2014 Int'l Human Solidarity Day (Aired Viewpoint)

A CLARION CALL FOR THOROUGH BROTHERHOOD AMONG NIGERIANS AS WE CELEBRATE THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN SOLIDARITY DAY, TODAY SATURDAY DECEMBER 20

Solidarity, in a precise term, could be defined as a complete unity and support among people of a certain group. It can also be addressed as an absolute togetherness showcased by members/occupants of a particular group or locality as the case might be.

Solidarity is identified in the Millennium Declaration as one of the fundamental values of international relations in the twenty-first (21^st) century, wherein those who either suffer or benefit least deserve help or support from those who benefit most. Consequently, in the context of globalization and the challenge of growing inequality, the uplift of international solidarity remains unavoidable.

Surely, the concept of solidarity has defined the work of the United Nations (UN) since the birth of the organization. The establishment of the UN drew the peoples and nations of the world together to promote peace, human rights, social and economic developments. The body was founded on a basic premise of unity and harmony among its Member States. It is indeed in the spirit of solidarity that the union relies on cooperation in solving international plights of socio-economic, cultural or humanitarian origin in order to maintain universal peace and security.

Frankly, solidarity is a very vital tool required to solve problems in our interconnected world. We can only reach our shared goals if people are able to participate in the formulation and implementation of plans, policies, programmes, and what have you, to shape our common future, since it is already noted that commitments without empowerment are merely words without meaning.

Having noticed the effect of solidarity among mankind, there is no need reiterating the fact that thorough brotherhood can only be actualized through indulgence in solidarity. Thus, adoption of human solidarity by any entity is no doubt a pathway towards an arena loaded with undiluted unity, since a thorough brotherhood practice among a group of individuals is an epitome of exemplary oneness.

Today Saturday December 20, the world over is celebrating the 2014 International Human Solidarity Day; the annual International Human Solidarity Day was established on 22^nd December 2005, by the United Nations (UN). Having acknowledged the fact that solidarity is one of the basic and universal values that ought to underlie relations between peoples in the Twenty-first Century, on the aforementioned date, the UN General Assembly decided to proclaim December 20 of each year as Int’l Human Solidarity Day.

Prior to the adoption of the Day by the United Nations, by resolution on 20^th December 2002, the General Assembly established the World Solidarity Fund which was duly set up in February 2003 as a trust fund of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Its motive is to eradicate poverty and promote social and human development in developing countries, particularly amongst the poorest segments of their populations.

Since it is obvious that solidarity, which guarantees absolute unity, is as well a giant step towards alleviating the poverty level of any society, then there is an urgent need for a right thinking citizen of any country such as Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone among others currently salvaged by poverty to support the ongoing human solidarity crusade as much as they can. In addition, there is also need for a country like Nigeria that is being attacked by insurgency to do everything humanly possible to ensure that solidarity among the citizenry becomes the order of the day.

Nigeria can promote thorough brotherhood among her populace by closing the existing gaps including ethnicity, corruption, nepotism, religious cum social discrimination, chauvinism, and personal aggrandizement that are presently found in the country’s socio-political sector. As the country is fast approaching another era of interregnum, there is need for all the electorates to comprehend the essence of solidarity with the view of actualizing a common goal that would benefit the country in its entirety.

As the global community commemorates the annual International Human Solidarity Day, today, I’m urging the Nigerian citizenry to borrow a leave from the developed nations such as United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and United States of America in regard to embracing thorough brotherhood, which is indeed a scenario that would yield the long awaited socio-economic emancipation.

 

 

 

          FDN NWAOZOR
Public Affairs Analyst & Rights Activist

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            frednwaozor@gmail.com   

              +2348028608056  

       

2014 Int'l Human Rights Day (Aired News-Commentary)

THE NEED TO UPHOLD THE MANDATE OF ANY CONSTITUTION AS THE WORLD COMMEMORATES THE HUMAN RIGHTS DAY, TODAY WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10, 2014

In any existing society, everyone is entitled to certain rights 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 simply because he or she is a human being as well as a bona-fide member of that society regardless of the person’s location, language, skin colour, religion, ethnic origin, 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.

Fundamentally, it is forbidden for human rights to be taken away, ignored or overlooked by any person, officer, court of law or any 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 or countries.

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 while 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 United Nations (UN) General Assembly in the year 1948. Although the ancient people did not have the same modern-day ideology of universal human rights.

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.

From the above foundation, 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.

Due 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, sine 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 forms of human rights abuses taking place in all nooks and crannies across the globe.

Today Wednesday December 10, the world over is commemorating the 2014 Human Rights Day. In 1950, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 10^th 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.

This year’s slogan – ‘Human Rights 365’, bears the idea that every day is Human Rights Day. It celebrates the fundamental proposition in the Universal Declaration that each one of us, everywhere, at all times, is entitled to the full range of human rights. It also showcases that human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values.

As the world commemorates the Human Rights Day today, I’m earnestly soliciting that 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.

At this juncture, I enjoin all Rights activists and civil societies to be fierce and uncompromising as they strive relentlessly towards upholding the nobility of Human Rights.

 

        COMR FRED NWAOZOR

Public Affairs Analyst & Rights Activist

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          frednwaozor@gmail.com

             +2348028608056  

  

The Truth About Emotional Heartbreak

WHEN A HEART IS ‘BROKEN’

Greetings brethren! I wish to commence with two distinct messages; what you owe me is to grant me a listening ear. Mind you, failure to be all ears might cost you an irreplaceable fortune. To before warned is to before armed.

First: don’t be afraid to give up the good and go for the great. On the other hand; every scar has a story, so you shouldn’t be afraid to tell it. Yes you ought not to be afraid to surrender any good thing in your possession in order to embrace great ones. Also, you mustn’t shy away from telling a story that you experienced no matter how it pains to do so.

Don’t forget; a person who chases two rabbits concurrently, catches neither. Thus you must let go of one of the rabbits if you really want to catch any. Furthermore, for everything you have lost, you have surely gained something else in return.

If you closely and wisely consider the above statements, you would notice that they are talking about two things. Of course the aforementioned messages are discussing the importance of two major factors, namely: sacrifice and sharing. Yes they are all preaching the essence of sacrifice or sharing, or the need to sacrifice something if you are determined to acquire something else as well as the need for one to share his/her bad experience with someone else.

Believe me, it is important to share a bad or unfair experience with someone because a word of encouragement after failure or having encountered a detour worth more than an hour of praise after success. Therefore share any experience with someone because if you wait until you’re ready, I’m afraid you may be waiting the rest of your life. In the same vein, there’s need to sacrifice something in order to obtain something great or for the sake of embracing the ‘Best’; Abraham laid a good example on sacrifice and we are expected to emulate that.

Three weeks ago, I was opportune to find myself in Abuja – the Nigerian capital territory for a certain convention. During the ceremony, which lasted for forty-eight hours, I ran into a colleague who confided in me and told me that he was passing through a heartbreak due to the ‘heartless’ gesture displayed by his purported fiancée. According to him, the lady in question left him for another man who resides in Germany without any prior notice or signal.

Heartbreak can be described as very great sadness or unhappiness. In other words, a heartbroken person is one who is extremely sad and upset. Among mankind, the term ‘heartbreak’ is often used when one is passing through an emotional trauma having being hurt by his/her love-partner; and this is the area where the context of this edition lies. Let’s ride on!

In recent times, heartbreak attributed to love-affairs has taken a different dimension in such a manner that most youths see it as a way of life. This alarming shape of heartbreak has prompted several reactions and counter-reactions among psychoanalysts. Frankly the ongoing mode of heartbreak as a result of love-affairs has called for urgent attention from all concerned institutions and stakeholders.

In this edition, I only have a candid note for that person who thinks that his heart has broken because he/she is being ‘dumped’ by his/her so called love-partner or fiancée as the case might be. I’m personally more concerned in this aspect because I’m of the view that many people have ended up ostracizing themselves or even committing suicide, all in the name of ‘heartbreak’.

If I may ask, what makes you think that your precious life has come to an end because someone just left it? How could you in your right senses think that someone leaving your life is a sign of ‘End of the road’ or ‘End time’? Don’t you know that someone leaving your life could be a sign of blessing? Thus, it often calls for thanksgiving whenever a certain fellow/partner has left our lives, unless in the case of death or eternal demise.

I know it is not easy to completely forget the good moments you have shared with your loved one, but sometimes we should be ready to let go; because the person’s departure could be an avenue of ushering in a better fellow or the person you’re destined to spend the rest of your life with. Therefore we must always be willing and prepared to sacrifice someone for another. If someone leaves your life, it implies that, he/she doesn’t deserve you; and that’s the way you’re expected to see it, rather than witch-hunting yourself.      

Even if the person left your life due to a spell casted on him/her or as a result of ill-health, the only thing you owe him/her is nothing but prayers. And as you pray, you must remain faithful because faith conquers everything. Believe me, faith is the most ultimate among all spiritual factors; it yields patience, optimism, determination, and what have you. I want you to note that despair is one of the greatest sins, if not the greatest, in existence.

And we ought to endeavour to share our experiences with other persons close to our lives, because a problem shared is half solved. The person you shared your plight with, might be the one that would help you to be free from the trauma. For instance, sharing a spiritual problem with your spiritual director or a man of God is definitely a pathway to solving or unravelling the predicament. Also, sharing your emotional plight with a psychoanalyst or psychologist, or an inspirational tutor, is no doubt an avenue required to solve the problem in question.

If death has robbed you of a partner or a loved one, leave everything for God. After all, He was the one who provided the person for you; so He must have a reason for taking him/her away from your life. Besides, death is a certainty and an inevitable scenario, so we must at all time be ready to absorb the pains it brings.

Sometimes we pour too many words on a certain unfavourable circumstance or whenever we are passing through an emotional trauma, thereby constituting more problems not just for ourselves but for generations yet unborn. Most times the only remedy to a predicament is simply silence and prayer coupled with faith. In most cases, silence is expected to be broken when the person involved intends to share his plight with a concerned fellow or one who could be of help.

Sincerely, it is time we started seeing some estrangement as a mark of blessing. At this point I repeat; don’t be afraid to give up the ‘Good’ and go for the ‘Great’. Think about it.

 

FRED NWAOZOR

frednwaozor@gmail.com 

+2348028608056