VOILATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

1. Violation of Human Rights

2. Violation: Meaning
• the act of doing something that is not allowed by
a law or rule
• the act of ignoring or interfering with a person's
rights
• the act of showing disrespect for something

3. Forms of Violation of Rights
• Discrimination
• Exploitation
• Deprivation
• Neglect
• Violence

4. Violation of Rights by State
• Repressive nature of state and its coercive machinery
▫ Forced Eviction and Displacement
▫ Deliberately skewed allocation of resources: Prioritizing
the wealthy over the poor or prioritizing the interests of
functionaries and bureaucrats over the needs of the population.
▫ Elite capture (Influential detention) of state resources:
Powerful people (superior social, political or economic status) have
uneven influence in the development process of the government.
▫ Unequal impact of macroeconomic policies: Even when
government policies appear to be neutral, they often reflect an
inherent bias toward one group over another or impose costs on
groups who are already marginalized.
▫ Unfair International Trade Rules: Rich countries keep their
markets closed and keep out the goods of poor countries through
tariff barriers, despite of promotion of free trade policies and its
imposition on poor countries. This would be considered as
violation of their (rich country’s) duty to respect the human rights
of people living in other countries. This is known as
‘extra-territorial obligations’.

5. Violation of Rights by State
• Role of Armed and Para-military Forces: Armed
forces are also facilitated with Armed Forces (Special
Powers) Act (AFSPA), which confer vast powers on them to
be deployed in disturbed areas. According to AFSPA,
armed forces have following powers in the “disturbed”
areas:
▫ Fire upon or use force, even to the extent of causing
death, against any person, who is acting in
contraventions of any law or against assembly of five or
more persons or in possession of deadly weapons.
▫ To arrest without warrant and with the use of force,
anyone who has committed certain offenses or is
suspected of having done so.
▫ To enter and search any premise in order to make such
arrest.
▫ This act gives legal immunity to the Armed Forces.

6. Violation of Rights by State
• Various cases of misuse and human right violation have
been reported by various human rights organizations in
this context:
▫ Civilian killing in firing: While encounters with
terrorists, various civilian (innocent) are also killed.
▫ Torture and Custodial killing: Civilians suspected of
having information about militants, many of them
innocent, are routinely detained, tortured and killed in
custody, besides militants.
▫ Disappearances: Various cases of disappearance have
also been reported by NGOs or human right
organizations. People are arrested and detained for
interrogation without following any lawful procedure.
They later on become disappeared and no one knows
anything about them.
▫ Rapes

7. Violation of Rights by State
• Preventive Detention Laws
▫ How one can say that a person will do crime in future?
▫ Unlike ordinary arrest or imprisonment, preventive detention is
affected without trial.
▫ It is completely against the democratic constitutions.
▫ Such laws should not be used in peacetimes.
▫ Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) says that rights can only be limited “in time of public
emergency which threatens the life of the nation”.
▫ Detainee’s vulnerability to torture, discriminatory treatment and
probability of misuse of such laws by officials is high.
▫ Long period of detention (2 months) poses threat of torture.
▫ Constitution of India has permitted the government to pass
preventive detention laws against its own citizens in the name of
national security and maintenance of public order as per Entry 9 of
List I and Entry 3 of List III of the Constitution. There are many
examples of misuse of such powers by State, in Indian history.
▫ There are chances that due to lack of time and facts, the rights of
an innocent have been violated.

8. Violation of Rights by State
• Corruption
▫ State violates the right to economic self-determination if it
transfers (in a corrupt manner) the national wealth to select
power-holders who happen to be influential in a society at a
particular point of time.
▫ Corruption leads to denial of right to freely use, exploit and
dispose of national wealth for individual and collective
development of the society.
▫ In 1986, UN declared Right to development as fundamental
right. Corruption as an institutionalised process interferes
with people's struggles to realise their right to development.
▫ The right to a society free of corruption is in itself a basic
human right because all other human rights, like, right to life,
dignity, equality etc. depends significantly upon this right.

9. Violation of Rights by State
• Police Atrocities
▫ Encounter Deaths: Police used to take custody of some individuals or
groups, torture them and then murder them. But then those deaths are
shown as encounter deaths.
▫ Custodial Conditions
● Below standard Health services
● Poor hygiene and cleanliness
● Lack of psychiatric services
● No protocols for those at risk of self harm or for people with suicidal
tendencies.
● Less medical and prison staff
● No regular assessment of prisoners by a medical practitioner
● Lack of proper procedures for the exchange of information
● Inappropriate security procedures for prisoners
● Lack of safety measures for female prisoners
▫ Torture and Custodial Deaths: Police use brutal methods (known as third
degree) to get forced confession from people. Sometimes tortures are so
much unbearable that they lead to the death of the prisoner.

10. Violation of Rights by State
• Failure of Government Systems
▫ Failure to ensure a minimum wages sufficient for a decent living.
▫ Failure to prevent starvation.
▫ Failure to ensure access to information and services related health.
▫ Failure to provide equal opportunities of education to children
with disabilities.
▫ Failure to prevent employers from discriminating in recruitment
(on basis of gender, disability, race, HIV status, etc.).
▫ Failure to prohibit public and private entities from contaminating
food and water.
▫ Failure to provide for an adequate working environment in the
public and private sector.
▫ Failure to provide equal status to minority.
▫ Failure to provide social assistance to people.
▫ Failure to provide basic facilities to the citizens for their living, like,
housing, water, electricity etc.

11. Violation of Rights by Groups and
Individuals
• Violation by Corporations
▫ Destruction of livelihoods of people by use of capital intensive techniques.
▫ Environmental Destruction: Their actions may lead to destruction of
environment. E.g. Pollution, acquisition of agricultural land for industrial
purpose etc.
▫ Sometimes private organizations damage the welfare of society for profit
motives.
▫ Poor working conditions for workers
▫ Lower wages and facilities for workers

12. Violation of Rights by Groups and
Individuals
• Violation by Other Groups or Individuals
▫ Abuse: Abuse means improper usage or treatment of an
individual to achieve undue and unfair benefits.
● Physical Abuse: Assault (Physical attack), Physical injury, rape
● Verbal Abuse: Use of abusive language, Misbehaviour, verbal
aggression.
▫ Homicide: Homicide occurs when a person purposely,
knowingly, recklessly, or negligently causes the death of
another. This is violation of right to life. This could be done by
a group or an individual.
▫ Discrimination: Discrimination of any kind by some group
or individual on any basis: Gender, race, religion, caste,
income, social status etc. is violation of right to equality.
▫ Extrajudicial Killing: Any type of killing, other than
ordered by the judiciary system, is illegal. E.g. Honour Killing
is very much prevalent in many of Indian villages.

13. Violation by Other Groups or
Individuals
▫ Forced Marriage
▫ Child Marriage
▫ Dowry Deaths
▫ Human Trafficking
▫ Child labour