Fred Doc Nwaozor
Today, December 10, the world
over is commemorating the 2017 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.
This year’s Human
Rights Day is devoted to the launch of a year-long campaign for the 50th
anniversary of the two International Covenants on Human Rights:
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which were adopted
by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1966.
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 2017
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 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!
Comrade Nwaozor, a Civil Rights Activist,
is the Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub (DRH) - Owerri
_____________________________________
frednwaozor@gmail.com
Follow me: @mediambassador
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