Te tremendous irreparable damage and loss of valuable human lives in the Second World War shook the whole planet! Besides myriads of priceless lives lost, the world witnessed probably the most macabre human rights violation during the time. The war was a wake up call in a way, for the entire human race. In 1945, the founding member countries of the then newly established United Nations, join hands to draft many solid laws to promote and protect the primary human rights of its citizens. In 1948, after a lapse of 3 years, the combined efforts of these counties paid off in the form of proclamation of "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" by United Nations’ General Assembly. This was the declaring which established that respect for human rights and human modesty "is the pillar of freedom, peace and justice in the world." Thereafter in 1950, the UN called on all member States and organizations around the globe to commemorate World Human Rights Day on 10th of December every year.
What are human rights?
Human rights are interlinked and interdependent rights inherent to all human beings without any discrimination of any nationality, ethnic origin, sex, religion, language, or cast and creed or any other status, as stated by the UN.
In this regard, the ninth Nanak, Guru Tegh Bahadur
provides a very valuable lesson for the Sikhs and for the other
concerned peoples of the world relating to the security and protection
of all human beings within our society. It is very common for
communities to protect their own members ("their own"). The
evidence for this, is well documented in the history of mankind. In
protecting or seeking to spread their own religious beliefs or their own
traditions or culture, they sometime decimate or destroy the beliefs
and ways of others; when one becomes self-centred on ones “own people”
or ones “own religion”, or ones “own community”; this can become the
beginning of serious problems and many major conflicts have started in
this way.
Guru Arjan, the fifth Nanak tells us:
| ਝਕ ਪਿਤਾ ਝਕਸ ਕੇ ਹਮ ਬਾਰਿਕ ਤੂ ਮੇਰਾ ਗਰ ਹਾਈ ॥ |
| Ėk piṯĝ ėkas kė ham bĝrik ṯū mėrĝ gur hĝī. |
| The One God is our father; we are the children of the One God. You are our Guru. |
There is only one God; he is the father of all; we are all His children. So it is important that we treat every other human being as an equal and as a brother or sister; a father or mother; a daughter or son depending on their age relative to ours. If we fail to do so, we have turned our face away from God – we cannot be called Gurmukh – one who is with the Guru; one who listens to the wise saints. Instead we will live our lives, this precious, brief existence on Earth as Manmukh or self-centred or ego-centric men and women.
Wars, conflicts and enemies
Because of Manmukh (self-centred or ego-centric) leaders, many wars have been fought between nations, either to protect ones own nation or to conquer other nations. In most of these wars one nation would fight against its neighbour to gain dominance, national pride, territory, wealth or other material gain. Most wars are as a result of discrimination and victimisation on the part of the aggressor against its opposite party. When a group considers its neighbour low or inferior; a source of easy wealth or territory, the result has, all too often, become a war.
In the last millennium we had the Crusades of Christian Europe against non-Christians; wars between different groups of Christians, the Albagensian Conspiracy, the protestant reformation; the Thirty Years War in Europe; Sino-Japanese Wars between China and Japan, etc. Many millions have died in these wars; but the world continues on its 'merry way'. We read about these conflicts in our newspapers daily. No one appears to takes any notice. We turn the page and continue to read the next item.
History provides plenty of evidence of wars and conflicts between different nations, religious groups, races, ethnic groups, tribes, creeds, etc. During the First World War Germany and Austria felt threatened as the powerful countries surrounding them united against them. At the end of the "War to end all wars" as it was then called, the victorious allies (against the urging of the President of the United States advise) accepted Germany's surrender with terms that were so severe that the citizens of Germany were left resourceless and starving, Such harsh treatment broke the back of the new democratic government and led directly to a great world wide depression when millions died, setting the stage for Hitler's rise and the second even worse World war.
Fortunately the leaders of most of the nations whose forces were victorious shared their own devastated resources with their defeated enemies, spearheading the reconstruction of Germany and Japan. Such liberal treatment of their former enemies has built strong allies and war in western Europe has ceased, but since then we have seen wars in Vietnam, the Genocide of Pol Pot in Cambodia, the Iraq and Iranian war, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Sudan, etc. Many hundreds of millions have died in these and other wars in the last century.
Even today, we have many conflicts in the world. In the Middle-East, the conflict between different religious factions within Islam; also, we have conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims due to jihads and perceived cultural enmities from the past; wars in other parts between different ethnic groups within the same race.
Just think of the misery that it brings to the families who are involved in these conflicts! The pain; the loss; the hurt that these evil actions have produced are immense. This is a way of life which is born from ego and self-centred perception.
Love, care and differences
There is a different way of life. Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Nanak took it upon himself to teach the world an important lesson in responsibility and in sacrifice. He showed the world how one should care for their neighbour and protect their rights. In 1675 when the Kashmiri Pandits came to ask him for his help to protect their community from religious conversion or annihilation by the Mughal Empire; they did not realise that they were about to witness a world first. Guru ji was a Sikh while the Kashmiri Pandits were high caste Hindus.
Sikhism differs from Hinduism in several major aspects; for example, Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru himself as a Hindu child of about nine refused to wear the Hindu sacred thread (the Janeu), a privilege of rank donned by boys of the higher Hindu castes and he also spoke out against the ritual of Sati widow immolation. He saw the 'Holy withdrawal from life' of the sadhu or sanyasi as a misguided search for unity with God.
Once watching some Hindus in their morning ablutions in the Ganga at Varanasi, throwing water to the East at the rising Sun; he chose to interrupt this ritual in a positive manner. He knew the ritual well, but he took the time to make them think about what they were doing and its futility. Feigning ignorance he asked them what they were doing. They replied that they were sending water to the Sun to quench the thirst of their ancestors who were now residents there. He immediately turned to the west, towards Punjab, and started to throw handfuls of water in that direction. Puzzled and sure he was mad, they asked, "What are you doing?" The wise Guru then sprung his trap saying, "Why, I'm sending water to my parched fields in Punjab." The Guru was always setting such 'mental traps' so that the men and sages he met in his travels would awaken to the bigger traps in which their minds were already stuck.
Respect and sacrifice
60th Anniversary of Universal Human Rights
The 60th Anniversary of “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” was observed in 2008. To celebrate this eventful year, the UN floated a year long campaign during which all it country members revitalize the vision of the Declaration in the form of commitment to universal modesty and justice and not to be viewed as a wish-list or luxury.
Treaties and Guidelines to enforce human rights
All governments across the world are liable to uphold, express, and guarantee the basic human rights in all its purity by means of laws in the forms of law, general principles treaties, primary transnational laws, and other international laws.
While the focus of the Universal Declaration remained the same of safeguarding human rights, wherever its violations occur, the economic, social, cultural, and political changes in all these years has created the requirement to have a new network of instruments and tools in place. For example, in the wake of the economic meltdown faced by almost all the entire countries, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) conducted convention and seminars to discuss the human rights violations on marginalized populations in various member nations. It has appealed the countries to do everything possible by all means to ensure that the current slowdown does not affect the fundamental rights to work, food, housing, health, education and social security of the people.
What We should do!
The UN has streamlined many methods through which the Day could be utilized as an opportunity to create and inculcate an awareness and assist protect our community and beyond. General campaigns like distribution of hand notes based on human rights or as SMS messages, or conducting a meeting or publicizing the real-life stories of activists, or submitting petitions to complement the rights of an organization or body in our area, all these could be a great option and opportunity to celebrate the Day in a fruitful way. However, the big support has to come from the government!
In the genre of human rights, UNESCO works to promote and display human rights research; to advocate education in human rights; to take action and combat against all kind of discrimination at regional, national and international level; to promote coordination among all actors and social networks; and to advocate democracy.
Goals of UNESCO
- Consolidate awareness.
- Work as a catalyst for regional, national and international promotion in human rights.
- Nurture coordination with all actors and social networks.
UNESCO tries to detect the obstacles hampering the full execution of human rights: the repercussions of nationalism, discrimination against minorities, religious intolerance, and other forms of discrimination arising from technological progress or from illness such as HIV and AIDS.
In 2002-2003 UNESCO developed a strategy for an international program
on democracy. This strategy is cooperated by the International Centre
for Human Sciences at Byblos in close coordination with the Democracy
and Development International Panel.
UNESCO advocates and conducts research on new form of violence and
promotes regional plans for human protection by enhancing links with
local authorities to prevent conflicts at their level, through respect
for human rights and policies toward sustainable progress and for
eliminating poverty.
The Human Rights Council
The Human Rights Council is an individual independent entity. It supports the work of rapporteurs, working bodies, and representatives via its Special Procedures Division and the Research and Right to Development Division that aims to develop the integration of human rights principles and standards, including the rights to development; whereas the Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division assists the work of country-mandates.
Synopsis
History is the witness to all our combined efforts to protect the fundamental rights of human being, but without the contribution of each and every individual we cannot reach the target of viewing a unbiased planet where every individual is free to take his own decisions on his own sweet will, irrespective any kind of pressure from any corner of society and system.