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Fundamental duties before fundamental rights

14 Nov 2022

By Shenali D. Waduge  There are more than enough people ready to take to the streets demanding their rights with plenty more ready to arouse them to create social conflict – would the same take to the streets to question whether they have fulfilled their duties? Duties often get brushed aside and rights supersede all. Society collapses where duties are neglected, ignored, or violated.  Rights and duties must work in unison and with cohesion; one is never more important than the other. There is a strong chemistry involved – one’s rights become another’s duty, but every person has to fulfil their duties to demand their rights. Rights cannot be used as a political tool; rights are to be used for social good. It is when every citizen begins to fulfil their duties that a nation automatically flourishes. Rights cannot be demanded without duties being fulfilled. It is advised that all entities agitating for rights should first ask what duties they have fulfilled to demand rights! Fundamental rights and fundamental duties must complement each other.  Where lies the problem? The adult populace has much to be blamed for just as does the nation’s education system. Children learn from home and from school; what they learn in their formative years, they take forward to adulthood. Their thoughts and actions are influenced by their home, their school, those they associate with, and those that influence them. How do youth or adults know their rights? If they know their rights, why don’t they know their duties? Why does a nation not focus on duties more?  We hear “right to education”, “right to speech”, “right to information”, and “right to protest”, but where do you hear calls for “fundamental duties” – duty as an individual, duty to society, duty to the nation, duty to humanity, and duty to the environment and ecosystem? Are there core duties that the citizens of Sri Lanka are aware of? Duties as a child towards one’s parents, duties as a student towards one’s school, teachers, and studies, duties to one’s employers and colleagues, duties as a citizen to society, etc. It is as a result of drilling into people’s minds their right to demand “rights” that people conveniently brush aside their duties and no one is bothered to remind people that they have to fulfil their duties to claim rights! There is now a greater need to focus on duties, especially at a time when the nation is facing economic struggles. Demanding rights and neglecting duties are not going to get the nation anywhere. It is a pity that even the most educated inciting the youth to demand rights intentionally neglect to question their duties.  Let’s consider some rights first. The right to life means that no one has the liberty to kill anyone. Rights are claims of an individual. This does not mean that any person can claim they have a right to life and then go and eliminate the life of others. Those who only concentrate on rights ignore their obligation to show respect for others’ rights as well as their own obligations to fulfil their duties. People have the fundamental right to enjoy public facilities (transport/health) but while they enjoy this right, they also have a duty to not allow sharing of these public facilities but to look after them without damaging or destroying them as these are public properties. Fundamental rights are enshrined in the constitution and if these are violated, individuals (not groups) can seek court intervention. All freedoms and rights are accompanied by restrictions – freedom of movement does not allow anyone to go anywhere as they please to spread violence; freedom of assembly does not allow converging to engage in illegal acts; freedom of language does not allow anyone to use language to incite disharmony. There are freedoms and rights given to children that include education, no child labour, and no exploitation. Freedom of religion doesn’t allow anyone to trespass on the rights of another faith. While people know their freedoms and rights – as there are plenty of people to tell them what their rights are – how many come forward to educate people on their fundamental duties? It is because people are only made aware of their rights that they are clueless about their duties. This is applicable to both children and adults. Prior to the world becoming commercial and cosmopolitan, people lived under a passed-down set of values, traditions, cultures, and customs. No one needed to be taught. Duties came naturally and there was never occasion to take to the streets to demand rights. Modern society has not been taught that in return for every right, citizens have to fulfil a set of important duties. Actually, Sri Lanka’s Constitution should list out fundamental duties alongside fundamental rights as the Indian Constitution has done since 1976 (42nd Amendment). These duties include abiding by the Constitution, respecting its institutions, the national flag, and the national anthem; respecting the civilisational heritage; protecting and upholding the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of the nation; defending the nation and rendering national service; promoting harmony and fraternity; protecting the dignity of all; valuing the rich heritage and culture of the country; protecting the natural environment (forests, lakes, rivers, wildlife); safeguarding public property and refraining from violence; and serving the nation individually and collectively. It is the ignorance or lack of attention given to fundamental duties that prevent people from realising that they cannot take to the streets screaming for rights and freedoms, as they must first answer to how far they have fulfilled their duties as a citizen to the State as well. Many of those who bellow for rights and freedoms will have to go mute when they have nothing to show for their duties to the nation. Ideally, fundamental duties must be included in the curriculum for new school entrants while for current students, undergraduates, etc., the Government and civil society must be made to roll out programmes on educating people about their duties before they begin making demands for rights and freedoms. (The writer is an independent political analyst who writes on a broad range of topics, and was previously the International Human Rights Commission’s Goodwill Ambassador for Sri Lanka) …………………………………………. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.  


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