India Human Rights: On this day in 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UN accepted this declaration to promote human rights and to spread awareness in the world about the importance of its protection.
According to UDHR, human rights are very important rights for life. Every human being in the world is entitled to it by birth irrespective of race, caste, creed, sex, language, political or other belief or any other status. Human Rights Day is celebrated every year since 10 December 1950, two years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
It is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. In this the rights and freedoms of all human beings have been ensured. It was adopted as resolution 217 of the General Assembly on 10 December 1948 during its third session at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. At that time, 48 out of 58 members of the United Nations voted in favor of it. No one opposed this document.
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8 members did not attend this session and two member countries Honduras and Yemen did not vote. India was also among the countries that voted in favor of the declaration. This document gave a new impetus to the development of international human rights law. This document was the first step in the creation of the International Bill of Human Rights, which was created in 1966 and implemented from 1976.
‘Dignity, equality and justice for all’
Every year Human Rights Day has a theme. This year its theme is ‘Dignity, equality and justice for all’. December 10 this year marks the beginning of the 75th year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At present, there are many challenges before humanity. These themes symbolize a year-long campaign to promote and recognize human rights protection for different sections of society.
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
The UN Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental body within the United Nations System. This council is responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide. This council was formed by the United Nations General Assembly on March 15, 2006. It replaced the 60-year-old United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has been formed by consisting of 47 member states of the United Nations. In October 2021, India was elected to this council for the sixth time. India’s tenure will be for three years from 2022 to 2024. UNHRC The member states are elected for three years. Member countries cannot claim again after being elected for two consecutive terms.
Special provisions for human rights in the constitution
Taking care of human rights, provisions of fundamental rights have been made in the third part of the Indian Constitution. In its article 12 to 35, every citizen of the country has 6 basic rights without any discrimination. These rights are binding on the state. Measures have been taken to protect the citizens from the court on their violation. Apart from this, human rights have been ensured in many articles under the Directive Principles in Part 4 of the Constitution.
Human rights challenges in India
1. There are many such issues related to human rights which still remain a challenge for India. Among these, child labor, better health facilities to the people, food security for all, child marriage, women’s rights, custody and encounter deaths, protection of rights of minorities and scheduled castes and tribes are prominent.
2. It is not binding for the Central Government and the State Governments to accept the recommendations of the Human Rights Commission. Due to lack of political will, even now the recommendations of the commission are not being fully implemented.
3. Establishment of Human Rights Court in every district still exists only on paper. Section 30 and 31 of the Human Rights Protection Act 1993 talks about setting up a human rights court in every district. This responsibility has to be fulfilled by the State Governments with the consent of the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court. To say, the sessions courts of many districts of the country have been given the responsibility to work as human rights courts, but in most of the districts such courts exist only on paper.
The situation is so pathetic that even the lawyers are not aware of the existence of such courts in their districts. Nor has an attempt been made to increase awareness about such courts among the people of that district. On July 2019, the Supreme Court bench headed by the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had also issued notices in this regard to the Center and the states. There is a great need of political will to work fast in this direction.
4. The National Human Rights Commission can seek answers from the Center on any issue, but the State Human Rights Commission does not have such a right. The National Commission can also seek only reports from the Center in cases related to human rights abuses on the armed forces. The commission related to human rights can ask for compensation, but it does not have the right to investigate to catch the accused. Human rights can be promoted in true sense only by increasing the powers of the commission.
5. Under the Human Rights Protection Act, the commission cannot investigate those complaints if the complaint is filed after one year of the incident. In such a situation, many complaints remain buried in the papers without investigation by the commissions.
6. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (Second ARC) had also agreed in its report that the Human Rights Commission should be made more effective. The Human Rights Commission should set useful criteria for handling complaints. An internal system should be developed within the statutory commission to deal with the matter. In order to make the functioning of the Commission effective, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission had recommended increasing cooperation to the Central and State Governments as well.
Constitution of National Human Rights Commission
After accepting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the United Nations, it took 45 years for India to form an independent institution related to human rights. The National Human Rights Commission of India was constituted on 12 October 1993 under the Human Rights Protection Act 1993 in India. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was constituted in accordance with the Paris Principles. It is an autonomous statutory body. This commission is the watchdog of human rights in India.
The National Human Rights Commission consists of a Chairperson, four full-time members and seven honorary members. Higher qualifications have been fixed for the appointment of the chairman and members of the commission. The 1993 Act was amended through the Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019. Earlier, the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission could be the same person who had been the Chief Justice of India. After the amendment, a provision was made that a person holding the post of Chief Justice of India or any person holding the post of Supreme Court judge can become the chairperson of NHRC. Former Chief Justice of India Ranganath Mishra was the first chairman of this commission. At present, Justice Arun Kumar Mishra is carrying out its responsibility.
many programs for awareness
NHRC has continuously worked to ensure the protection of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in the country. Through several programs and activities, the Commission has also made a significant contribution in spreading awareness and sensitizing about human rights among government officials and citizens. Talking about statistics, from 1 December 2021 to 30 November 2022, NHRC registered 1,16,675 cases of human rights violations. In these, the commission itself took cognizance in 53 cases. During this, the commission disposed of about one lakh 7 thousand cases including old and new cases. The commission recommended about Rs 9.15 crore as relief to the victims in 224 cases of human rights violations.
Emphasis on speedy disposal of cases
In order to increase the reach of people to the Commission and speedy disposal of cases of human rights violations, the Commission has launched HRCnet portal (https://hrcnet.nic.in) to remove duplication of complaints and help in tracking the status of cases. ) has included several State Human Rights Commissions (SHRC). The National Human Rights Commission is focusing on the human rights of the weaker sections of the society. Since last year, the commission has been paying more attention to the rights of truck drivers, those involved in the hazardous cleaning of sewage and municipal waste.
Along with the rights and rehabilitation of mentally ill patients, the commission has also given priority to the problem of air pollution. In this regard, the commission has been continuously issuing its advisories. To spread awareness, this year NHRC has approved 23 research proposals on different topics of human rights. These include right to education, child rights, rights of tribals, impact of pandemic on human rights, right to life and livelihood, local self-governance-panchayati raj, right to food, rights of elders, rights of refugees, rights of widows, in tribal areas The rights of the living people and girl child education are important.
Today there are many new concerns regarding human rights. In the last several years, climate change and damage to the environment are emerging as the main reason for many incidents of human rights violations. The National Human Rights Commission of India believes that there is a need to increase cooperation in this direction at the international level. The commission says that for the development and growth of all, there is a need for equal cooperation among the whole world.
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