IT Desk
Imphal, Dec 10:
Today the world is observing the International Human Rights Day under the theme “Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for all” for promotion and recognition of the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which will be celebrated on this day, next year i.e. 2023.
This year’s theme – “dignity, freedom, and justice for all” is incorporated with a call to #StandUp4HumanRights.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, in a statement said, “At a time when the world emerged from cataclysmic events, the Declaration set out universal rights and recognized the equal worth of every person.”
Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, human rights have become more recognised and more guaranteed across the globe. It has since served as the foundation for an expanding system of human rights protection that today focuses also on vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and migrants.
The Declaration of Human Rights was agreed upon by 48 member states when it was first created (today the number of member countries has reached 193). The year-long campaign seeks to shift the needle of understanding and action towards greater knowledge of the universality of the UDHR and the activism associated with it.
People deserve to be treated fairly, with dignity, and respect. Every person deserves a set of rights by which they can live their life as they choose, and without being oppressed, suppressed or owned by someone else. The promise of the UDHR, of dignity and equality in rights, has been under attack. The world is facing a climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing conflicts, economic instability, misinformation, racial injustice, and global setbacks on women’s rights. People are frustrated and have lost trust with what’s being seen as the inaction and irrelevance of governments and institutions in protecting human rights. Young people don’t feel heard or know the existence of the Declaration.
Despite the efforts to protect human rights, the hostility toward human rights and those who defend them continues to rise. As a result, this year’s Human Rights Day advocates for everyone to stand up for their rights including civil, economic, political and cultural rights.
The day also acknowledges the advocates and defenders of human rights around the world.
For that reason, we the people need to digest the current state of our ‘dignity and freedom of all forms’ to ensure that justice be delivered to all people.
According to Dipak Misra, the former Chief Justice of India, human dignity as a concept is not easily definable or describable. One has to feel it and one has to understand and appreciate it.
According to Psychologist Donna Hicks, an Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and author of the “Dignity: The Essential Role it Plays in Resolving Conflict”, “Dignity” is our inherent value and worth. The psychologist also said that dignity is also a core issue that sparked conflict between two identities. We all come to this world equally valuable and equally worth. So according to her when we honour somebody’s dignity we accept their identity, we recognize their unique qualities no matter who they are, we need to acknowledge the feeling of someone and also their sense of belongingness besides recognizing their freedom and independence. And to honour somebody’s dignity is to make sure that they feel safe and secure both psychologically and physically. When we honoured somebody’s dignity we give them benefit of doubt (about who they are? What are their experiences).
So, if one understands the dignity of a person imagine what would be the state of our society.
This psychological concept of dignity is of no difference to the definition given by legal experts. Even though the debate pertaining to dignity is vast as it ranges from constitutional law to criminal law and from free speech to bio ethics dignity of a human being is in one way the Humanity.
If Humanity of a Human being is forcibly snatched he loses his identity and existential potentiality.
So it is important for every nation to understand dignity and for that reason the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated that “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”. Similarly the preamble of our (India) constitution also assures dignity to all citizens. It mention about delivering justice, liberty, equality.
So, both from the psychological and legal views, understanding dignity is the way forward to peace, prosperity and development.
But then the essence of ‘dignity’ in present day Manipur seems to be partially perished which may goes to total extinction if we of today’s generation fails to uphold the concept.
Today, we as the people of Manipur need to know where is our dignity, assured by the UDHR or by the Constitution of India. Is our identity safe and protected and if so why there are chaos happening in the region for the sake of protecting our identity. Where in the constitution of India has define the meaning of Indigenous people when the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) urged to protect the right of the indigenous people of every region. Why there is still a hot issue in connection with the recognition of the political identity of the erstwhile nation which was merged to the Indian Union in 1949. Why are the people of the region still treated as 2nd class citizens by imposing a separate draconian act called Armed Forces special power act. Where is the dignity of the people of the state.
In today’s Manipur intellectuals’ rights are now slowly curtailed. Teachers are forbidden from criticizing to any policies of the government. The voice of dissent has been completely suppressed in this democratic country, by making the free speech slowly vanishing from the pages of the Constitution of India.
