Reuters photo
By
Muhammad Shoaib Khan
It is our home, it is our destiny. Heal the world and make it a better place for living.
Pakistan is a peace loving nation. They have stood by the side of every nation through thick and thin. This is because this nation believes in human rights. These human rights are not categorized on the basis of race, culture, or region, in fact this is the point of universal agreement. Every nation around the globe supports the promotion and application of universally agreed human rights. The human rights are based on the principles of humanity as well as cooperation, non-discrimination, impartiality and genuine dialogue.
Human rights, equally applicable to every entity, are still buried deep in the subconscious. Now is the time to realize that we need to start analyzing the scenarios and resolving the issues on the basis of human rights. The interventions should not be made on the basis of ethnicity so that our future generations can live in peace.
With all the emergent technologies, the advancement is progressing sky high. The inventions and discoveries are reaching far beyond the understanding of a common man. The point to ponder is even in this modern century, are the rights of humans protected the way they are supposed to?
The answer will vary according to individuals, region and culture. Because upto now a lot of people have been working on this issue. Lots of treaties have been signed and the tenth of December each year has been marked “World Human Rights Day”. Even with all this effort, the rights of the human are not protected. Half of the world is still living under the poverty line yet we claim that every individual is getting basic facilities. Human rights do not belong to a specific class, gender or race, in fact they protect the rights of every entity that includes children, adults, old citizens, physically challenged, homosexuals, prisoners, refugees, etc.
If more than half of the world community is deprived of basic facilities, then what is the point of celebrating Human Rights day?
Hunger, poverty, poor health facilities, illiteracy rate, increased security threats are the clear violations of what we call universally agreed human rights. This violation is not specified to under developing countries but also in developed and developing countries as well. It seems like we are living in a fool’s paradise. We, as a world community, are silent on all of this.
Every community and religion in the world upholds the equality of mankind irrespective of colour, creed and ideology; and advocates provision of an even playing field to everyone. In Islam, there has been great emphasis on human rights and equality. As in one of the verses of the Quran it has been said; If anyone saves one human being, then he has saved the whole humanity. This verse can be taken in every aspect of social life to protect human rights.
These rights should cater to the biological and physiological needs, safety needs, sense of belonging, self esteem and self actualization. So far a lot of policies have been made to protect this but it all appears so fancy that none of the individuals in the world realize that we are breaching the treaties every single day. So where does the United Nations stand for protecting the rights of the human? On a daily basis, Syrian people are bombed in public places in confusion and the concerned government has an apology as a result that we did not recognize these people were not terrorists. The situation of the Middle East is in front of us which is a clear depiction of a human rights violation. Similarly the atrocities in occupied Kashmir are commendable where they are defying human rights regularly. Even the UN did not have access to the territory to analyze the situation.
Human rights are important in relationships among individuals; the government also has significant power over them. The government exercises power over its people. It is the sole responsibility of the powerful authorities (government) to make sure that human rights are being implemented and exercised as per the rules and regulations. States have to look after the basic needs of the people and protect their freedom.
Power plays a primitive role in the implementation of human rights. Because the government has power; a key factor for making policies, many of the individuals who raised their voices in this regard, such as Eleanor Roosevelt’s struggles for human rights, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela’s struggles for African people, Quaid-e-Azam struggling for the subcontinent nations, all have one thing in common, i.e. power and authority. Though a lot of people have worked and lots of policies have been made, the work is not yet done. This work still demands long struggles to protect the rights of the next generation in a true manner.
In order to continue exercising the human rights and maintaining world peace, the world community must provide the necessary means to educate youth in both practical skills and spiritual values. At the same time, to enjoy human rights, youth must also be at the forefront of efforts to promote social and economic progress and justice.
From today onwards, we have to understand that every day is a human rights day as it is not the celebration of a one night stand. Because, as per Nelson Mandela; To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.
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