,
where around twenty-six per cent of the population is living below the poverty
line and around thirty-five percent of the population is illiterate and a large
number of men and women are living a life of degradation and destitution,
misery and suffering. Vast sections of Indian people continue to lead an
undignified and uncongenial life. Most of the fundamental human rights and
fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Indian Constitution have remained on
paper and this compels many to re-think about India’s
commitment and seriousness of these issues.
For the dissemination of human
rights information or education, the Government of India has constituted a
coordination committee, under the Chairmanship of the Home Secretary comprising
of Secretaries of other ministers and department. When the National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC) was set up in September/October 1993, the Coordination Committee
requested it to draft a national plan of action fort human rights education.
Ths task was over in 2001, when the National Action Plan for Human Rights
Education was finalized. The plan focused on strategies for human rights
awareness- raising and sensitizing specific target groups such as, students,
officers in the administration of justice etc.
Civil Society as well as the
National Human Rights Commission is involved in the implementation of human
rights education programmes. It was also reported that the secondary and higher
education sector have undertaken certain activities relates to human rights
education which includes the preparation of curriculum, revision of tax books
and the development of a number of training modules for teachers in English,
Hindi and local languages by the National Council of Teacher Education. The
University Grants Commission also made provision of financial assistance to
Universities and Colleges for the development of specific courses in human
rights. The Indira Gandhi Open University also included human rights as a
subject in its curriculum. The government and non-government agencies organize
human rights workshops; human rights seminars for the academicians and
officials to disseminate human rights information.
The above steps have been taken
by the Indian Government towards formal education on human rights. But in a country like India,
where less than half of the population is illiterate, especially the vulnerable
population is far away from such formal education. Hence, human rights education must not be
limited to formal schooling. Many people
live far away from any administrative centers and many more never attend school. These people includes refugees, minorities,
migrant workers, indigenous people, the disabled and the poor, are among the
most powerless and vulnerable to abuse.
Such people have every right to know their rights. Only by working in collaboration with these
vulnerable groups can human rights educators (Government and Non-Government
Agencies) develop programmes that accommodate their needs and situations. The techniques of popular education music,
street theatre, documentary films, comic books, alternative media, and
itinerant story tellers can help to connect human rights to people’s lived
experienced.
Human rights education does not
mean only to learning about human rights that is information about its history,
documents and implementation. It also means education for human rights
understanding and embracing the principles of human equality and dignity and
the commitment to respect and protect the rights of all people. The ultimate
measure of human rights education is how people live their daily lives. To
uphold their rights, the concerned citizens must start with human rights
education in small places, close to home. On 60th anniversary of Universal
declaration of Human Rights, stressing the need to disseminate knowledge, and
awareness about human rights among the stakeholders, President of India, Smt.
Prativa Patil, said that those people, who know their rights, stand the best
chance of realizing them. She also asked the media and the NGOs to play an
active role in this sphere. If human right institutions, civil society,
government, media groups, Parliamentarians, the judiciary and opinion makers
work in union and with dedication, the task of ensuring enjoyment of human
rights by all will translate into reality.
References
D. B. Rao, ‘United Nations Decade
for Human Rights Education’ Discovery Publishing House, New
Delhi, 2004.
C. K. , Pathak, ‘ Human Rights
Education’, Rajput Publications, New Delhi,
2004.
M. A. W. Chisti, ‘ Human Rights
Education’ South Asia Politics, Vol. 3, Issue-, New
Delhi, 8, December 2004 pp. 39-42.
Nancy Flowers, ’Human Rights
education: What? For whom? And Why? Legal News, & Views A Social Action
Trust Publications, Vol.13, No.6, June, 1999.
R. M. Pal, ‘State of Human
Rights Education in India’,
Mainstream, Vol. XXXVII, No. 39, New Delhi,
September, 18, 1999.
B. N. Arora, ‘Human Rights:
Continued Denial of Right to Life’, Mainstream; Vol. XLIII, No.51, New
Delhi, December 2005.
Sonu Trivedi,’ Human Rights under
Democracy’ Mainstream, Vol. XLI, No.52, New Delhi,
December, 2003.
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* Reader, Department of Political Science &
Public Administration, Sambalpur
University, Jyoti Viahr: 768019 (Orissa)
**Lecturer,
Department of Political Science & Public Administration, Sambalpur
University, Jyoti Viahr: 768019 (Orissa)
