History Behind Human Rights

In 539 B.C., the armies of Cyrus the Great, the first king of ancient Persia, conquered the city
of Babylon. But it was his next actions that marked a major advance for Man. He freed the
slaves, declared that all people had the right to choose their own religion, and established
racial equality. These and other decrees were recorded on a baked-clay cylinder in the
Akkadian language with cuneiform script.

Known today as the Cyrus Cylinder, this ancient record has now been recognized as the
world’s first charter of human rights. It is translated into all six official languages of the
United Nations and its provisions parallel the first four Articles of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.

From Babylon, the idea of human rights spread quickly to India, Greece.

Basic Human Rights

We have 30 basic human rights, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
created by the United Nations in 1948 to provide a global understanding of how to treat
individuals.

1. We are all free and equal. We are all born free. We all have our own thoughts and ideas.
We should all be treated in the same way.

2.Don’t discriminate. These rights belong to everybody, whatever our differences.

3. The right to life. We all have the right to life, and to live in freedom and safety.

4. No slavery – past and present. Nobody has any right to make us a slave. We cannot make
anyone our slave.

5. No Torture. Nobody has any right to hurt us or to torture us.

6. We all have the same right to use the law. I am a person just like you!

7. We are all protected by the law. The law is the same for everyone. It must treat us all
fairly.

8. Fair treatment by fair courts. We can all ask for the law to help us when we are not
treated fairly.
9. No unfair detainment. Nobody has the right to put us in prison without a good reason and
keep us there, or to send us away from our country.

10. The right to trial. If we are put on trial this should be in public. The people who try us
should not let anyone tell them what to do.

11. Innocent until proven guilty. Nobody should be blamed for doing something until it is
proven. When people say we did a bad thing we have the right to show it is not true.

12. The right to privacy. Nobody should try to harm our good name. Nobody has the right to
come into our home, open our letters or bother us or our family without a good reason.

13. Freedom to move. We all have the right to go where we want in our own country and to
travel as we wish.

14. The right to asylum. If we are frightened of being badly treated in our own country, we
all have the right to run away to another country to be safe.

15. The right to a nationality. We all have the right to belong to a country.

16. Marriage and family. Every grown-up has the right to marry and have a family if they
want to. Men and women have the same rights when they are married, and when they are
separated.

17. Your own things. Everyone has the right to own things or share them. Nobody should take
our things from us without a good reason.

18. Freedom of thought. We all have the right to believe in what we want to believe, to
have a religion, or to change it if we want.

19. Free to say what you want. We all have the right to make up our own minds, to think
what we like, to say what we think, and to share our ideas with other people.

20. Meet where you like. We all have the right to meet our friends and to work together in
peace to defend our rights. Nobody can make us join a group if we don’t want to.

21. The right to democracy. We all have the right to take part in the government of our
country. Every grown-up should be allowed to choose their own leaders.
22. The right to social security. We all have the right to affordable housing, medicine,
education, and child care, enough money to live on and medical help if we are ill or old.

23. Workers’ rights. Every grown-up has the right to do a job, to a fair wage for their work,
and to join a trade union.

24. The right to play. We all have the right to rest from work and to relax.

25. A bed and some food. We all have the right to a good life. Mothers and children, people
who are old, unemployed or disabled, and all people have the right to be cared for.

26. The right to education. Education is a right. Primary school should be free. We should
learn about the United Nations and how to get on with others. Our parents can choose what
we learn.

27. Culture and copyright. Copyright is a special law that protects one’s own artistic
creations and writings; others cannot make copies without permission. We all have the right
to our own way of life and to enjoy the good things that “art,” science and learning bring.

28. A free and fair world. There must be proper order so we can all enjoy rights and
freedoms in our own country and all over the world.

29. Our responsibilities. We have a duty to other people, and we should protect their rights
and freedoms.

30.Nobody can take away these rights and freedoms from us.

National Human Rights Commission

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India is an autonomous public body
constituted on 12 October 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Ordinance of 28
September 1993.It was given a statutory basis by the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993
(TPHRA). The NHRC is the national human rights institution, responsible for the protection
and promotion of human rights, defined by the Act as "rights relating to life, liberty, equality
and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International
Covenants".

Composition
The NHRC consists of:

 A Chairperson who has been a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India
 One Member who is, or has been, a Judge of the Supreme Court of India
 One Member who is, or has been, the Chief Justice of a High Court
 Two Members to be appointed from among persons having knowledge of, or
practical experience in, matters relating to human rights
 In addition, the Chairpersons of four National Commissions serve as ex officio
members.

Functions
TPHRA mandates the NHRC to perform the following functions:

 Proactively or reactively inquire into violations of human rights or negligence in

the prevention of such violation by a public servant

 By leave of the court, to intervene in court proceeding relating to human rights

 Visit any jail or other institution under the control of the State Government,
where persons are detained or lodged for purposes of treatment, reformation
or protection, for the study of the living conditions of the inmates and make
recommendations

 Review the safeguards provided by or under the Constitution or any law for the
time being in force for the protection of human rights and recommend
measures for their effective implementation

 Review the factors, including acts of terrorism that inhibit the enjoyment of
human rights and recommend appropriate remedial measures

 Study treaties and other international instruments on human rights and make
recommendations for their effective implementation

 Undertake and promote research in the field of human rights

 Engage in human rights education among various sections of society and promote
awareness of the safeguards available for the protection of these rights through
publications, the media, seminars and other available means

 Encourage the efforts of NGOs and institutions working in the field of human
rights

 Such other function as it may consider it necessary for the protection of human
rights.
Violation of Human Rights
When you strict or violate human rights, it means to take the basic rights of humanity away
such as a home, electricity, food, drink and etc. Also, human rights is to do with treating
someone as if they are “DIRT” so if you break one of those then you are violating human
rights towards humans.

India and Violation of Human Rights

The protection of human rights in India took a turn for the worse in 2012, Human
Rights Watch said on Friday.

India experienced continued incidents of violence against women, failed to provide

protection for freedom of speech and continued to not hold public officials
accountable for wrongdoing, the rights group said.

The sharply critical assessment of India comes as part of 655-page annual review of
human rights across more than 90 countries by Human Rights Watch. It was released
on Friday.

India’s major problem in protecting human rights is the gap between noble intentions
and action, MeenakshiGanguly, the South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in
an interview.

“There are often very good intentions, and the right things are said at the very
highest level of government, but we don’t often see it translate on the ground,” Ms.
Ganguly said. “The strong statements made by the government have to make a
difference for people interacting with the lowest level of government” for human
rights to improve, she said.

In its report, Human Rights Watch condemned the unabated sexual violence against
women in India, which has garnered national and international attention in the past
month. Reflecting on the Dec. 16 gang rape and subsequent death of a 23-year-old
woman in New Delhi, Ms. Ganguly said that the government’s effort to respond
swiftly, by releasing the Verma Commission report outlining recommendations for
changes in how sexual assault was handled in the country, was laudable. But that
effort needs to be combined with more systemic change, she said.

“At the Prime Minister’s level and the cabinet level there might be much desire for
change,” Ms. Ganguly said, but the police officer on the ground who is supposed to
register a case of rape is the face of the state. “What happens when he doesn’t?” she
asked. India needs a stronger system of accountability for public officials and better
training and sensitization of the police , she said.

The execution of AjmalKasab, convicted for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and the
renewed calls for the death penalty to be applied for those convicted of the New
Delhi gang rape, showed a regression in criminal justice in India, Human Rights Watch
said.

The lack of protection for freedom of speech and the misapplication of a colonial-era
sedition law continues to undermine the development of civil society and the space
for dissent in India, the report said. In 2012 there were various incidents of the state
curbing free speech, including the use of sedition laws to attack civil society
activists in Maoist insurgent areas, sedition charges lodged against a cartoonist for a
work that mocked corruption in the Indian government and the application of
draconian Internet laws.

“There is always this argument from the top level of government in India that we
believe in total freedom of speech but are concerned about law and order,” Ms.
Ganguly said. “However, whenever certain interest groups attempt to curb freedom
of speech the government submits to these threats of violence.”

Rather than trying to understand and embrace social media as a platform for debate,
the Indian government is heavy handed, she said, and is worried about what is said on
Twitter while it arrests people for Facebook posts, she said. The ban on YouTube and
Facebook in Kashmir and the arrest of two young women in Mumbai for their Facebook
activity are two such incidences.

Moving forward, the report saidthat India needs to revoke the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act, which allows soldiers to commit serious human rights violations, in order
to tackle the culture of impunity within the country’s defense establishment. The
report also pointed to abuses by government and opposition forces in India’s conflict-
torn areas such as Jammu and Kashmir, and in the northeastern states and villages
considered Maoist insurgent areas.

There have been some positive steps taken by the government in the past year,
Human Rights Watch said, including the protection of children from sexual abuse,
encouragement of medical care centers, the conviction of suspects in the 2002
Gujarat riots and support for the protection of human rights in other countries.

The report noted India’s effort to support United Nations resolutions to promote
human rights in countries such as Sri Lanka and Syria. However, Ms. Ganguly said that
while India harbors ambitions to become a permanent member of the United Nations
Security Council, the country fails to express a clear policy on various international
situations.

India’s policy tends to be reactive, Ms. Ganguly said, with the only constant
an insistence on not interfering in the matters of other countries. “If India is going to
be an emerging power, its global role cannot be ‘We will not speak for the human
rights of citizens of other countries,’ ” she said.