Human Rights and Social Justice - Ramakrishna Mission Institute of ...

BIKAS C SANYAL 

HUMAN RIGHTS 

Human Rights and Social Justice: 

International Context 


Ishall talk about ‘Human Rights’ in the 

context of the present international political, 

economic and financial crises. I shall 

discuss the role of international organizations 

like UNESCO in building a universal culture 

of peace and human rights. This role should 

guarantee the implementation of human 

rights, within the Organization’s mandate, of 

the most vulnerable group of populations. I 

shall also take into consideration the emerging 

ethical and social challenges. The diverse 

socio-economic, political and cultural background 

of different countries, of course, 

makes it a challenging task. But I shall try. 

Let me first dwell on the historical context 

of Human Rights and Social Justice. 

Frankly speaking, the aspiration for and provision 

of human rights for social justice has 

been recorded for thousands of years in Asia 

and abroad. Asia, however, was the first. Emperor 

Cyrus of Persia (598-529 BC) is recognized 

as the first promoter of human rights in 

sixth century BC. This information is found in 

the ‘Cyrus Cylinder’. Then comes Emperor 

Asoka of India (265-232 BC). That he established 

the Law of Piety (Human Rights) is 

found in his Edicts. Then, again, the Islamic 

Prophet Muhammad instituted the rights and 

responsibilities of the Muslim, Jewish and 

other communities including the Pagan communities 

for living together and promoting 

religious freedom and security of women in 

the Constitution of Medina (622 AD). 

From the 17th to the first quarter of the 

20th century, the following instruments were 

constructed in the West, namely, the British 

Bill of Rights (1689), The US Virginia Declaration 

of Rights (1776), The French Declaration 

of the Rights of Man and of the Citizens 

(1789), The International Humanitarian Law: 

the Law of Geneva (1864 and 1949), the Law 

of Hague (1899 and 1907), and the League of 

Nations established in 1919 for promoting 

many aspects of human rights. The International 

Federation of Human Rights was established 

in 1922 with 10 national organizations. 

Today it comprises 155 centres in more than 

100 countries. 

The most important event of modern 

times for protection of human rights was The 

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 

(UDHR) of the United Nations adopted in 

1948 with 30 articles: articles 3-21 dealing 

with civil and political rights, 22-28 with economic, 

social and cultural rights. The UDHR 

was drafted by people from different cultures 

and traditions, including a US Roman Catholic, 

a Chinese Confucian philosopher, a 

French Zionist, a representative from the 

Arab League and drawing upon advice from 

thinkers such as Mahatma Gandhi, the father 

of Indian nation. 

The promulgation at the international 

level of laws and treaties that followed may be 

mentioned here. The principal of these are the 

Human Rights Law (1966) leading to the 

International Covenant on Civil and Political 

Rights (1966) and International Covenant 

on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 

(1966); Convention on Elimination of All 

Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD, 

adopted 1966, enforced 1969); Convention 

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HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT 

on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination 

Against Women (CEDAW, enforced 

1981); United Nations Convention Against 

Torture (CAT, adopted and enforced 1984); 

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 

adopted and enforced 1989); International 

Convention on the Protection of the Rights of 

All Migrant Workers and Members of their 

Families (ICRMW, adopted 1990, enforced 

2003). The Optional Protocol to the International 

Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural 

Rights adopted by UN General Assembly 

in December 2008 strengthened the justifiability 

of the rights to work, health, education, 

housing, culture, gender equality, decent 

life and human dignity. 

Human Rights and Social 

Justice in Asia 

Independence movements of the Asian 

countries under colonial rule advocated selfdetermination 

and human rights (During 

Japanese war the Chinese Communist Party 

enacted human rights ordinances in liberated 

areas, to give one example). 

After independence all the Asian states 

naturally adopted constitutions with human 

rights clauses. However, after independence 

when the fighters became the new rulers, selfdetermination, 

nationalism and national integration 

were emphasized in some countries 

rather than human rights. The ideas of ‘Asian 

culture’ and ‘Asian values’ emerged. 

The concept of ‘Asian values’ wanted to 

give more importance to ‘economic, social 

and cultural rights’ than to ‘civil and political 

rights’. However, the Vienna Declaration and 

Programme of Action adopted by the World 

conference on Human Rights in 1993 rejected 

the application of concepts of ‘Asian culture’ 

and ‘Asian values’ and asserted that ‘All 

human rights are universal, indivisible and 

interdependent and interrelated’ and ‘The 

World Conference on Human Rights reaffirms 

the importance of ensuring the universality, 

objectivity and non-selectivity of the 

consideration of human rights issues’ (Paras 5 

and 32, Section I, (declaration). However, the 

progress leaves much to be desired. 

Human Rights Record in South Asia, 

World Report 2009 of Human 

Rights Watch 

The Report finds all countries violating 

human rights in some form or other. A study 

founded by ‘Save the Children-Swedish 

Branch’ and published by the Asian Centre 

for Human Rights gives the results of a survey 

on the situation in respect of nine rights from 

a comparative point of view in South Asia. 

The Table below gives the result: 

South Asia Human Rights Index 2008 

(Asian Centre for Human Rights, August 2008) 

Country 

Sri Bangladesh 

Bhutan Pakistan Maldives Nepal India 

Lanka 

Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

Rights 

Political 

Freedom 

4 7 6 5 3 2 1 

Rights to 

Life 

7 6 2 5 1 3 4 

Admin. 

of Justice 

4 6 7 1 5 3 2 

NHRIS 4 6 7 5 2 3 1 

Press 

Freedom 

6 5 7 4 3 2 1 

Women 6 4 1 7 3 2 5 

Rights of 

Child 

7 2 1 6 3 5 4 

Human 

Rights 7 5 6 4 2 1 3 

Defenders 

Minorities 7 5 6 4 - 3 2 

Total 52 46 43 41 23 24 23 

• NHRIS: National Human Rights 

Institutions; Rank 7 for having worst human 

rights, 1 for having best human rights. 

One could note that India and Maldives 

are in the best position whereas Sri Lanka is in 

the worst position. Human rights records are 

now being taken seriously, asserting or attempting 

to demonstrate adherence to international 

human rights norms (See White Papers 

from China on the topic, especially National 

Plan of Action for Human Rights, China, 


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2009-2010). Significant progress has 

been made since UDHR as has been noted by 

the Amnesty International in its report of 

2009 on the Asia-Pacific region as follows: 

‘Under the increasing political and economic 

pressure, many people in the Asia-Pacific 

region turned the international human rights 

framework to bolster their efforts to secure 

greater dignity for themselves and others’ 

(Asia and the Pacific, Amnesty International 

Report 2009, page 5). 

Challenges facing Asia in the current 

context of global economic and 

financial crisis 

The challenges spawned by unregulated 

globalization, especially in the social and 

ethical domain, are mainly the following: 

• Social exploitation by the dominant private 

sector and multinationals and reduced 

emphasis on state role in education, health 

and social service; 

• Privatization of public services leading 

to deprivation of the poor and the 

marginalized; 

• Excessive consumerism causing environmental 

disaster (pollution, climate change 

leading to water shortages and degradation of 

land on the one hand, and floods, raising of 

sea-level and loss of habitable land on the 

other), corruption and marginalization; 

• Underinvestment in agriculture, emphasis 

on mining, manufacturing, communication, 

financial and trade sectors; 

• Deprivation of the indigenous people of 

their land and natural resources; 

• Inequality among social groups 

(women, rural people, migrant workers, ethnic 

and religious minorities) disturbing peace, 

creating conflicts, religious fundamentalism 

and terrorism. 

The current financial crisis due to 

unregulated opening up of the economy for 

globalization in its turn has led to poverty 

aggravated by reduction in development assistance, 

repatriation of migrant workers from 

export-driven economies and drastic reduction 

of foreign remittances, unemployment 

due to slowing down of economies, food crisis, 

politically manipulated distribution of 

food aid and negligence of education and 

health care and cut in social security with no 

safety nets. 

The above factors are responsible for political 

instability and mass violence which has 

led to media censorship and restrictions on 

civil society in certain countries as Irene Khan 

in her report on Amnesty International (2009) 

has noted. I quote: 

Deprivation, inequality, injustice, insecurity 

and oppression are the hallmarks of poverty. 

They are clearly human rights problems and 

will not yield to economic measures alone. 

They demand strong political will and a comprehensive 

response integrating political, 

economic, social and environmental 

issues with an overarching framework of 

human rights and the rule of law. 

Suggested role of UNESCO and hints 

for implementation with 

sectors responsible 

UNESCO should continue its efforts to 

integrate human rights approach to all its 

programmes. These should cover all rights 

relevant to education, science, social science, 

culture and communications sectors of 

UNESCO. The work it is doing through seminars, 

conferences, workshops etc. (See for 

example, UNESCO’s Work on Education for 

Peace and Non-Violence, on Human Rights 

and related topics providing a list of 23 recent 

publications: UNESCO, 2003-2008) should 

be continued, updated and oriented towards 

action as hinted below. It should continue 

taking special responsibility with regard to 

the following rights and programmes: 

• Right to education (including moral and 

ethical education, peace education and education 

for democracy; human rights education; 

environmental education as integral part of 

formal, non-formal and informal education, 


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HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT 

entrepreneurial education and bioethics) 

(Sector responsible: Education) 

• Right to participate in cultural life (protection 

of cultural diversity and cultural property) 

and the rights of intellectuals (Sector 

responsible: Culture) 

• Right to freedom of opinion and expression 

including right to seek, receive and impart 

information using modern technology 

(web site, internet etc.) (Sector responsible: 

Communication) 

• Right to enjoy the benefits of scientific 

progress and its applications including access 

to digital forms of knowledge (Sector responsible: 

Science) 

• Right of women: (Responsible: All 

sectors) 

• Adoption of standard-setting instruments 

for accountability of potential violators 

including corporations and improving them in 

areas of UNESCO’s mandate and development 

of their effective monitoring mechanism 

(Responsible: All sectors) 

• Promotion of research and dissemination 

of knowledge through workshop, orientation 

seminars, conferences etc. on human 

rights in all aspects relevant to UNESCO with 

special emphasis on empowerment of potential 

victims of human rights violation and 

enlightenment of potential human rights violators 

(business, military, ideological and religious 

extremists etc.) and continuous updating 

of the competences of the protectors of 

human rights (civil servants, lawyers, politicians, 

NGOs and UNESCO staff) with development 

of concrete plans of action: (Responsible: 

All sectors especially, Social science; 

the Social Science sector’s support for the 

recently introduced programme on International 

Understanding for Human Unity in this 

Institute is a good example) 

• Strengthening partnerships with other 

UN bodies, especially Office of the High 

Commissioner for Human Rights, intergovernmental 

organizations, regional bodies, and 

national authorities and human rights 

institutions, UNESCO National Commissions 

and, most importantly, with private sector 

including ‘philanthropreneurs’ for funding 

human rights protection programmes (All 

sectors) 

• Co-ordinating the action plans of 

different sectors of the organization 

• Maintaining rationally allocated budget 

for implementation of the programmes and 

facilitating mobilization of extra-budgetary 

resources. 

• Lastly, UNESCO should appreciate that 

success in the implementation of UDHR will 

depend on the national authorities. External 

imposition can backfire. Focus should be on 

the ‘conscientization’ of people through the 

programmes mentioned above. 

Enabling factors 

Political pluralism and participatory democracy 

are institutional foundations necessary 

for protection of human rights in all its 

aspects but not sufficient as will be observed 

from the following examples. India, during its 

history became the ‘home’ in chronological 

order of the following people: 

• People who settled on the bank of the 

river ‘Indus’ whom the Persians and Arabs 

later gave the name ‘Hindus’ (second millennium 

BC) 

• The Buddhists and the Jains (6th century 

BC) and the Jews (2nd century BC) 

• The Christians (Ist century AD) following 

St Thomas who arrived first 

• The Persians and the Zoroastrians (end 

of 7th century AD) and the Moslems (8th 

century AD) 

The French Noble laureate Romain 

Rolland said: ‘If there is one place on the face 

of the earth where all the dreams of living men 

have found a home from the earliest days 

when man began the dream of existence, it is 

India.’ The country’s constitution provides 

political pluralism and participatory democracy 

and has incorporated and continuously 

updated almost all the important elements of 


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UDHR and the attached instruments in the 

constitution. 

The country has as the head of state a 

woman, as head of the ruling party a woman 

from a minority community, as head of the 

Parliament a woman from the lowest class of 

the society (‘dalit’), as head of government a 

man from a minority community, as head of 

defence also one from a minority community. 

This has not happened by chance but through 

the strength of its democratic institutions. 

Even then, the country has human rights problems. 

We must not lose sight of the importance 

of the UDHR and should constantly 

struggle to protect them. 

Impact of Swami Vivekananda on human 

rights on the constitutional interpretation 

by the Supreme Court of India 

The Supreme Court has used 

Vivekananda to interpret the Right to Equality 

and reservation for the Scheduled Castes 

in Akhil Bharatiya Soshit Karamchari Sangh 

(Rly.) v. Union of India by Justice Krishna 

Iyer (1981). The Court has also quoted 

Vivekananda to justify the reservation given 

to Scheduled Castes in State of Karnataka v. 

Appa Balu Ingale (1995) as well as to justify 

the reservation policy of Other Backward 

Castes (OBCs) in the most famous Indra 

Sawhney v. Union of India (1992). The Court 

has used it for the purpose of interpreting the 

definition of what Education is under the 

Right to Education in P. A. Inamdar v. State 

of Maharashtra (2005). 

The Court has also used Swamiji’s philosophy 

to enunciate the need of the courts to 

be sensitive to injustice in Balbir Kaur v. Steel 

Authority of India and on the rights and duties 

of teachers in Avinash Nagra v. Navodaya 

Vidyalaya Samiti as indeed the nature and 

meaning, responsibility of being a citizen of 

India and the duties of those in government in 

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Officers 

Welfare Council v. State of U.P. (1997). 

The Court has relied on Swami 

Vivekananda to define Socialism in the constitution 

and the Welfare State and its inspiration 

in Murlidhar Dayandeo Kesekar v. 

Vishwanath Pandu Barde and Dharwad Dist. 

Literate Daily Wages Employees Association 

v. State of Karnataka (1990). 

A quote from Vivekananda was also the 

first line in the famous judgement of Justice 

Verma in Ismael Faruqui v. Union of India 

(also known as the Babri Masjid Judgement). 

In fact, the quote about Swami 

Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi being 

great Hindus while their teachings and life 

being example of great tolerance made out 

famously in S. R. Bommai v. Union of India, 

so as to define the conception of Secularism 

in India, being not antithetical to religion but 

of tolerance, is now an oft-quoted, almost 

legal principle, by the Court (1994). The presence 

of Swami Vivekananda in the interpretation 

of the Constitution is surprisingly large 

for a person who died in the year 1902, nearly 

45 years before India achieved its 

independence, and nearly 48 years before the 

Constitution was brought into effect and 

India became a Republic. 

The rights are too important to ignore. 

The goals are to be kept as they are and even 

expanded if the situation demands. Concerned 

citizens, institutions, governments and 

UNESCO have to move forward to achieve 

them. The path is very difficult like walking 

on the edge of a razor. But UNESCO must 

pursue its noble mission with renewed vigour 

‘in building a universal culture of peace and 

human rights’. 

• 

* Mr Bikas C Sanyal is Vice-Chairman, UNESCO International Institute for Capacity-Building in 

Africa, formerly Special Adviser of UNESCO Director General for Higher Education. This 

article is based on the text of his lecture delivered at the Institute on 3 January this year. 


June

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