Sambhav

In the June, 2008 issue, we introduced you to the Universal declaration of Human Rights and also took up a few issues related to Article-1 of this declaration. In the forthcoming issues, we will try and understand all the articles by means of case- studies and examples. This will help us empathise and connect better. In this issue, we will talk about the second Article.

Article 2: All people are entitled to rights without distinction based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, opinion, origin, property, birth or residency.

All human beings are born free but they grow up, inevitably, with a feeling of segregation. The divisions that exist are all man made, and are violently defended in the name of preserving religious identity or cultural diversity. Of course, cultural diversity is important. But in the guise of preserving it discrimination on various levels, individual as well as societal, is rampant, and the cause of unnecessary problems. Most conflicts today are because of segregation created by self and the society.

Apartheid in South Africa (past), communalism in India, the Israel – Palestine conflict for “property”, the ill- treatment of the aborigines of Australia and the Roma gypsy community of Europe are all examples of violation of this article. These are just a few of the many hundreds of cases. These are a few which completely violate the principles of equality and non-discrimination.

The article (2) is extremely broad, encompassing various aspects of people’s interaction with others. Let us rewind back to the “World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance” which took place in South Africa, 2001. This marked the coming together of more than 150 countries who are members of the United Nations, UN organizations and government organizations on this common agenda. This was supposed to be a significant chapter in the efforts of the UN, which has been trying hard to fight racial discrimination. But, unfortunately it slid into the background due to the 9/11 attacks which took place just days after this conference concluded.

The conference saw various issues discussed including the sources, the victims, the measures for prevention and the strategies required to overcome challenges in attaining the right to equality. At the end of the conference, a total of 160 states converged upon the final declaration. This declaration urges all governments, “who have not contributed to restoring the dignity of the victims to find appropriate ways to do so”. However, it does not call for the United Kingdom, and other former colonial powers, to pay reparations. Almost all countries recognized that racism was still prevalent and related intolerance still existed to a large extent and that they would have to work untiringly towards eliminating these obstacles. They came out with various strategies including involving other NGO’s, organizations working in the areas to be made part of the decision making process in major policies and providing access to education and health facilities without discrimination. This conference saw a huge participation from all countries and it was aimed to bring together a positive impact. We want to take this forward and make everyone aware of this.

Here, at Sambhav, the people who we work with, have also been discriminated due to their descent. Prior to 1952, there were communities who were classified as “criminal tribes”, and anyone belonging to these communities automatically became criminals! Though now the name has been modified to “de-notified tribes (DNT)”, the stigma still remains even after more than 50 years. But unfortunately along with the Criminal tribes Act of 1952, the government concurrently enacted a series of Habitual Offenders Acts. These Acts asked police authorities to investigate a suspect’s criminal tendencies and whether his occupation is “conducive to settled way of life”. Although the Habitual Offenders Acts has been banned, police forces around the country still persecute the De-notified and Nomadic Tribes in the same way on many cases. These tribes are regularly subjected to public humiliation, beatings and custodial deaths.

It will take time for the people to change their mind; but again, it is all of us who have to initiate this change. We need participation from all individuals in making our society free from any “man-made” barriers. We have to ensure justice for all and see that every individual is guaranteed his or her human rights. We believe that all people constitute one human family, however different their cultures may be.

Sources:

[1] Human Rights Watch – http://www.hrw.org

[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk

[3] http://www.wikipedia.org

[4] http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/02/india-dalits.html

[5] http://www.google.com    [Home]