In the contemporary international system, human rights have become an international standard of civilization as compared to state authority.
National societies are defined not simply by geography or even by a history of interaction, but rather measured through the level of people’s protection and facilitation. In this regard, human rights have emerged as socio-cultural values and legitimized norms of states. Human rights are thus an inevitable conception of society in the modern state system and state strength has been embedded around the sphere of human rights, which is connected with justice, equality, liberty and extends beyond the consent and practice of states. In this regard, human rights are a set of principles concerned with fairness and non-discrimination. This is not a new concept about rights and responsibilities; human rights have been an important part of global societies throughout history. In this context, genocide and ethnic cleansing have reached the most brutal levels and human rights have been declared as belonging to all people, becoming the most influential document in the modern world.
The best-known expression of human rights proclaims that all humans are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent natural rights of which they cannot, by compact, deprive or divest their posterity. Thus, human rights are inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, gender, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion or any other status. They include the right to life, freedom from torture, freedom of religion, thought or expression and the rights to health, education and an adequate standard of living. In fact, the spirit of human rights insists on universality and entails truth, justice and compassion for all people. States are responsible for acting in certain ways or refraining from certain acts, in order to promote and protect these rights by all means. Therefore, human rights ensure every individual’s inherent dignity, worth and equality, empowering them to live free and fulfilled lives.
Historically, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), passed without dissent by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, is the foundational document for national and international laws concerning human dignity. It proclaims that the human rights spelled out in its Preamble and 30 constituent Articles are truly universal, applying to all human beings and inalienable, hence not subject to repeal or abolition by any state or institution. Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the first Chairperson of the UN Commission on Human Rights, which drafted the Universal Declaration, said that “recognition of human rights might become one of the cornerstones on which peace could eventually be based.” Thus, the idea of human rights has come to serve as the yardstick for subsequent conventions and international legislations on human rights and dignity.
Presently, the human rights situation in the world is very bleak and alarming, as it is at a historic juncture. There is open violation of human rights because some states are undermining the political, socio-economic and cultural rights of people. Many developing country governments are involved in human rights violations, including violations of the right to life, liberty and freedom, as seen in contexts of political instability, civil conflict and inefficient governance. Unprecedented forces are attacking human rights through brutal and horrific actions against ethnic communities and nationalities.
In this regard, India and Israel are involved in blatant inhuman actions which are against the essence of human rights. Both are engaged in naked aggression in Kashmir and Palestine, where blood is cheaper than water and the situation is not different from the Holocaust or ethnic cleansing. These countries have perpetrated horrific crimes against innocent people, while the world has been made an audience to a live-streamed genocide. Israel has killed thousands upon thousands of Palestinians, wiping out entire multi-national families and destroying homes, livelihoods, hospitals and schools. Similarly, India has killed thousands of unarmed and helpless people in occupied Kashmir and committed the crime of apartheid through state-backed violence, which has resulted in thousands of deaths during militarized arrest raids in the occupied area and thousands more have been subjected to arbitrary detention and ill-treatment, amounting to torture in many cases.
Nonetheless, both India and Israel have been declared globally violent states, involved in systematic human rights violations, which have been comprehensively documented in UN reports as well as by international civil society and the media. Both Kashmiris and Palestinians are not only being denied their inalienable right to self-determination for over eight decades but are also facing gruesome repression at the hands of state occupation forces acting with full impunity. Thus, there is a pressing need for the international community to hold India and Israel accountable for serious crimes against helpless populations and to force them to respect human rights and the fundamental freedoms of the people.
—The writer is a Defence and Security Analyst based in Islamabad.
