Today, December 10, the world
over is commemorating the 2016 Human Rights Day. In 1950, the United Nations (UN)
General Assembly proclaimed 10th December of every year as Human
Rights Day, to bring the attention of people of the world to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all
peoples as well as all nations.
The
theme of this year’s anniversary is ‘Stand up for someone’s rights today!’ This
implies that every so often a certain thing/event that is of astounding
importance comes to pass that we must stand up and recognize it. We are
required to place such thing on the pedestal it deserves, and ensure that the
precepts and policies put in place by it are adhered to, appreciated as well as
spread as far as the human voice would carry. Such is the sort of message sent
by Human Rights Day.
In any existing society, everyone is entitled
to certain rights and/or privileges, as the case may be, which signifies the
value of that person in the society in question. This phenomenon is invariably
regarded by all and sundry as ‘human rights.’ Human rights are moral principles
or norms that describe certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly
safeguarded as legal rights in both national and international laws. They are
usually seen as undeniable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently
entitled, because he/she is a human being, and bona-fide member of the society,
regardless of the person’s location, language, skin colour, religion, social
affiliations, ethnic origin, and background, among other statuses.
Human rights are universal and supreme, in
the sense that it is being applicable everywhere and at every time; and they
are also egalitarian, in the sense of being the same for everyone. They require
empathy and the rule of law, and impose an obligation on persons to respect the
human rights of others.
It’s fundamentally forbidden for
human rights to be taken away, or overlooked by any person, officer, court of
law, or instituted authority, unless as a result of due process based on
specific circumstances. Ordinarily, human rights require freedom from unlawful molestation,
discrimination, assault, torture, detention, imprisonment, and/or execution,
which have recently been the order of the day in most localities, particularly
Nigeria. It’s not anymore news that in most homes across the federation,
housewives are living not unlike mere slaves unknowingly to their
parents/guardians; needless to say that they are dying in silence as each day
unfolds.
Rape and paedophilia, among other forms of
child abuse, have abruptly dominated the polity. In our various schools, a
teacher, rather than function as the mentor of the pupil under his custody,
would prefer to be a tormentor. Yet each day, this set of deviants walk freely
on our roads and streets, thereby making concerned Nigerians insinuate that the
country’s constitution that ought to protect people’s rights is docile and incapacitated.
The doctrine of human rights has
been highly influential within national and international laws coupled with
regional and global institutions. Actions by states and non-governmental
organizations form a basis of public policy worldwide. There is a consensus
that human rights encompasses a wide variety of rights such as the right to
life, fair trial, prosecution, protection against enslavement, prohibition of
genocide, free speech, information dissemination, choice of religion, and a
right to education. Though some thinkers or schools of thought are of the view
that human rights ought to comprise a minimum requirement to avoid the worst
case abuses, others see the wide variety as a higher standard.
Many of the basic ideas that
yielded the Human Rights Movement came up in the aftermath of the Second World
War and the atrocities of The Holocaust. The aforementioned ideas or views
culminated in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in
Paris, France by the UN General Assembly in the year 1948, although the ancient
people did not have the same modern day ideology of universal human rights -
thus people’s rights were still not safeguarded as required.
The real forerunner of human
rights crusade was the concept of natural rights which appeared as part of the
medieval natural law tradition that became notable during the enlightenment by
philosophers like Francis Hutcheson, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui,
and which featured predominantly in the political thrives of both the American
and French Revolutions. The modern human rights arguments emerged during the
half of the twentieth century possibly as a reaction to slavery, torture,
genocide, and war crimes, as a realization of inherent human vulnerability and
as being a precondition for the emergence of the anticipated just society.
Owing to the supremacy and universality of
human rights, every adopted constitution or bye-law creates a special column
which categorically stipulates the rights and privileges binding the entire
members of the society/group that abides by the mandates of the said
constitution, and such provision is bound to remain sacrosanct among the
members unless unanimous amendments are made to that effect.
Frankly, adequate recognition of
the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of
the human family is the rudiments of freedom, peace and justice in the world. And
since all human beings were born free and equal in dignity and rights, there is
an absolute need for the fundamental rights stipulated in any constitution to
be duly upheld, in order to put to a stop all categories of human rights abuse taking
place in all nooks and crannies across the globe.
So, as Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate
the 2016 edition of the Human Rights Day, the mandate of any adopted
constitution or bye-law regarding fundamental rights and privileges should be
treated as sacrosanct or supreme by the overall members of the society in
question irrespective of their statuses, and that every member regardless of
his/her status ought to be a beneficiary to such provision. In other words,
this day calls for outright protection of all the extant laws cum Acts in
Nigeria, particularly the country’s 1999 Constitution, as amended, which
represents the overall interest of the citizenry.
It’s equally imperative not to hesitate in amending any law/Act whenever
the need arises. Every extant law deserves to be reviewed from time to time
with the sole aim of making amends if need be, hence, such approach shouldn’t
be taken for granted by the legislature. Moreover, a law that is not being
properly implemented by the apt authority is just ceremonial, thus the various
law enforcement agencies must leave no stone unturned towards ensuring that the
needful is invariably done in their respective jurisdictions. The judicial
custodians ought to as well curtail the ongoing high level of prolonged court
hearing.
The civil society activists on
their part are expected to, at all times, display fierce and uncompromising attitudes
towards upholding the nobility of human rights. Regardless of our ages,
occupations and affiliations, it’s our civic responsibility to ensure at all
cost that the country’s laws as well as Acts are viable and duly safeguarded.
Think about it!
@mediambassador
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