“Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of his humanity” – Mother Teresa

Every human in this world is born with a set of rights conferred on themselves and is entitled to exercise them without being deprived of them by other parties. One might think that it is necessary to define these rights possessed by every human through words and that they are not implied by humans in general. However, given the rise in corruption and the spread of fraud, it is critical that human rights be comprehensively defined and communicated in order to be informed in the event of violations.

One might question what is meant by this heavily vocalized term ‘human rights’. The United Nations has broadly defined human rights as;

“The rights inherent to every human being, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status.”

Something clearly seen in this definition is that human rights are to be enjoyed by everyone without any factor being considered a constraint.

For many years, various prominent figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, who created a rippling effect on the human rights recognition of coloured people, especially in the United States; Mahatma Gandhi, who created a national movement to achieve freedom from foreign domination in India; and Eleanor Roosevelt, also called the ‘First Lady of the World’ is considered as one of the frontrunners in formulating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which declares the rights that everyone in the entire world should have.

The day on which the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10th December, is considered Human Rights Day and is celebrated every year across all countries by conducting various conferences, meetings, webinars, cultural events, and exhibitions depicting the artwork and other material to symbolize various struggles and improvements of human rights.

Not only the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but two more covenants have been adopted by the United Nations in later years to further improve the broadness of human rights, namely the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). All three of these bills are collectively known as the “International Bill of Human Rights”. The rights covered by the ICCPR are as follows,

ICCPR

1. Freedom from discrimination
2. Right to equality between men and women
3. Right to life
4. Freedom from torture
5. Freedom from slavery
6. Right to liberty and security of person
7. Right to be treated with humanity in detention
8. Freedom of movement
9. Freedom of non-citizens from arbitrary expulsion
10. Right to fair trial
11. Right to recognition before the law
12. Right to privacy
13. Freedom of religion and belief
14. Freedom of expression
15. Right of peaceful assembly
16. Freedom of association
17. Right to marry and found a family
18. Right of children to birth registration and a nationality
19. Right to participate in public affairs
20. Right to equality before the law
21. Minority Rights

These rights place responsibilities on countries to respect (by refraining from interfering directly or indirectly with your rights), protect (by taking measures to make sure that other parties do not interfere with your rights), and fulfill (by taking steps to realize your rights) the said rights. Currently, most countries have adapted both of these bills to their legal systems and have agreed to ratify them. The ICCPR was adopted in Sri Lanka in 1980 to broaden the scope of human rights.

“It takes no compromise to give people their rights..it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression” – Harvey Milk

This year, under the theme “Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All,” Human Rights Day is celebrated by advocating for everyone to stand up for their rights, including civil, economic, political, and cultural rights while acknowledging advocates and defenders of human rights around the world.

In recent years, the world has focused on the proper establishment of women’s rights, reproductive rights, abortion rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, disability rights, and children’s rights, as they were mindlessly violated in the past few years.

Women’s Rights

Although human rights have been defined and established to be enjoyed by all humans, we can see from the world that this is not always the case. Women and girls around the world are being discriminated against across countries, some on an excessive scale, based on sex and gender. Women face gender-based violence, sexual violence and harassment, workplace discrimination, and reproductive and abortion rights violations.

The women’s rights movement has therefore been established to address this inequality by campaigning to change laws and demanding their rights. Recently, movements such as #MeToo, which highlights the prevalence of gender-based violence and sexual harassment, the ongoing movement in Iran against the morality police established by the government, the abortion rights movement due to the discontinuation of Roe v. Wade in the United States, which set precedence in abortion rights for more than 50 years but was flipped in 2022, and the movement to address the rights crisis in Afghanistan due to the forced governmental repression have all emerged.

LGBTQIA+ Rights

If one were to say this is one of the most controversial and highly violated rights in the world, I am sure no one would disagree. Currently, only a handful of countries fully recognize these rights and practice them. As much as it hurts to say, some countries have imposed the death penalty on anyone found “guilty” of partaking in same-sex acts.

Discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people is not limited to certain areas but can be seen everywhere, starting in schools. Commonly termed as “homophobia”, “biphobia” and “transphobia”, discrimination against this community has been deeply embedded in many cultures around the world. According to International Human Rights Law, all countries are obligated to protect and promote the human rights of all persons without discrimination. But due to laws established in countries criminalizing certain activities, LGBTQIA+ individuals are exposed to the risk of arrest, blackmail, extortion, stigma, discrimination, violence, and, as mentioned earlier, the death penalty.

Countries are obligated to protect individuals from homophobic and transphobic violence, prevent torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, repeal laws criminalizing same-sex relationships and transgender people, prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and safeguard freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly for LGBTQIA+ people.

In Sri Lanka, many incidents have been reported where human rights have been violated purposefully. The Human Rights Commission in Sri Lanka has been established under Act No. 21 of 1996 to develop a better human rights culture in the country by protecting and promoting human rights for all. Since its inception, the HRC has taken numerous steps to protect and promote rights not yet realized under the current constitution.

Everyone deserves to live the way they want, however, they won’t without being judged and prosecuted for being their true selves. As a result, it is our responsibility as citizens, and indeed as humans, to protect everyone’s rights and advocate for others to do the same. As the current year’s theme says, humans should have the dignity they deserve, the freedom to be themselves, and equal justice for all humans alike without being segregated on irrelevant factors.

On this day, all I hope is that our readers understand what it is to be violated of their rights and take steps to develop themselves as humans and to protect fellow humans’ rights before they are violated.

Written by: Rtr. Supun Rasanjana

Graphic design by: Rtr. Nilakshi De Silva