Saman Hamid
The year was 1948; the world was reeling from the effects of World War II. Europe was reeling from infrastructural and economic setbacks and war was more than a nightmare. It was during that time that the UN decided to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On December 10, 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the declaration that eventually become the future of all human rights issues. One of the biggest victories of the civilized world post World War II. Establishing UN’s authority on member nations and giving a clear vision in terms of how agendas should be carried forward. There are 30 articles in the declaration and they formed the basis of international Human Rights. The first five articles alone leave a big question mark on anyone familiar with the gross human rights violations after 1948. The biggest and most brutal being our very own.
Article 1:All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2:Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3:Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4:No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5:No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
It has been nearly half a year since the young Burhan Wani was brutally killed by the Indian forces and the events that followed, the curfew, the pallet gun attacks. According to Kashmir Media services; over 115 civilians have been killed and more than 15,800 injured so far due to the firing of bullets, pellets and teargas shells by Indian police and troops on peaceful protesters. Since 1989, around 95,000 Kashmiris have been killed that is roughly around 10 people every day, 23,000 women have been widowed and more than 100,000 children have been orphaned. The damage is untold to the psychological state of these victims. United Nations upheld the elections in 2008, as free and fair in Jammu and Kashmir, currently post PM Nawaz’s UNGA address significant steps seem nonexistent. The biggest democracy of the world is the main perpetrator of these atrocities equipping their military with Armed Forces to Special Power Act (AFSPA) to do whatever they want. It is ironic regimes are so aloof of the grass roots and can be so unwilling to compromise, Aung San Suu Kyi’s Maynamar seems no different. Rohingya of Myanmar, unfortunately are described by the UN herself as the most “friendless” people in the world. In recent weeks according to the BBC, more than 10,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh amid a military crackdown on insurgents in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state. The most disturbing aspect of the entire scenario is the near-denial Aung San Suu Kyi, the Noble Peace Prize winner seems to not believe the persecution during her own regime. The world is aghast at Syria and Aleppo, Anas Kurdi are not mere names, UN recently estimated that nearly 400,000 people have been killed in the last five years. Despite all the voices the killing sees no end and all efforts seem nothing more than so-called in such a human catastrophe.
Economics rules all issues, geostrategic policies today reign supreme. Words seem to have lost context in the most grave of situations. World Human Rights days can be celebrated by everyone yet the real brutalities laugh in the face of humanity. Ever since this charter has been signed year after year atrocities continue to rage on, the global community sometimes takes notice but mostly they manage to look away, selective perception remains rampant. Individualism and self interest reigns supreme. The world has to realize though that symbols have to be backed by actions and race, ethnicity, religion all these lines have to disappear in order to promote fairness.
