State obliged to ensure Human Rights of citizens
The Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Justice A.S. Anand has emphasized that it is the obligation of the State to ensure everyone has the right to adequate food, education and enjoyment of highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These rights have to be respected and made available to the citizens by the State, said Justice Anand while inaugurating the two-day Capacity Building Workshop on "Economic, Social and Cultural Rights" jointly organized by the National Human Rights Commission and the Indian Institute of Public Administration here today.
Under the International Covenant on economic, social and cultural rights a State party is obliged to use all steps to achieve progressively full realization of the rights recognized in the covenant, Justice Anand said, these include adoption of legislative means, which are to be exercised on a non-discriminatory basis.
India being a signatory to Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and other international instruments, is legally as well as morally committed to ensure basic human rights to all its citizens and enact laws accordingly, he said.
Justice Anand called for ratifying the treaties the country has been delaying for so long so as to give a practical shape to the resolution for protecting and preserving human rights. He said there is need to civilize and discipline public power for the betterment of the society. Justice Anand however cautioned that while seeking our rights one should not overlook our duties and obligations as citizens. He emphasized the need to assist the society and to achieve equilibrium and not imbalance. He called for development and not stagnation, for harmony and not discord, for solace and not misery, for love and not hatred.
Justice Anand said that there is a direct co-relationship between human rights and development. Issues concerning food, nutrition, health care, shelter, employment and the like are intrinsically linked to ensure proper respect for human rights. There has to be a harmonious blending of all these rights to reach the objective, so as to provide human dignity.
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 measures 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.
Justice Anand said the Founding Fathers of the Indian Constitution, had a vision of the Indian society, which they wanted to realize through the Constitution. That vision was primarily reflected in the Preamble, the chapters on Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. Justice Anand added that in a way, the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy is the product of human rights movement in the country.
The two-day Capacity Building Workshop being attended by the faculty of the National and State Administrative Training Institutes serves to sensitize the participants to the importance of the International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the application to domestic laws and public policy.
Under the International Covenant on economic, social and cultural rights a State party is obliged to use all steps to achieve progressively full realization of the rights recognized in the covenant, Justice Anand said, these include adoption of legislative means, which are to be exercised on a non-discriminatory basis.
India being a signatory to Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and other international instruments, is legally as well as morally committed to ensure basic human rights to all its citizens and enact laws accordingly, he said.
Justice Anand called for ratifying the treaties the country has been delaying for so long so as to give a practical shape to the resolution for protecting and preserving human rights. He said there is need to civilize and discipline public power for the betterment of the society. Justice Anand however cautioned that while seeking our rights one should not overlook our duties and obligations as citizens. He emphasized the need to assist the society and to achieve equilibrium and not imbalance. He called for development and not stagnation, for harmony and not discord, for solace and not misery, for love and not hatred.
Justice Anand said that there is a direct co-relationship between human rights and development. Issues concerning food, nutrition, health care, shelter, employment and the like are intrinsically linked to ensure proper respect for human rights. There has to be a harmonious blending of all these rights to reach the objective, so as to provide human dignity.
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 measures 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.
Justice Anand said the Founding Fathers of the Indian Constitution, had a vision of the Indian society, which they wanted to realize through the Constitution. That vision was primarily reflected in the Preamble, the chapters on Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. Justice Anand added that in a way, the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy is the product of human rights movement in the country.
The two-day Capacity Building Workshop being attended by the faculty of the National and State Administrative Training Institutes serves to sensitize the participants to the importance of the International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the application to domestic laws and public policy.