By Meshuwa Mawthoh
Every human in this world is born free and equal in their dignity and their rights. All humans, whether male or female, black or white, fat or thin, indigenous or foreign, are entitled to this without any distinction of any sort. This entitlement to basic rights is known as human rights and is recognised the world over.
The United Nations, which is the largest international organisation of more than 193 nations, had adopted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948. This declaration became the foundation for most of the nations’ human rights declarations and, even our country’s Fundamental Rights have been inspired by the same. This declaration serves as the basic yardstick for all member countries to implement and, failure or non-compliance would lead to sanctions and even disqualification from being a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Despite fundamental rights being an important topic for discussion, the same is only given lip service by many, while being remembered once a year. Most citizens of the country are not even aware of their fundamental rights and how they can avail such rights. Schools that should act as the catalyst of educating young minds on the same, fail to do so; only a chapter or topic is included in the civics textbook which teachers mostly skip and pay no heed to.
This attitude towards human rights is primarily the reason why there is gross violation of human rights across the world. The UN-UDHR mentions more than 30 articles describing the various rights entitled to all humans, while the Indian Constitution defines six fundamental rights with Right to Education as an addition. Each of these rights are protected by law. The stark reality of today is that a majority of Indian citizens are unaware of their rights and therefore, their abusers get away easily.
In the state of Meghalaya, despite gross violations of human rights not being observed, there are many violations that go unnoticed by the public eye due to apathy and the victim being unaware of their rights. If we go through each fundamental right, we will be able to have an overview of violations of such rights.
There is a right to equality regardless of gender, race, community or religion. This right can be very tricky to deal with, for a state under the ambit of the Sixth schedule that protects the rights of the schedule tribes and makes some reservation for the underprivileged communities. Over the years, this reservation has helped the rise of an elite group of individuals from the tribal society and has caused a divide within the tribals themselves – one section of tribals that are privileged and another that have never been able to cross over and make a mark while remaining underprivileged. This, in itself, has created an unequal access to opportunities and in a way needs to be reassessed. There is need for a new reservation policy that really concentrates on lifting up the underprivileged and not just favoring a particular class of people. There have been various debates on this and personally, the one solution for me is to look at the financial situation of the individual before such reservations are granted.
The right to freedom is, no doubt, one of the rights which is better understood by the citizens in the state. However, there have been various instances in which the same has been misused by individuals and has created more chaos than good. The recent event that was observed in the month of October is one such incident in which this right has been abused. This right is also one that the people in power are very quick to curb, especially the freedom of expression.
This is, at times, the most curbed freedom and the internet ban is one way which really prevents people from expressing their thoughts. Other ways include denying people their right to protest peacefully or censuring newspaper that have a different opinion to those in power. In the United States, they call it their First Amendment right and it is absolute in every situation. We must learn from the Americans that free speech must always be protected at all costs. I am reminded of a story of Prime Minister Nehru when he would use a pen name just to send articles to newspapers criticizing himself; people in power must develop a thick skin to face opinions not in their favor.
The right against exploitation is one of the lesser-known rights and yet is actually one of the most abused rights by individuals in the state. Let us delve into child labour. Something that is observed in the capital city is, the phenomena of taking young adolescents as house helps in exchange for giving them education here by getting them admission in evening schools around the city. No doubt this is a noble initiative, but in most cases, it is not. The child abuse that occurs is unimaginable and goes unreported. There have also been many cases of workers having to work in inhabitable situations for long work hours. An important case in point would be the death of many coal mine workers in the mines despite coal mining being banned. Human trafficking and forced labour are just a few examples that I can state. Youths being promised jobs in metros and then being duped into forced prostitution or bonded labour is also just one of the many issues that we hear about, but always overlook.
Right to free and compulsory education – a very clear right, but to which extent do we actually see it being implemented? A case in point to notice is the low enrolment rates in schools and the surge in dropout rates. Whether we actually see this right being implemented, is something we must think about. If we travel to rural areas, kids are enrolled in schools but you would catch them in the paddy fields or at home taking care of a younger sibling. When you ask the parents, they say the stomach demands and you are filled with pity for them. Can you prosecute such parents? When bread is more important than education, what can you do to implement this right? How many kids actually go to school in rural areas to explore opportunities beyond their villages? Assuming that the kid completes up to the primary level, how many villages have secondary schools to support the kid’s education? Maybe the kid has to travel kilometers just to study. If that is also done, how many village clusters have higher secondary schools to support the students of the block or cluster? The state of affairs is very depressing because we might preach all about the right to education, but the reality and the practicality is still utopian in nature. Therefore, rights are mere words on paper.
I personally am a strong believer that rights are not absolute; if your right tramples on my right, then we have a major problem. The debate on fundamental rights is never-ending and as we celebrate International Human Rights Day, it is also important to dwell on this year’s theme – “Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All.” Each human is entitled to basic rights and for them to understand that entitlement, they must be educated and informed of their rights. It is the duty of the Government to ensure people are made aware of the rights they hold. Such discussions should not be a one-day thing or only a lip service movement, but encouraged on a daily basis.
Every person must be educated of their rights, must uphold them and empower those around to do the same. The only way we can achieve the declaration is through a collective effort by all stakeholders. Whether or not all rights will be preserved in all situations at all times, is a question to ponder on. Rights are never absolute, but basic rights are always to be honoured.