Analysis of Human Rights in The Modern Era Doneee
Analysis of Human Rights in The Modern Era Doneee
race, gender, nationality, religion or any other status. We are all entitled
to Human Rights without discrimination.”
– United Nations
India was elected in the United Nation Human Rights Council with majority
votes, which shows its standing in the International community. Human
Rights is a set of standards which gives humans the rights to live in
peace, harmony, with dignity, liberty, equality etc. regardless of their
labels (sex, creed, caste, gender, nation etc.) in the society. This ensures
the development of the individuals and the communities since there is a
basic standard which applies to every human on the planet. The Human
Rights are a major part of international law e.g. declarations, treaties,
Acts, regulations, rules which are incorporated by different nations as
their municipal laws. We can say that Human Rights are Universal,
absolute, interrelated and unbiased. This article talks about the modern
aspects of Human Rights.
The court compared the UDHR with the Fundamental Rights and
interpreted that other than Article 13(2) of the Indian constitution, upon
which UDHR is based on, the Fundamental Rights can not be altered and
on this observation, the court gave the “BASIC STRUCTURE DOCTRINE”
which stated that the basic feature or characteristics of fundamental rights
can not be abrogated or altered via amended, neither by the parliament
nor through a constitutional amendment.
Here, the court implemented an important and current branch of law i.e.
Human Rights Jurisprudence, guarded Human rights on the levy of state
and allowed the importance of Universal Declarations of Human Rights in
its interpretations.
Background
According to section 2(d) of this Act, “Human Rights mean the rights
relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of an individual guaranteed by
the constitution and enforceable by courts in India.”
Objectives
Powers
NHRC has the power of a civil court while dealing with a case
under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
Power to furnish information about any claimed privilege of the
person under the law.
Power to investigate and inquire or seize any relevant documents
with reason.
Power to take suo moto cognizance in matters related to
violation of human rights.
The kinds of complaints that NHRC entertains are custodial deaths, failed
investigation by police, police brutality, legal aid, illegal detention, fake
encounters by police, bonded labour, environment pollution etc.
Guidelines by NHRC
Section 21(1) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1933 provides that
the Human Rights Commission can be constituted at the state level by the
state government, to practice the powers and functions which the state
allocates. SHRC has the same functions as NHRC except for examining the
international instruments of human rights, other than that it has limited
powers and it can’t punish the individuals who violate human rights and
has no access to give the victim compensation.
Objective-
Section 12(1) of the Protection of Human Rights Act provides that the
commission is supposed to promote such organisations and encourage
their work towards the community in the field of human rights to obtain
physical help. The role of NGOs is also recognised internationally in
the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. There have been times
when local NGOs which work on a grass-root level were the first to file a
complaint against violation of human rights and the National Human
Rights Commission admitted those complaints, also their role in helping
with enforcement of government policies related to human rights with
their recommendations has been very effective.
The NHRC prioritises securing the rights of the oppressed and the
excluded. So, it takes all the possible measures to prevent any violation of
human rights of individuals.
1. The commission has been very actively working with the ambush
on human rights of the oppressed i.e. the minorities, such
penetration on the minorities is awakening and in this kind of
issues, the commission can take cognizance itself.
2. The commission takes the necessary course of action to prevent
such problems, especially when religious aspects are involved.
Cyberlaw
The cyberlaw is the rules and regulations that protect against cybercrime,
it covers networks, software, data, data storage devices, the internet,
websites, emails, ATM etc.
1. Intellectual property
2. Data protection and privacy
3. Electronic or digital signatures
Budapest Convention
The council of Europe gave effect to the convention i.e. Budapest
Convention on the subject of cybercrimes to provide a solution to the
issues faced because of the growth of the digital platform. This convention
is the most relevant international agreement.
In the new era of the digitalised world, human rights are violated openly
and widely. Article 19 of the Universal Declarations of Human Rights
(UDHR) is the medium to the information community that contemplates
that every individual shall have access to the advantages of the
information society.
The United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) has stated a
general comment that the freedom of expression and information in the
International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights should also include
freedom to send and receive and communicate information, ideas and
opinions through the internet (cyberspace) as well.
Internet Censorship
The Indian media has reported many issues related to the misuse of the
internet in numerous ways and how it exploits human rights. Internet
censorship includes a ban on child pornography, removal of offensive or
hateful content on social media platforms by court’s order and regulation
of any bullying, discrimination, offensive behaviour in the cyberspace, e.g.
cyberbullying, cyber racism, cyber sexism or sexual harassment, cyber
homophobia etc. These days the big social media platforms are coming up
with their strict policies opposing all these issues, the content can be
reported by the public itself.
In this digital age, data privacy applies to all personal information which
also includes PAN or Aadhar, medical record etc. There is no particular law
in India that deals with data protection or privacy rights. Section 43A of
the IT Act, 2000 deals with certain “Data protection rules”.
There are relevant laws i.e. Information Technology Act, 2000 and Indian
Contract Act, 1872. India is currently working on the framework of data
privacy laws, an expert group is already working on it and several privacy
laws are influenced by General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Which
was created in Europe to protect digital identities.
The role of Human Rights was limited in the MDGs plans but they had
numerous similarities because MDGs included the economic and social
rights. In the Millennium Declaration, all the leaders committed
themselves in respect of recognising human rights, fundamental
freedoms, right to development etc. and all its strategies were for the
advancement of the legitimacy, equity and sustainability of its policies.
Conclusion
Human Rights has three aspects i.e. Civil-political, Socio-economic, and
developmental. Many international human rights instruments
i.e. UDHR, ICCPR, ICESCR, CERD etc. all these human rights treaties and
conventions have helped in the development of human rights across the
world, their principles are being applied on both national and international
level, they all were introduced to protect Human rights globally. These
conventions and treaties have been implemented in India and that’s how
National Human Rights Commission was implemented to protect
individuals against violation of their human rights, the whole machinery
works for proper implementation of human rights but still, the powers and
authority of NHRC are very limited and it is dependent on the government
for its funding. There is a need to empower institutions like NHRC, State
human rights commission, National Women’s commission etc. to get the
desired results.
Nowadays, there are numerous new ways in which Humans are being
exploited and their rights are being violated with every new development
in the society. New human rights interpretations are introduced by
upcoming new generations out of society’s needs and necessities. The
virtual world i.e. the internet has no limits and it is used internationally.