The Human Rights Day is observed on the 10th December every year. On this day in 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The Declaration is recognition of the fact that the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family are the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world and reaffirmation of faith of the peoples of United Nations in the fundamental human rights.
What are human rights?
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.
Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.
All human rights are indivisible, whether they are civil and political rights, such as the right to life, equality before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social and cultural rights, such as the rights to work, social security and education, or collective rights, such as the rights to development and self-determination, are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. The improvement of one right facilitates advancement of the others. Likewise, the deprivation of one right adversely affects the others.
INGREDIENTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
- All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
- Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it is independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
- Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
- No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
- All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
- Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
- Everyone has the right to a nationality.
- No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
- Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
- No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
- Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
- Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
- Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
- No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
- Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
- Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
- Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
Indian Govt. is no less concerned about human rights. Human Rights Act 1993 created “The National Human Rights Commission” with the following provisions:
(a) The commission is authorized to conduct enquiry on a petition presented to it by a victim or into complaint of violation of human rights or abetment thereof or negligence by some public servant in prevention of such violation.
(b) The National Human Rights Commission can also intervene in any proceeding involving any allegation of violation of Human Rights pending before some court with the permission of the court.
(c) The commission can visit any prison in the country to study the living conditions of its inmates and make recommendations thereabout.
(d) The commission can review the existing safeguards and laws protecting Human Rights and can make suggestions for effective implementation thereof.
(e) The National Human Rights Commissions encourages NGO’s and institutions and promotes research in the field of Human Rights.
Surely, there are some remedies available against violation of human rights. You can make complaint of violation of human rights to State Human Rights Commission, National Human Rights Commission etc. However, the aggrieved parties whose human rights have been violated must be alert about their human rights. Therefore, many times justice is denied to poor, weak persons and human rights remain only in statutory books. The downtrodden group of society is compelled to suffer endless trouble.
Guidelines on how to file complaint with the NHRC :
1. Complaint may be made to the Commission by the victim or any other person on his behalf.
2. Complaint should be in writing either in English or Hindi or in any other language included in the eighth schedule of the Constitution. Only one set of complaint needs to be submitted to the Commission.
3. Complaint may be sent either by Post or Faxed at Nos. 91-11-23382911/ 23382734 or through e-mail covdnhrc@nic.in
4. No fee is chargeable on such complaints.
5. The complaint shall disclose i) violation of human rights or abetment thereof or; (ii) negligence in the prevention of such violations, by a public servant.
6. The jurisdiction of the Commission is restricted to the violation of human rights alleged to have been committed within one year of the receipt of complaint by the Commission.
7. Documents, if any enclosed in support of the allegations in the complaint must be legible.
8. Name of the victim, his/ her age, sex, religion/ caste, State and District to which the incident relates, incident date etc. should invariably be mentioned in the complaint.
9. Please submit the complaint preferably in the enclosed format.
10. Following types of Complaint(s) are not ordinarily entertain able:
i. Illegible
ii. Vague, anonymous or pseudonymous;
iii. Trivial or frivolous in nature;
iv. The matters which are pending before a State Human Rights Commission or
Any other Commission;
v. Any matter after the expiry of one year from the date on which the act
Constituting violation of human rights is alleged to have been committed;
vi. Allegation is not against any public servant;
vii. The issue raised relates to civil dispute, such property rights, contractual
Obligations, etc;
viii. The issue raised relates to service matters;
ix. The issue raised relates to labor/industrial disputes;
x. Allegations do not make out any specific violation of human rights;
xi. The matter is sub-juiced before a Court/ Tribunal;
xii. The matter is covered by judicial verdict/decision of the Commission.
11. As far as possible complainants are encouraged to make use of the format given above to file their complaints. The guidelines indicate the kind of information, which would facilitate in processing a complaint.
Contact Details :
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Faridkot House,Copernicus Marg,
New Delhi-110001, India
For Complaints-filing / status, General queries
MADAD: 91-11-23385368, +919810298900 (mobile)
Fax Nos. 1. 91-11-23384863 (Administration)
2. 91-11-23386521 (Law Division)-For Complaints-filing
3. 91-11-23073876 (Investigation)
E-Mail: covdnhrc@nic.in
Website: http://nhrc.nic.in/
Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission, Jaipur.
102, 120 – A, S. S. O. Building, Secretariat, Jaipur
Phone : 2227868 {Chairperson}, 2227565 {Secretary}
Fax : 91+0141+ 2227738 {Office}
E-Mail : rshrc@raj.nic.in
Website : http://www.rshrc.nic.in/
