Moral Pressure and Human Rights Compliance
Kartavya Desk Staff
Syllabus: Applications of Ethics
Source: The Hindu
Context: In a world increasingly plagued by prejudice and fanaticism, the centrality of human rights is more crucial than ever.
What are Human Rights?
Human rights are moral principles or norms for certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly protected in municipal and international law.
Issues with Human Rights Compliance at global level
• Authoritarian Regimes: Governments like those in North Korea, China, and Russia often ignore international human rights norms. Despite global condemnation, these regimes maintain oppressive practices without significant reforms.
• State Sovereignty: The principle of state sovereignty can obstruct the enforcement of human rights. Countries may reject external pressures or interventions, citing their right to self-governance.
• Selective Enforcement: Human rights violations are sometimes addressed selectively based on geopolitical interests. For example, some nations receive criticism for abuses while others, due to strategic alliances, avoid significant international scrutiny.
• Lack of Implementation: Even when human rights standards are adopted, implementation can be superficial. For instance, Myanmar has faced global condemnation for its treatment of the Rohingya, but substantive policy changes remain limited.
• Ineffective Sanctions: Economic sanctions or military interventions, such as those imposed on Syria or Venezuela, often fail to resolve human rights abuses and can exacerbate humanitarian crises.
• Resistance to Shaming: Efforts to name and shame violators, like the international backlash against Israel’s policies or Russia’s actions in Ukraine, may lead to only cosmetic changes or outright denial of allegations.
Promotion and protection of human rights:
• Article 51 A (g): Every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment and have compassion for living creatures.
• Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993(as amended in 2019) provided for the constitution of a National Human Rights Commission at the Union level, which steers the State Human Rights Commission in States and Human Rights Courts.
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights: It is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). It establishes the rights and freedoms of all members of the human race.
• Human Rights Day is celebrated on 10th December all around the world.
• Freedom in the World 2021 report released earlier this year downgraded India’s status from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free’.
• Human Rights Council: The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights.
• Amnesty International: An international organisation of volunteers who campaign for human rights.
Steps taken for the preservation of human rights:
• Governance systemic reforms and affirmative initiatives: particularly in the Health and Economic sectors.
• Inclusive growth: It is also antidotal to violation of human rights.
• Banking network: 400 million getting into banking networks and over 200 million families benefiting out of free cooking gas connections.
Challenges to human rights:
• Conflicting definition of what forms human rights: E.g. while the world has condemned Chinese persecution of the Uighur community for human rights violations, China sees it as anti-terror/ anti-separatist measures.
• Silence: Silent and voiceless existence of the majority of our citizens
• Corruption: Human rights get compromised in the face of corruption.
Importance of Human rights:
• Flourishing of Democracy: Human rights are quintessential for flourishing democracy.
• Democratic values: They are of no significance in the absence of human rights.
• Dignity: Nurturing human rights is the nectar of dignity and dignified human existence.
• Positive ecosystem: Flourishing human rights generates a positive ecosystem that facilitates optimal utilisation of human talent.
• Development: It brings about holistic development.
• Indian culture: The pro-human rights foundational spirit of Indian culture, is reflected in Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad.
Actions to Improve Human Rights Compliance:
• Strengthen International Pressure: Increase coordinated global efforts through sanctions, diplomatic pressure, and public condemnation to hold violators accountable.
• Enhance Accountability Mechanisms: Improve international legal frameworks and institutions to effectively investigate and prosecute human rights violations.
• Support Grassroots Activism: Encourage and support local human rights organizations and activists to address abuses from the ground up.
• Promote Transparency: Advocate for greater transparency in human rights practices and data reporting to expose abuses and drive accountability.
• Foster Global Cooperation: Build alliances among nations, NGOs, and international bodies to create a unified front against human rights violations.
Insta Links:
Mains Links:
Critically examine the roles and responsibilities of the National Human Rights Commission. (10M)