Human rights have been violated flagrantly as a result of war and violence. People’s rights and dignity are trampled upon on the grounds of their race, sex, color and creed. Warring parties, mainly terrorist networks, spill blood of men, women and children without an iota of mercy. On the one hand, violence and bloodshed are going on unabated, on the other hand, democracy, human rights and international peace are debated hotly.
The fundamental rights and dignity of mankind have been stated repeatedly in the United Nation’s Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The philosophy behind the United Nation’s Charter is state in its preamble as, “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom”. Besides stating the very phrases, the UDHR has pointed out the reason behind wars as, “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts” and also the way to alleviate the pains and sufferings of mankind as it says, “Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”.
Protecting human rights and dignity and alleviating the sufferings of mankind have been the main objectives of international instruments. Men are known to be bestowed natural, inalienable and inviolable rights by the Creator and should be able to exercise their rights without fear. The Charter of the UN and UDHR were ratified following the Second World War with the aim of ending the destructive war and violence. Strong sanctions have been predicted in the UN’s Charter. According to article 5, the General Assembly will suspend a member of the UN through suspending from the exercise of the rights and privileges of membership. Article 6 predicts expelling from the organization. Similarly, article 41 suggests complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, etc. Finally, article 42 suggests military action by air, sea or land for ensuring international peace and security. But all these preventive or enforcement actions have neither been implemented properly nor stopped the carnage and sufferings of human societies.
Currently, a large number of people are suffering under violence and militancy in different corners of the world. For instance, the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) perpetrated genocide in Northern Iraq through killing thousands of Yazidi civilians, mainly women and children. On 10 August 2014, ISIL militants reportedly buried alive an undefined number of Yazidi women and children in northern Iraq in an attack that killed 500 people, in what has been described as genocide. Yazidi women were abducted and sold into slave markets with ISIL “using rape as a weapon of war”.
Similarly, the flagrant violation of human rights is outrageous in Burma or Myanmar. Rohingyas have been described as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. According to the United Nations, the human rights violations against Rohingyas could be termed as “crimes against humanity”. The 2016 crackdown resulted in wide-scale human rights violations at the hands of Myanmar’s security forces as “women have been gang-raped” and “children have been slaughtered”. A report based on interviews released by the United Nations Human Rights Office. In the interview, one mother recounted in the report how her five-year-old daughter was trying to protect her from rape when a man “took out a long knife and killed her by slitting her throat”, while in another case an eight-month-old baby was reportedly killed while his mother was gang-raped by five security officers. A 14-year-old girl also told of how, after being raped by soldiers, she saw her mother beaten to death and her two sisters, aged eight and 10, killed with knives. More than half of the 101 women interviewed said they had been victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence.
These heart-wrenching stories, which make the daily headlines in national and international newspapers, are a stain on collective conscience. Now as you are reading this article, scores of men, women and children will be suffering in Afghanistan, Syria, Myanmar, Nigeria or other parts of the world on the grounds of their caste, color or creed.
Hence, the world will have to practice tolerance and enhance the spirit of brotherhood so as to put an end to escalated violence and bloodshed. The world must do its best to safeguard human rights and dignity. It should be noted that only military action will not mitigate the current challenges, we need to pursue peace and security through non-violent mechanism and negotiation. We also need to practice upon the golden rule, which is accepted in all religion, which says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.