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Human dignity and livelihoods 

30 Jun 2021

One significant distinction must be made when we discuss human dignity in the context of a developed country, where the people generally have adequate means of living their normal lives, and in developing countries, where many people do not have such possibilities. In other words, the problem of livelihoods and the problem of human dignity cannot be divorced.  In an abstract sense, all human beings are equal, and therefore all of them are entitled to be treated with dignity. In that sense, human dignity is an inherent quality of a human being. However, in the actual circumstances of living, things do not work that way. If a person does not have a livelihood by which they could guarantee, for themselves and their families, that their basic needs such as food, healthcare, education, and other basic needs are met, they are not in a position to assert their dignity and remain as equals among others who may not have similar difficulties. A person who does not have enough to eat for themselves or for their families, will simply have to suppress whatever feelings of dignity they may have, and will have to humble themselves in order to get these basic needs to some extent or the other. In the failure to get that, they will die, and for many, before dying, they will be faced with all kinds of illnesses and other problems, also to which they can find no solutions. Perhaps this question is better discussed under the present circumstances in terms of the spread of Covid-19. These days, we are hearing the most shocking and saddening tales as to what happens to many, and in particular to the poor, in the context of Covid-19. Not only do they die in large numbers, but also even the basic human dignities that are observed after death cannot be provided for many of them. The stories of bodies thrown into rivers in India in the recent weeks have been seen as an expression of very sad situations where people cannot even afford funeral expenses. This is symbolic of the problem we are discussing here about the link between human dignity and the availability of the most basic needs for people to live, and even to be buried, with dignity.  This brings us to the whole issue of governance. The very purpose of the State, at the most minimum level, is to protect lives. The protection of life involves the creation of possibilities for people to have their very basic needs, which are essential for them to remain alive. If the State is unable even to provide for this, then the whole purpose of the State is lost.  The above statement has profound implications. For very large sections of people in developing countries, the existence of the State does not mean much, simply because the existing State, in their context, is unable to provide them even the minimum possibility of having a livelihood that makes it possible for them to attend to their basic needs. What usually applies to the poorer sections of society applies even to the entire population in a situation such as Covid-19. We have seen this in the richest country in the world, the United States, and also other rich and powerful countries in Europe, as well as in countries like India. In these countries, due to various philosophies that prevail and the systems of governance that have been created, the provision of basic healthcare is not regarded as a State obligation. The result is that many people have had to pay with their lives, and also often with the lives of their loved ones. Thus, the whole issue of governance needs to be understood differently when looked at from the point of view of human dignity. The international laws on human rights recognise the right to life as the most basic of all rights. Many of the Constitutions in most countries also include the right to life, directly or indirectly, within their supreme law. However, the basic obligation of the State to act in a manner that it is able to create basic livelihoods to meet at least the minimum requirements for survival is not being recognised as an obligation of the State. The problem associated with this is that while the ideas of human dignity, human rights, State obligations, and the like have been developed mostly by the involvement of persons from more developed countries, no work has been done to understand the implications of this concept in less developed countries.  The result is quite an absurd situation, where a lot of documentation is produced asserting the problems of human dignity and human rights, while for quite a sizable section of society most of the time, and even for the entire society on some special occasions, the possibilities do not exist to get treatment that respects their human dignity. The conclusion that arises from this is that it is very essential to bring in the issue of the right to livelihood and the right to minimum care for the protection of life as a State obligation, which needs to be brought to focus when discussing the issues relating to human dignity and what flows from that concept. Thus, particularly from the point of view of developing countries, a certain absurdity that at present exists within the discourse on human dignity and human rights needs to be resolved by way of serious studies, reflections, and discourses that would lead to a different level of understanding of this problem, which may in turn result in finding solutions to extremely difficult conditions of life which contradict the very notion of human dignity.   (The writer is the Asian Human Rights Commission’s Policy and Programmes Director)

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