Disclosure of Human Rights

2. Human rights are belong to every member of the human family
regardless of sex, nationality, socio-economic group, political opinion,
sexual orientation or any other status. Human rights are owed by the
State to the people - this means public bodies must respect your
human rights and the Government must ensure there are laws in place
so that other people respect your human rights too.
For example, the right to life requires not only that the actions of those
working on behalf of the State do not lead to your death, but that laws
are also in place to protect you from the actions of others that might
want to do you harm.
Human rights were first recognized internationally by the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights in 1948. This was quickly followed by the
adoption, two years later, of the European Convention on Human
Rights.

3. The UK is also a party to a number of other international instruments
that seek to protect and promote other human rights. In 1998
the Human Rights Act was passed, making the rights and freedoms in
the European Convention on Human Rights directly enforceable in the
UK. It entered into force on 2 October 2000.
Human rights in India is an issue complicated by the country's large size
& population, widespread poverty, lack of proper education & its
diverse culture, even though being the world's largest sovereign,
secular, democratic republic. The Constitution of India provides
for Fundamental rights, which include freedom of religion. Clauses also
provide for freedom of speech, as well as separation of executive and
judiciary and freedom of movement within the country and abroad.
The country also has an independent judiciary[1][2] and well as bodies to
look into issues of human rights.

4. The 2016 report of Human Rights Watch accepts the above-mentioned
faculties but goes to state that India has "serious human rights
concerns. Civil society groups face harassment and government critics
face intimidation and lawsuits. Free speech has come under attack
both from the state and by interest groups. Muslim and Christian
minorities accuse authorities of not doing enough to protect their
rights. But in the recent years , more emphasis is given to minority
rights & freedom of speech. The government is yet to repeal laws that
grant public officials and security forces immunity from prosecution for
abuses. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
It has been rightly proclaimed in the American declaration of
independence that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Created with certain unalienable rights….” Similarly, Indian
Constitution has ensured and enshrined Fundamental rights for all
citizens irrespective of caste, creed, religion, color, sex or nationality.
These basic rights, commonly known as human rights, are recognized
the world over as basic rights with which every individual is born.

5. Modern human rights jurisprudence has
crystallized into three basic principles:
 The principle of universal inherence: Every human being has
certain rights, capable of being enumerated and defined which are
not conferred on him by any ruler, nor earned or acquired by
purchase, but which inhere in him by virtue of his humanity alone.
 The principle of inalienability: No human being can be deprived of
any of those rights by the acts of any ruler or even by his own act
or in a democracy even by the will of the majority of the sovereign
people.
 The rule of Law : Where rights conflict with each other, the
conflicts must be resolved by the consistent, independent and
impartial application of just laws in accordance with just
procedures.

6. Types of human rights:-
Social or Civil Human Rights:
All human beings are entitled to:
 The right to life, liberty and security of persons
 Right to freedom from slavery and servitude
 Right to freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment
 Right to freedom from arbitrary interference with privacy, family,
home or correspondence
 Right to marry and have family and right to property.

7. Political Human Rights:
To take part in the political process, all human beings are provided with
some rights such as:
 Right to nationality
 Right to judicial remedies, fair trial and freedom from arbitrary
arrest, detention or exile
 Right to freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, conscience
and religion
 Right to take part in government affairs and equal access to public
service
 Right to equal suffrage
 Right to freedom of movement and right of asylum etc.

8. Economic Human Rights:
To ensure the economic interest of the human being, UNO also
provides certain economic rights, such as:
 Right to social security
 Right to work and the right to equal pay for equal work
 Right to form trade unions
 Right to rest and leisure
 Right to food, health and adequate standard of living.

9. Cultural Human Rights:
For the protection of the various types of cultures, traditions and
customs of the human being, the Declaration of Human Rights also
provides certain rights, such as:
 Right to participate in the cultural life of the community,
 Right to enjoy the art and to share in the scientific advancement
and its benefits
 Right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting
from any scientific, literary and artistic production of which the
individual is the author.
 Right to a social and international order in which the human rights
as provided in the Universal Declaration can be fully realized.

10. International Human Rights Law:-
International human rights law has been developing extensively since
the creation of the United Nations. The most fundamental point about
human rights law is that it establishes a set of rules for all the people of
all the states.
Human rights is international in the sense of it being universal,
applying to all the individual. However, international human rights law
refers mainly to the obligations of states to individuals within their
jurisdiction. When states fail to assure realization of human rights to
the individuals within their jurisdiction international obligation arises.
Thus, obligations to provide human rights individuals is mainly intra-
national and in some cases international.
Thus a state is not free to treat its nationals as it pleases despite the
fact that it is sovereign. The greatest impact of human rights law has
been to erode the absolute control which a state had in the classical
period.

11. Council on Human Rights:
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) , a principal organ of
the United Nations was most directly concerned with the
question of human rights. The Council under Article 68 of the
U.N Charter was empowered to set up commissions for the
promotion of human rights and such other commissions as may
be required for the performance of its functions. The council
may also meets annually in Geneva for six weeks beginning in
March. The commission may also meet between annual sessions
to deal with urgent human rights situations.

12. The council as determined by its terms of reference was directed to
prepare recommendations and reports on the following items:
 On international bill of rights
 International declarations and conventions on civil liberties, the
status of women, freedom of information .
 The protection of minorities.
 The prevention of discrimination on grounds of race, language or
religion

13. Women Rights are Human Rights:
Is it a rhetoric ?
The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation because
in the degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at
their source. - Lucretia Mott
The Past:
As a gender and an integral part of Humanity, women have suffered
much and without any fault of their own. They have toiled and
contributed ceaselessly, they have labored and produced continuously
and they have been discriminated, invariably. The history of this
discrimination is as old as the history of civilization itself. The women
have suffered so much, for merely being women, from all recognized
social institutions that have existed so far that if we dare write a book
on the tortures and cruelty and biases they have faced, it may run in
thousand volumes.

14. If we try to trace the origin of this sorry state of affairs we will find that
the discrimination has already started when the society was in its
nascent stage. Patriarchal societies have a long history of treating
women as inferior being though matriarchal societies have generally
been found to treat women with a little bit more respect.
Primary reasons and instrument of implementing this bias has been
the deprivation from the property and violence. At the dusk of tribal
societies when the man first started to understand the nuances of
private property, Man because of his stronger physique and because he
had not to recluse himself from the production due to maternity
became the prime bread earner of the family. From this point of time
started the formation and consolidation of the male dominated society
as we see it. This consolidation continued till the dark ages and first
rays of light in the dungeon of solitude and bereavement of the
women begin to fall with renaissance.

15. The industrialization with its craving for cheaper and abundant labor
helped in making women more economically and socially powerful. It
can not, however, be denied that all this progress would still have left
women as the inferior sex had they not tenuously and vehemently
fought for their own rights.
Gender inequality, which remains pervasive worldwide, tends to lower
the productivity of labor and the efficiency of labor allocation in
households and the economy, intensifying the unequal distribution of
resources. It also contributes to the non-monetary aspects of poverty
lack of security, opportunity and empowerment that lower the quality
of life for both men and women. While women and girls bear the
largest and most direct costs of these inequalities, the costs cut
broadly across society, ultimately hindering development and poverty
reduction, ~ Gender and Development Group -World Bank, from the
report "Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals"
(2003). - Mohit Mishra

16. Domestic Violence as a Human Rights Issue:
Freedom not only from violence but also from the threat of violence is
the first indicator of rise in women's capacity for survival and
empowerment.[1] The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination
of Violence Against Women states in its Preamble that violence against
women is a product of the "unequal power relations" that characterize
gender relations in all parts of the world.
Violence against women is a universal reality but at the same time it is
invisible.
The UNDP's gender development index ranks India 108 among 174
countries in terms of gender equity. It is no coincidence therefore, that
countries ranking highest on this index rank India 108 among 174
countries in terms of gender equity. - Sanmit Seth

17. The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993:-
The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 was enforced on 28th
January 1993. The National Human Rights Commission in India is an
autonomous public body constituted on 12 October 1993 under the
Protection of Human Rights Ordinance of 28 September 1993. “Human
Rights” means the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of
the individual guaranteed by the constitution or embodied in
the International covenants and enforceable by courts in India. The
national Human Rights Commission is in New Delhi.
“Commission” means the National Human Rights Commission defined
under section 2 sub clause (c) and established under section 3 of the
Act.

18. The Commission shall be constituted of members as laid under
provisions of section 3 sub clause (2) which lay that there shall be a
Chairperson who shall be a retired chief justice of India, 2 members
who have been a judge in the Supreme Court and other member shall
be chief Justice of a High Court apart from this there shall be two other
members who have worked in the field of human rights. Apart from
the Commission there shall be a National Commission for minorities
and National Commission for women. The members of Commission
shall be appointed by the President after obtaining recommendations
from Prime Minister for appointment of chairperson and the members
shall be appointed in consultation with Speaker of the House of the
People, Minister in-charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Leader of
the Opposition in the House of the People, Leader of the Opposition in
the Council of States and Deputy Chairman of the Council of States.

19. The Chairperson shall hold office till a period of five years or till
obtaining seventy years of age, whichever is earlier and the members
shall be hold office for five years and shall be eligible for
reappointment. The act also regulates the conditions of services,
salaries, allowance and appointment of additional staff under chapter II
of the Act.
Chapter III of the Act deals with powers and functions of the
Commission dealt in sections 12 to 16. The commission is granted
powers to suo-motu look into matter concerning violation of human
rights. The commission shall also take action in cases where victim has
filed an application for violation of human rights. Apart from this the
commission may look into court proceedings pending for violation of
human rights, keep a check on jails, spread human rights literacy, and
encourage non-governmental organizations to work in the field of
human rights.

20. The Commission under section 13, while inquiring into complaints
under the Act shall have all the powers of a civil court trying a suit
under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. It shall have power to receive
complaints, issue summons, receive evidence, examine witness and
requisition any public document where after the Commission shall
forward the matter to Magistrate who shall further try the matter.
Every proceeding before the Commission shall be a judicial proceeding
under sections 193, 228, and 196 of the Indian Penal Code, and the
Commission shall be deemed to be a civil court for all the purposes of
section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
The Commission is bestowed with investigation powers while taking
help of government officer’s under section 14.

21. Chapter IV deals with the procedure after a complaint has come into
notice of Commission. The Commission shall after receiving a notice of
violation of human rights shall inquire into the matter. The State or
Central Government shall inform commission of any such violation
incase there is no such notice from the Government the Commission
shall suo-motu look into the matter. Where the inquiry discloses the
commission of violation of human rights or abetment thereof by a
public servant it shall notify the government and demand
compensation to complainant and initiate proceedings against such
officer. The commission may also approach Judicial courts for any
directions such as writs, orders etc. Recommend government
authorities to look into the matter and initiate relief to victims. The
commission shall make a report on inquiry and send the same to
concerned authority. Commission under section 19 is granted special
powers with respect to human right violations made by armed forces.

22. Legal Effect of the Declaration:-
 The Universal Declaration set for the International community a
common standard of achievement. It recognized the inherent
dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all people in all
nations. It is the duty of the States regardless of their social,
political and economic systems to promote and protect human
rights.
 The Universal Declaration was not intended to be legally binding
and therefore it did not impose any legal obligations on the States
to give effect to its provisions. In other words from the legal point
of view, the declaration was only recommendation and not strictly
binding on the states.
 The declarations addresses right to all people and all nations
whether they are members of the United Nations or not.
 The main object of the Declaration was to present the ideas of
human rights and freedoms in order to inspire everybody to work
for their progressive realization. The message conveyed is one of
hope, equality, liberation and empowerment.

23. Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
 The idea for the protection for human rights and fundamental
freedoms was conceived in the Atlantic Charter (1941) and in the
Declaration of the United Nations (1942).
 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948
with an aim to enumerate human rights for all the people. The
UDHR has inspired a rich body of legally binding international
human rights treaties. It continues to be an inspiration to all
whether in addressing injustices, in times of conflicts and in our
efforts towards achieving universal enjoyment of human rights.
 The Universal Declaration contains 30 Articles . It enumerate the
basic principles of human rights in a most comprehensive manner.
Out of 30 articles , while 21 articles enumerated civil and political
rights, 6 articles cover economic and social rights.
 It is to be noted that the Universal Declaration does not permit a
state to derogate from their obligations in public emergency which
threatens the life of the nation. Thus even in such cases the rights
cannot be suspended.

24. Promotion and Protection of Human Rights by
the United Nations:
 The prime responsibility for the promotion of human rights under
the U.N Charter rests in the General Assembly, in the Economic and
Social Council and its subsidiary body i.e. the council on human
rights.
 The term protection of human rights which may mean
implementation and enforcement action does not find place in the
U.N Charter. When human rights violations assume massive
dimensions, the General Assembly and other organs of the UN can
initiate discussion and action. Among the United Nations agencies
only the Security Council and the International Court of Justice can
engage in enforcement action; only they have a competence to
pass a binding resolution or issue a binding judgment. Enforcement
is thus the authoritative application of human rights.

25. The United Nations in the past has been able to promote and protect
human rights by certain ways which are as follows:
 Human Rights Consciousness- the first and the most important role
which the United Nations has played is that it has made the people
and the states conscious about the human rights and fundamental
freedoms.
 Codification of the law of human rights- The United Nations has
codified the different rights and freedoms by making treaties for all
sections of the people such as women, child, workers, refugees,
etc.

26. Thank you