Why? Why this project? The project is to do advocacy for the implementation of Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) – which states that State Parties undertake to respect and ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction, the rights recognised in the Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status – address related issues, and implement Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 (promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies with peace, justice and strong institutions) in the context of three countries, namely, Nepal, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Later, one more country will be added – Bangladesh. Now, why should such a project be undertaken in these specific countries?
Is there an authentic need for this work of strengthening the implementation mechanism of human rights by way of legislative, judicial, and administrative means as prescribed in Article 2? A way to improve access to justice through public institutions in order to create inclusive and open societies in terms of SDG 16? Are these authentic needs of these countries? Secondly, are these so fundamental that they lead to the achievement of the objective?
Regarding the question of specificity, if a similar question was asked about the US, England, Germany, and one of those developed countries, the answer would be no. Such work is no longer needed. Some work may be needed because nothing is perfect. But, basically, they have no problems arising simply on the basis of these defects. So therefore, anyone from those countries who have grown up and acquired these habits of thoughts, perspectives, and philosophies, is likely to consider these as belonging either to a bygone era or matters of secondary importance. These are understandable outsiders’ points of view.
What matters to an insider is the people who are living in these countries. What is the implication of having an extremely bad policing system which, in fact, is used for repression and not for the protection of rights or the protection of the people? What if the policing system is so corrupt that a person, particularly a poor person who wants to go to the law enforcement authorities to make a complaint, cannot simply get a reasonable response? What if it is about the State not providing adequate resources, or as a matter of policy, the State is using a very backward system of policing so as to brutalise the people, creating many forms of violence against the people including the routine use of torture? What if police and law enforcement agencies, including the military, engage openly in extrajudicial killings including the large-scale use of enforced disappearances? What if the particular laws in the country, which are outdated since colonial times or during a military regime, gives power to the police to detain people at police stations for at least six months without producing them before a judge?
What if the judges are deprived of the independence to act, particularly when the issues are those of a public nature such as the freedom of expression of the people, the right of assembly and association, or engaging in human rights work, if the systems allow the imprisonment of these people sometimes for indefinite periods? What if the entire ideology of the national security laws is used in order to deprive all rights and to allow for administrative detention for whatever period of time without any recourse to a legal remedy?
What if the Parliamentary system is so manipulated that the Parliament, even if they are elected, is unable to give expression to the concerns of their own voters? What if, by deliberate means, the Parliament is manipulated to be a comic arena that people no longer take seriously? What if the rights of trade unions are so trampled that it becomes a dangerous task to engage in any active form of trade unionism?
What if young women cannot go out, particularly in the evening, without fear of being seriously harassed, and without any ability to call for help from the police? What if the prosecution system is so politically manipulated that serious crimes are not prosecuted, particularly if they are done against the people and the people have no redress even regarding very serious crimes? What if child abuse is so common that it is without effective legal remedy?
Even if there is a child rights authority, what if their recommendations are not respected and they cannot use their mandates on behalf of the people? In the same way, the National Human Rights Commission, which has a mandate for the protection of the people, is deliberately sabotaged by appointing those who are opposed to the promotion of human rights and deprived of any capacity to effectively intervene into anything.
What if these situations are used by powerful politicians and the strong segment of the business community in order to grab the lands of the poor, without following any due legal process, and use it for their purposes? What if there is no hindrance to the disruption of forests and natural resources? What if there is an absence of control of food, making it possible to sell poisonous stuff in the open market, which creates unheard-of illnesses such as epidemic levels of kidney problems and other such diseases? What if the drinking water is so contaminated in many areas that the people again are exposed to various problems?
What if exorbitant interest is imposed on loans which are called micro credit, and are taken by the poor so much so that they are unable to pay back their loans and interests and they end up either dying by suicide or losing whatever meagre property they have, and for this, what legal redress is available? What if the school system gets completely neglected and the quality of education suffers so drastically, particularly for the poor who cannot pay for their education and there is no legal process to resort to, in order to protect themselves?
This list can go on indefinitely. The issue which is raised is simple in that, are these forms of suffering worth being taken up for advocacy in order to expose these problems, conduct social debates over these problems, influence the political parties and others for the development of policies, and various other activities like public opinion making? The issue at this point is not about what are the means that one can use to do that advocacy, but is the advocacy on this issue an authentic need?
To the insider, no argument is needed to prove any of these issues. Their only overwhelming problem is that while they agree that these can be changed, they may have lost hope that these things will ever be changed. Thus, a kind of fatalism has set in among the people and the civil society to accept these conditions as predetermined and which will not improve, but which may deteriorate. Thus, for them, the question is not that they deny the problem but that they are so affected by the problem, that their suffering is so deep that there is no room even for hope.
(The writer is the Asian Human Rights Commission’s Policy and Programmes Director)Advocacy as a response to a form of human suffering: Part II
14 Sep 2021
Advocacy as a response to a form of human suffering: Part II
14 Sep 2021
Why? Why this project? The project is to do advocacy for the implementation of Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) – which states that State Parties undertake to respect and ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction, the rights recognised in the Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status – address related issues, and implement Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 (promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies with peace, justice and strong institutions) in the context of three countries, namely, Nepal, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Later, one more country will be added – Bangladesh. Now, why should such a project be undertaken in these specific countries?
Is there an authentic need for this work of strengthening the implementation mechanism of human rights by way of legislative, judicial, and administrative means as prescribed in Article 2? A way to improve access to justice through public institutions in order to create inclusive and open societies in terms of SDG 16? Are these authentic needs of these countries? Secondly, are these so fundamental that they lead to the achievement of the objective?
Regarding the question of specificity, if a similar question was asked about the US, England, Germany, and one of those developed countries, the answer would be no. Such work is no longer needed. Some work may be needed because nothing is perfect. But, basically, they have no problems arising simply on the basis of these defects. So therefore, anyone from those countries who have grown up and acquired these habits of thoughts, perspectives, and philosophies, is likely to consider these as belonging either to a bygone era or matters of secondary importance. These are understandable outsiders’ points of view.
What matters to an insider is the people who are living in these countries. What is the implication of having an extremely bad policing system which, in fact, is used for repression and not for the protection of rights or the protection of the people? What if the policing system is so corrupt that a person, particularly a poor person who wants to go to the law enforcement authorities to make a complaint, cannot simply get a reasonable response? What if it is about the State not providing adequate resources, or as a matter of policy, the State is using a very backward system of policing so as to brutalise the people, creating many forms of violence against the people including the routine use of torture? What if police and law enforcement agencies, including the military, engage openly in extrajudicial killings including the large-scale use of enforced disappearances? What if the particular laws in the country, which are outdated since colonial times or during a military regime, gives power to the police to detain people at police stations for at least six months without producing them before a judge?
What if the judges are deprived of the independence to act, particularly when the issues are those of a public nature such as the freedom of expression of the people, the right of assembly and association, or engaging in human rights work, if the systems allow the imprisonment of these people sometimes for indefinite periods? What if the entire ideology of the national security laws is used in order to deprive all rights and to allow for administrative detention for whatever period of time without any recourse to a legal remedy?
What if the Parliamentary system is so manipulated that the Parliament, even if they are elected, is unable to give expression to the concerns of their own voters? What if, by deliberate means, the Parliament is manipulated to be a comic arena that people no longer take seriously? What if the rights of trade unions are so trampled that it becomes a dangerous task to engage in any active form of trade unionism?
What if young women cannot go out, particularly in the evening, without fear of being seriously harassed, and without any ability to call for help from the police? What if the prosecution system is so politically manipulated that serious crimes are not prosecuted, particularly if they are done against the people and the people have no redress even regarding very serious crimes? What if child abuse is so common that it is without effective legal remedy?
Even if there is a child rights authority, what if their recommendations are not respected and they cannot use their mandates on behalf of the people? In the same way, the National Human Rights Commission, which has a mandate for the protection of the people, is deliberately sabotaged by appointing those who are opposed to the promotion of human rights and deprived of any capacity to effectively intervene into anything.
What if these situations are used by powerful politicians and the strong segment of the business community in order to grab the lands of the poor, without following any due legal process, and use it for their purposes? What if there is no hindrance to the disruption of forests and natural resources? What if there is an absence of control of food, making it possible to sell poisonous stuff in the open market, which creates unheard-of illnesses such as epidemic levels of kidney problems and other such diseases? What if the drinking water is so contaminated in many areas that the people again are exposed to various problems?
What if exorbitant interest is imposed on loans which are called micro credit, and are taken by the poor so much so that they are unable to pay back their loans and interests and they end up either dying by suicide or losing whatever meagre property they have, and for this, what legal redress is available? What if the school system gets completely neglected and the quality of education suffers so drastically, particularly for the poor who cannot pay for their education and there is no legal process to resort to, in order to protect themselves?
This list can go on indefinitely. The issue which is raised is simple in that, are these forms of suffering worth being taken up for advocacy in order to expose these problems, conduct social debates over these problems, influence the political parties and others for the development of policies, and various other activities like public opinion making? The issue at this point is not about what are the means that one can use to do that advocacy, but is the advocacy on this issue an authentic need?
To the insider, no argument is needed to prove any of these issues. Their only overwhelming problem is that while they agree that these can be changed, they may have lost hope that these things will ever be changed. Thus, a kind of fatalism has set in among the people and the civil society to accept these conditions as predetermined and which will not improve, but which may deteriorate. Thus, for them, the question is not that they deny the problem but that they are so affected by the problem, that their suffering is so deep that there is no room even for hope.
(The writer is the Asian Human Rights Commission’s Policy and Programmes Director)Kapruka
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Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!