AIR Spotlight: Human Rights

AIR Spotlight is an insightful program featured daily on the All India Radio Newsonair. In this program, many eminent panellists discuss issues of importance which can be quite helpful in IAS exam preparation.

This article is about the discussion on the Human Rights.

Participants-

Interviewer : Rajesh Lekh

Justice Arun Mishra, Chairman of National Human Right Commission (NHRC)

Detail:

• Every year Human right day is celebrated on 10th December. It commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human rights by the United Nation General Assembly in 1948. The 2022 Theme of Human Rights Day is Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All.
• India was one of the participatory members of this declaration.
• It focuses upon the protection of Fundamental rights and liberties of the people across the world. This right is available to each and every individual transcending the boundaries of the nation, ethnicity, race etc.

Why are Human Rights needed:

• This year’s Human Right celebration is started on the line of concept called ‘Justice for All’. This very idea aims to make justice an inclusive concept. It aims to make justice accessible to each and every section of the society, so that India can truly realise the fundamental idea of the ‘Welfare state’
• These rights are needed by individuals in order to realise their potential by the mere virtue of the fact that they are human beings.
• These rights become cardinal since there are a lot of discriminatory practices that are followed in our society. Most of these practices work against the basic tenets of humanity i.e empathy, equality and justice.
• Our constitution depicts India as a ‘welfare country’ , which talks about giving everyone their due and providing for the basic necessity of every citizen.

Characteristics of human rights: 

• Universality and inalienability: Human rights are universal as well as  inalienable. These are the rights that are available to the individual to the individual by the virtue of the fact that they are human beings. 
• Indivisibility: Human rights are indivisible. Whether civil, political, economic, social or cultural in nature, they are all inherent to the dignity of every human person.
• Inter-dependence and inter-relatedness:  For instance, the realisation of the right to health may depend on the realisation of the right to education or of the right to information. 
• Equality and non-discrimination: All individuals are equal as human beings and by virtue of the inherent dignity of each human person. All human beings are entitled to their human rights without discrimination of any kind, such as race, color, sex, ethnicity

Difference between the Fundamental rights and the Human rights:

• Fundamental rights are the rights of a country’s citizens that are stated in the constitution and enforced by the law. Human rights, on the other hand, are the safeguards that a human being seeks in order to live in dignity and equality.
• Human rights, include certain rights that are fundamental to real life and that are unconditional, i.e. that can not be excluded. On the other hand, fundamental rights only include certain rights that are fundamental to a normal existence.
• While fundamental rights are nation-specific, i.e. these rights may differ from country to country. There is a worldwide recognition of human rights, which ensures that these rights are enjoyed by all individuals.
• Fundamental rights are extracted from a free society’s opinions. Human liberties, on the other hand, derive from the ideas of civilised countries.

Respect for human rights are instrumental for growth and development of democracy. If these rights are not respected then the people are not in a position to realise their full potential. 

Read previous AIR Spotlight articles in the link.

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