New Delhi, 28 June 2006

Dr. Justice A.S. Anand, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission of India has called for a paradigm shift from Human Development as seen in terms of economic development to Human Development as a basic Human Right. In a speech at the First Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday, Justice Anand asked the Council to move towards bringing the rights perspective on the Centre stage in the debate over equality of opportunities. He said universality of human rights demand eradication of global inequalities and to achieve this the importance of right to development has to be emphasized. Stressing that the aim of human rights is empowerment of people through human development, Justice Anand said human rights are inter-dependent and inter-related and have a direct relationship with Human Development.
Referring to the wide global disparities in different parts of the world, Justice Anand said they are linked to varying level of human development and must be minimized to ensure that minimum needs of everyone throughout the world are met. He called for developing strategies to achieve this result and said that the potential of all human beings should be fully realized in order to work for true Human Development.
Calling poverty as the biggest violator of human rights, he said eradication of poverty should not be treated merely as a developmental product but the agenda for such a development must include provision of all basic amenities to the people. He said poverty has to be eradicated through the process of human development. For such a human development, we should keep in mind that the beneficiaries are empowered to participate in decision making and execution of different schemes, transparently and accountably and sharing the benefits equitably, he said.
Citing the statistics provided by the Human Development Reports, he said that massive inequalities exist more particularly in the developing countries, which render the enjoyment of human rights rather illusory. He said for poverty stricken people in various countries of the world, political freedom would not have much significance as they suffer from social evils flowing from poverty. Political freedom can only be enjoyed when economic, social and cultural rights are assured to them, he added.
Justice Anand called corruption as the other important factor having a bearing on the development debate, as it is a violator of human rights. He said good governance is not possible unless it is free from corruption. The Chairperson highlighted the National Conference organized by NHRC, India on "Impact of corruption on good governance and human rights" which brought to the fore the issue of corruption. He said the idea behind the Conference was to highlight the importance of tackling this issue, as it is seen to be one of the biggest drains on the resources of a country.
The Chairperson also dwelt on the issue of terrorism and said, terrorism has cast a pall on efforts to promote and protect human rights, as it is deeply hostile to human rights including the fundamental right to life itself. He said that the Indian Commission firmly believes that there can be no selective approach while dealing with terrorism and there has to be a united and concerted effort to fight the menace, without compromising the civil liberties of the citizens.
Justice Anand said with the formation of the Human Rights Council, there is a need to address the imbalances that exist and which threaten the values and thus cause inequalities.
Thanking the World Body for giving him an opportunity to express the views on behalf of the National Human Rights Commission of India at the First Session of the Human Rights Council, he said that we should aim at ensuring distributive justice in the national as well as the global context.
The NHRC, India was the only Commission invited to make a statement at the Human Rights Council.
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