The World Human Rights Day (HRD) was observed on 10 December.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, in his statement issued on HRD, specifically noted the remarkable peaceful efforts of individuals like Liu Xiaobo of China, Ahmed Maher of Egypt, Eskinder Nega of Ethiopia, Azimjon Askarov of the Kyrgyz Republic and exhorted governments and individuals alike to strive to fulfill the promise of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
In India, the day was celebrated by organizing the political conferences, meetings, exhibitions, cultural events, debates and many more programs to discuss all the issues of human rights. Several governmental, civil and nongovernmental associations actively take part in the human rights event celebration, each calling upon government and the civil society alike to give full meaning to human rights by observing them in practice.
Across Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific nations, NGOs, organizations and people observed HRD with solemn pledges, many with the hope that their own life will be transformed. How did West Asia observe? While everyone else made speeches and took pledges, West Asia, particularly Israel, made a statement so loud and so precise in a manner that actually exemplifies the need to uphold human rights everywhere:
On 10 December, Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ain led a group of people in the West bank village of Turmusaya protesting Israeli occupation and violations.
How do they protest? By planting olive trees.
So what does Israel do? A group of Israeli soldiers pounce on the people planting trees and specifically target the minister by thrashing him black and blue. No shots fired by anyone, no bombs, no tear gas, no water cannon. Just thrashing. [see the full coverage by Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/10/us-mideast-israel-palestinians-idUSKBN0JO10720141210]
What happens to Ziad Abu Ain? He dies.
Now who is this Ziad Abu Ain? He is a minister in the Palestinian government. Incidentally, Palestine, though not having a territory of its own, has been recognized as a country by the UN in 2012. Last week, Sweden became the 135th country in the world to formally recognize Palestine as a nation. And, Ziad Abu Ain was a minister of a country called Palestine.
There is hardly anything else that needs to be said about respecting the sovereign institutions (including individuals who may represent such institutions by virtue of the office that they may occupy) of countries. The recognition and respect that we pay to these symbols form the foundation of international relations and helps us as countries to construct meaningful dialogues with each other on any and every issue that needs deliberation. But if X country shows impudent disrespect for sovereign institutions of other countries, then the world order and peace are at serious peril. In such a climate, talking of human rights is exactly what the Secretary General said: remain a mere slogan.
World Human Rights Day, well, we seem to have a long way to go towards translating good slogans into meaningful action. It is just sixty five years since UDHR has come about. Considering the 460 thousand years of human history, this is not even a wink. Things do take time to become convictions. Our parents spent twenty years average teaching us to abide by truth. At times we do give it a slip. It takes sixty/seventy years in a person's life to actually feel convinced about anything. Some of us will be shaking hands with St Peter without ever having had any conviction at all. It happens. Sad.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, in his statement issued on HRD, specifically noted the remarkable peaceful efforts of individuals like Liu Xiaobo of China, Ahmed Maher of Egypt, Eskinder Nega of Ethiopia, Azimjon Askarov of the Kyrgyz Republic and exhorted governments and individuals alike to strive to fulfill the promise of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
In India, the day was celebrated by organizing the political conferences, meetings, exhibitions, cultural events, debates and many more programs to discuss all the issues of human rights. Several governmental, civil and nongovernmental associations actively take part in the human rights event celebration, each calling upon government and the civil society alike to give full meaning to human rights by observing them in practice.
human
rights must be more than mere aspirations, and declarations cannot
simply be slogans. Nor are they discretionary, they are fundamental. -
See more at:
http://thecommonwealth.org/media/news/secretary-generals-statement-human-rights-day-2014#sthash.WJVJf4Ss.dpuf
The Secretary General of Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma, while stressing upon the relevance and importance of HRD, said that human rights are not mere aspirations and declarations are not mere slogans; nor are they discretionary, they are fundamental.Across Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific nations, NGOs, organizations and people observed HRD with solemn pledges, many with the hope that their own life will be transformed. How did West Asia observe? While everyone else made speeches and took pledges, West Asia, particularly Israel, made a statement so loud and so precise in a manner that actually exemplifies the need to uphold human rights everywhere:
On 10 December, Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ain led a group of people in the West bank village of Turmusaya protesting Israeli occupation and violations.
How do they protest? By planting olive trees.
So what does Israel do? A group of Israeli soldiers pounce on the people planting trees and specifically target the minister by thrashing him black and blue. No shots fired by anyone, no bombs, no tear gas, no water cannon. Just thrashing. [see the full coverage by Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/10/us-mideast-israel-palestinians-idUSKBN0JO10720141210]
What happens to Ziad Abu Ain? He dies.
Now who is this Ziad Abu Ain? He is a minister in the Palestinian government. Incidentally, Palestine, though not having a territory of its own, has been recognized as a country by the UN in 2012. Last week, Sweden became the 135th country in the world to formally recognize Palestine as a nation. And, Ziad Abu Ain was a minister of a country called Palestine.
There is hardly anything else that needs to be said about respecting the sovereign institutions (including individuals who may represent such institutions by virtue of the office that they may occupy) of countries. The recognition and respect that we pay to these symbols form the foundation of international relations and helps us as countries to construct meaningful dialogues with each other on any and every issue that needs deliberation. But if X country shows impudent disrespect for sovereign institutions of other countries, then the world order and peace are at serious peril. In such a climate, talking of human rights is exactly what the Secretary General said: remain a mere slogan.
World Human Rights Day, well, we seem to have a long way to go towards translating good slogans into meaningful action. It is just sixty five years since UDHR has come about. Considering the 460 thousand years of human history, this is not even a wink. Things do take time to become convictions. Our parents spent twenty years average teaching us to abide by truth. At times we do give it a slip. It takes sixty/seventy years in a person's life to actually feel convinced about anything. Some of us will be shaking hands with St Peter without ever having had any conviction at all. It happens. Sad.
eli
settlements in the occupied West Bank village of Turmus'aya. - See more
at:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Media.aspx?IsMediaPage=true&LangID=E#sthash.FKu0HvDe.dpuf
Palestinian
Minister Ziad Abu Ein after Israeli troops clashed with protesters on
10 December. Ziad Abu Ein died following an assault by an Israeli
soldier during an olive-tree planting protest against illegal Israeli
settlements in the occupied West Bank village of Turmus'aya. - See more
at:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Media.aspx?IsMediaPage=true&LangID=E#sthash.FKu0HvDe.dpuf
Good show .write more so that wr can enjoy
ReplyDeleteGood show .write more so that wr can enjoy
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