Reinforcing protection of human rights

Fundamental human rights are inalienable, inherent and inseparable from human beings.

The crying call of the French Revolution (1789) was "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity". Over the years, each concept has been developed into distinct categories of human rights. "Liberty" represents civil and political rights, "Equality" corresponds to economic, social and cultural rights and "Fraternity" is translated into right to development and to protection of environment.

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The UN Charter affirms promotion of human rights not only in the preamble but also in Articles 1, 55 and 56. The language used in the Charter pre-supposes the existence of human rights prior to the Charter. Consistent with the provisions of the Charter, it was decided that a Declaration of Human Rights was to be prepared and the chairperson of the preparatory body was none other than Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of US President Roosevelt. She put all her time and energy to prepare a draft of Universal Declaration of Human Rights and finally on 10th December, 1948, it was adopted by the General Assembly of the UN.

Core elements of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Declaration sets out a list of rights for every person, irrespective of birth, gender, race, colour and nationality. Article 1 lays down the philosophy upon which the Declaration is based and it reads : " All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights". The Article defines the basic assumptions of human rights: (a) the right to liberty and equality is every human being's birth right and cannot be denied, (b) human being is different from other creatures on Earth and therefore is entitled to dignity.

Although the Declaration was not adopted in a legally binding form, it is considered as a "Charter of Mankind". Many legal authors claim that the Declaration has become a part of customary international law and every country must now adhere to the rights set out in the Declaration.

The Declaration contains 30 Articles. Article 3, the corner-stone of the Declaration, proclaims the right to life, liberty and security of person, a right essential to the enjoyment of all other rights. Articles 4 to 21 set out civil and political rights, Articles 23 to 27 economic, social and cultural rights and articles 28 to 30 recognise that everyone is entitled to a social order in which human rights may be realised.

Many countries have incorporated in their Constitutions human rights of the Declaration as fundamental rights of their citizens. For instance, Part III of the Bangladesh Constitution provides a set of fundamental rights (Articles 26 to 43) similar to those in the Declaration, and Article 44 deals with enforcement of fundamental rights by the High Court under its constitutional powers. Furthermore Article 25.1 of the Bangladesh Constitution stipulates that Bangladesh shall base its international relations on the principles of respect "for international law and the principles enunciated in the UN Charter". The phrase "international law" is interpreted to include customary international law.

It was decided soon after the adoption of the Declaration that the human rights enshrined in it should be codified in binding legal conventions. In 1966, two Covenants were adopted by the UN: one was International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the other International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Many legal experts find a difference on the nature of implementation of rights from the language employed in the two Covenants. The Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides for immediate implementation of civil and political rights by state within its territory ( Article 2 of the Covenant). On the other hand, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights requires states to take steps with a view to achieving progressively the full realisation of economic, social and cultural rights subject to their resources. ( Article 2 of the Covenant).

This means that the enjoyment of civil and political rights does not depend on availability of resources of a state while the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights is subject to the resources available to a state. This implies that the first set of rights is unfettered while the second set is conditional. However many Human Rights experts do not agree with the distinction between the two. They argue that the qualitative status of rights of the two Covenants are equal and are two sides of the same coin.

UN mechanism for protection of human rights

To monitor the compliance of human rights, the UN Commission of Human Rights has been established. It consists of 53 member-states ( Bangladesh has been a member for several times) elected by the Economic and Social Council. The Commission holds annual sessions in Geneva for about six to eight weeks and examines human rights record of member-countries. If a country violates human rights, the Commission censures the country. The US routinely attempts to bring to the Commission year after year China and Cuba for their violation of human rights but it has not been able to adopt any negative resolution because majority of 53-member-countries do not support the US move.

The UN office of High Commissioner for Human Rights is another mechanism by the UN for investigation of human rights abuses. The High Commissioner is appointed by the UN Secretary General for a term of four years. The first High Commissioner was the former Irish President (a Barrister and a Professor of Law), Mary Robinson who visited about 60 countries including Chechnya, Kosovo and East Timor. The visit to Chechnya in 2000 captured media attention and she reportedly said that " the sheer scale of human rights abuses is very worrying and devastating".

The Second High Commissioner was the Brazilian national, Sergio de Mello who was deputed as the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General in Iraq for three months. He was killed this year in a bomb blast at the UN Office in Baghdad. The Secretary General has yet to appoint another High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The respect for human rights has now become a concern for international community. It is noted that the protection of human rights at both the national and international level are intimately connected. States are required to provide adequate redress for those whose human rights have been violated. In a sense if domestic system fails, international mechanisms operate to reinforce protection of human rights.

No country can afford to deny fundamental human rights to its citizens because international public policy requires that states respect human rights for individuals. If they do not, sanctions may be imposed by the UN and in extreme cases the UN may intervene to safeguard human rights for individuals. For instance, NATO attacked former Yugoslavia in 1999 to save Kosovar-Albanians from alleged genocide under Serbia's regime of former President Milosevic.

Conclusion

Sovereignty of states is not unlimited and is subject to international law. International community will intervene if domestic system is found wanting to redress human rights abuses. From this perspective, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a pioneering document as it now constitutes a part of customary international law.

There is a view that the manner in which political and economic rights are implemented is flawed. It has been argued that the West prefers political rights to economic rights of persons. To developing countries, alleviation of poverty is the " mother" of human rights. In an environment of extreme poverty, political rights of poor people may not mean much. This brings to mind what Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1984) wrote to Boswell: "Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes other virtues impracticable".

Barrister Harun ur Rashid is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.