Dr. Justice A.S. Anand, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, has said that good governance is not possible unless fundamental rights are safeguarded. At the inaugural session of a two-day Capacity Building Workshop on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at the Karnataka Judicial Academy in Bangalore on 7 February 2005, he stressed that the quality of governance by the Centre and the States can only be measured "by the social, economic, cultural and political rights citizens enjoy." At the same time one cannot overlook the duties, obligations, and responsibilities such rights confer on citizens. "We must ensure that the mentally and physically disabled and the poverty-stricken also do not suffer", he said.
In his address, Dr. Anand drew attention to the fact that while certain human rights like right to life, right to freedom of thought are protected rights and put under the guarantee of law, there are other rights i.e. the indirectly protected rights - such as the right to food, the right to education or right to health care which can only be protected through public institutions. "This is where the role of the senior officials of the State assumes importance and significance", he pointed out.
Human rights, he said, are "demands to protect our only common identity as human beings." These rights, which are non-negotiable and not alienable, are first of all ethical principles. They are ethical norms for the treatment of individuals.
For the Commission, he observed, it has been important to link the issues of adequate food, education and health to that of human rights. It has been the view of the Commission that, when linked together, more can be done to advance human well being than when food, education and health, on the one hand, and civil and political rights, on the other, are considered in isolation.
With every passing year, conviction has grown in the Commission that for right to live with human dignity, it is essential to focus in equal measure on economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights. The indivisibility and interrelated nature of both these rights is a reality and there is a symbiosis between them. Those in the field must, therefore, ensure that the concern and anxiety, which they show for political and social rights, are also manifested in economic, social and cultural rights, he said.
Bureaucrats and judicial officers have to be aware of social, economic and cultural rights of the citizens while discharging their duties, he added. The Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, Justice N.K.Sodhi in his address said that he felt that the International Covenant on social, cultural, and economic rights does not give enough attention to the duties that accompany rights. "Of the 30 Articles in the covenant, only Article 29 deals with duties, whereas rights and duties go together in our Constitution". Besides Justice N. K. Sodhi, the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Justice A.M. Farooq, President of the Academy was present on the occasion.
39 participants which included senior civil servants, judicial officers, State Government officers, academicians and NGOs participated in the two-day workshop, jointly organized by Indian Institute of Public Administration and NHRC.