We owe it to Haiti!

In a recent report published by RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, the plight of Haitians for access to clean drinking water was highlighted. Haiti is rated as 147th out of 147 countries on Water Poverty Index. Worse, the report indicates that US has blocked the loan from IDB for water related projects in Haiti that would have made the lives of Haitians better.

We, as the world, have certain obligations to one another, not withstanding the racial, political, liguistic and other differences that may influence our actions on other planes. We are human first and all human must have free access to water, air and food to survive. These are not merely fundamental Human Rights. These are inalienable Rights of all humans, because we are born human. Governments and Rulers across the world must not forget that unless we make what is available aplenty in nature to everyone, they will fail in the foremost duty to mankind.

There is a thought provoking line in one of Subramanya Bharathi's (a patriotic Tamil poet who lived during the Indian freedom movement) poem -" Thani oruvanukku unau illaiyel, jagathinai erithiduvom" meaning, 'if one human does not get food, we will burn down the evil world'. The poem was about how the new India will emerge, how all the rivers will be linked to provide water to every region in the country, how foodgrain production will be increased and how everything in plenty will be made available to all Indians. In such a country where everything is aplenty, if one individual does not get food, such a world should be burnt down.

The inequalities in the world would continue to persist. There would always be rich and poor nations. There would remain political, regional and racial divides. Yeah, we will continue to work for removing these differences so that we can be one world and one people.In the mean while, let us not forget that we, inspite of all our differences, are still humans only! This basic fact can not and should not be obliterated due to other considerations. 'We are the world, we are the children' -such simple world yet so true, from Michael Jackson!

Let us do our duty to Haiti, and all other Haitis in other parts of the world. Share and we will be one. Give, because that way we will receive!

     

Crimes against women in Cote de Ivoire

“No longer can heads of State, and other actors, be sure that they can commit atrocious violations and get away with it,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in Geneva , announcing that she had written a letter “in the strongest terms” to Laurent Gbagbo, who insists that he won November’s run-off elections despite international recognition of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as the clear victor.
The Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay's letter to President Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast (Cote De Ivoire) is a wake up call to regimes that use state power to abuse citizens. She was right in observing that eads of State who indulge in such atrocities will no more go unheeded and the International Justice mechanism will render necessary justice.

After the ICTR, rulers every where must keep in mind that ethnic cleansing and crimes against women are monstrosities that the International Community will no more tolerate. Not with standing the monetary or political compulsions, nations must unite in such common cause to eradicate the malaise of innocents being victimized for political ends.

Voices big and small, individually and as nations, must unite to bring strictures on countries that indulge in such practices and justice to the victims of such crimes.