National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi, India
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National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi, India |
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Speech delivered by H.E. The President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam |
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Statement of Justice Shri J.S. Verma, Chairperson |
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Message of the UN Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan |
Speech Delivered by H.E. The President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
at the Human Rights
Day Function held at Vigyan Bhavan, NEW
DELHI, 10th December 2002
I am indeed
delighted to participate in this function to mark the Human Rights Day. I congratulate the
National Human Rights Commission for having organized such an important function. I have
been visiting various states and meeting children and people of all walks of life
including those who have been affected by communal clashes, poverty and un-employment. Is the perception of human being different when
looked from an individual, national or global angle?
The future wars are rarely going to be between nations. But it will be between
nations and smaller groups. There will only Proxy wars.
Today, human rights are being attacked
in such proxy wars beyond humanitarian levels.
Today’s world
in 21st century is being haunted by the international terrorism which is worse than the
Kalinga War and Second World War for the reason that it subjugates fear and insecurity in
the entire human
community. We have
been
repeatedly witnessing such human rights
violations: during the WTC attack, during the Moscow theater siege, during the Indonesian
Bali hotel attack, during an attack on the Indian Parliament and also during several
attacks on various places in India. Though
they may not be visible to the world, it takes away precious lives, leaving children
orphaned and enormous pain to the families. Also,
during several plane hijacks and more so while mightier countries declaring wars
unilaterally ignoring United Nations. What
are we doing, the great creations of God? Is
it possible to realize a society in which enlightened standard human being is a reality? Kalinga war waged by the Emperor Asoka
brought death to three lakhs of people and
millions injured. But it gave birth to ahimsa
dharma. Second world war resulted
in nuclear warfare, killing millions of
people but gave birth to United Nations. Code
of war ethics and human rights in war was evolved symbolizing the elevation of human
civilization standards and concern for fellow human beings.
Unlike conventional wars, where war ethics have been defined in Geneva convention,
in proxy wars, code of conduct is not in sight. But innocent human beings do get caught in
the crossfire and die. Will the planet earth at any time see a no-war situation at least
in future? It is indeed a big question. With
this background can we evolve the creation of an enlightened standard human being?
A. Standard Human Being
The
evolution of human society has followed the path from agricultural society to industrial,
information and the present day knowledge society. In
agricultural and industrial society, humans and machines
dominated the warfare. In the
information and knowledge society, intellectual capacity would dominate. Intellectual domination is represented by
ideologies, principles and faiths. Whenever
they cross paths between individuals, societies and nations, the human rights are
violated. The suffocation and loss of human
rights by the present generation of people due to the backwardness induced economic status
or pushed down by caste differentiation or frustrated by denial of timely justice at affordable cost is the right cauldron from
which revolution will start giving birth to standard human being. When the child is empowered by the parents,
at various phases of growth, the child gets transformed into a responsible citizen. When
the teacher is empowered with knowledge and experience, good young human beings with value
systems take shape. When individual or a team is empowered with technology, transformation
to higher potential for achievement is assured. When the leader of any institution
empowers his or her people, leaders are born who can change the nation in multiple areas.
When women are empowered, society with stability gets assured. When the political leaders
of the nation empower the people through visionary policies, the prosperity of the nation
is certain. When religion transforms into a spiritual force the people become enlightened
citizens with value system. The road map for
graduating into a standard human being will have to include
a) education with
value system,
b) religions
graduating into spirituality
c) removal of poverty
and economically strong nation
d) responsible
judiciary & human rights
I believe, a
standard human being can be created when all these four elements are properly combined.
a. Education with
Value System
The best part for a person is his or her learning period in school childhood. The prime learning environment is 5th to 16th
years' of age. Of course at home, love and affection are imparted. But again most of the
time in a day is spent in preparing school's homework and study, eat, play and sleep.
Hence the school hours for children are the best time for learning and need the best of
environment and mission oriented learning with value system. During this stage, they need
value based education in school and at home for them to become good citizens. This reminds
me the echo from Bestolozzy, a great teacher's saying, "give me a child for seven
years. Afterwards, let the God or devil take the child. They cannot change the
child." For parents and teachers, school campus and home have to have an integrated
mission: education with value system. If the child misses the value based education of
25,000 hours in the school campus, no government or society can establish a transparent
society or a society with integrity. Up to the age of 17 years, the father, the mother and
the teacher lead a child to become an enlightened citizen.
If the child misses the period of learning for the reasons as it is today, the
nation loses an enlightened citizen.
b. Religion Transforming Into Spirituality: Universal
Mind
I would like to
recall an incident which happened four decades ago. As you all know, Prof Vikram Sarabhai
is the visionary of space programme in the country. He is well known for his cosmic ray
research area that led to evolving the space research programme for the nation. Both Dr
Homi Bhabha and Prof Vikram Sarabhai were looking for a site to establish space research
station in the equatorial region. These two great scientists visited a number of places.
Thumba in Kerala was selected by the scientific community for space research as it was
near the equatorial region and was ideally suited for ionospheric research in upper
atmosphere apart from study of atmospheric structure. When Prof Vikram Sarabhai visited
Thumba, the locality had series of villages and thousands of fishermen folk were living in
that area. It also had a beautiful ancient church, St Mary Magdalene Church, Pallithura
and a Bishop's House. Prof Vikram Sarabhai met many politicians and bureaucrats to get the
place for the work of space science research. It did not move further because the nature
of the place. He was asked to see the Bishop of Trivandrum, at that time in 1962, His
Excellency Rct Rev Dr Peter Bernard Pereira. It was a Saturday when Prof Vikram Sarabhai
met the Bishop. The Bishop smiled and asked him to meet him the next day, ie Sunday. In
the morning Service, the Bishop told the congregation, "my children, I have a famous
scientist with me who wants our church and the place I live for the work of space science
research. Dear children, science seeks truth by reasoning. In one way, science and
spiritualism seek the same divine blessings for doing good for the people. My children,
can we give the God's abode for a scientific mission?" There was a chorus of 'Amen'
from the congregation and the whole church reverberated. Subsequently, the big event took
place in 1962. His Excellency Rct Rev Dr Peter Bernard Pereira, the Bishop of Trivandrum,
took the noble decision to dedicate the church in recognition of the national goal for the
establishment of the Indian Space Research Organisation at Pallithura, Thumba. That was
the church where we had our design centre, started rocket assembly, design of filament
winding machine for FRP product and the Bishop's house was our scientists' place. Later,
the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) led to the establishment of Vikram
Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and multiple space centres throughout the country.
When I think of this event, I can see how enlightened spiritual and scientific
leaders, all converge towards giving reverence to the human life. New church and new
schools were established in record time. Of course the birth of TERLS and then VSSC gave
the country the capability of design, development and produce world class huge rocket
system and subsequently, India has the capability of launching geo-synchronous,
sun-synchronous and meteorology spacecraft, communication satellite, remote sensing
satellite thereby provided fast communication, weather forecasting and also locate water
resources for the country. Today, among us, Prof Vikram Sarabhai is not there, Rev Dr
Peter Bernard Pereira is not there, but those who are responsible for creation and make
the flower and blossom will themselves be a different kind of a flower as described in the
Bhagwat Gita: "See the flower, how generously it distributes perfume and honey. It
gives to all, gives freely of its love. When its work is done, it falls away quietly. Try
to be like the flower, unassuming despite all its qualities". What a beautiful
message for all generation of this nation, on integration of minds and universal mind.
Above all we see a great scientist and religious leader transforming into a spiritual
force and spread to the young: good human beings do live in our country.
People, who are
economically or socially in the lower strata, are
vulnerable to human rights exploitation by those who are in the higher strata. One way to
reduce this exploitation is to narrow this divide. In
our country, about 300 million people are below the poverty line. After five decades of progress, the aspirations of
people are rightly mounting that India should become a developed country. This is the second vision for the nation. How can we prepare ourselves to this challenge? India has to be economically and commercially
powerful with near self-reliance in defence.
Our target should be a GDP growth of 9-11% annually and that the people below poverty line
to be reduced to nearly zero. This would also
include providing of sufficient employment opportunities to the physically and mentally
challenged. How are we going to achieve this?
Technology Vision 2020 is a pathway to realise this cherished mission.
Five mega projects
to transform the nation to a developed country
The
Technology Vision 2020 consisted of 17 well linked technology packages in the core
sectors. We have identified five areas where
India has a core competence for an integrated action: (1) Agriculture and food processing (2) Reliable and quality electric power and
surface transport for all parts of the
country. (3) Education and Healthcare (4)
Information and Communication Technology (5) Strategic sectors.
These five areas are closely inter-related and if well done would lead to national,
food, economic and security. A strong
partnership among the R&D, academy, industry and the community as a whole with the
Government departments will be essential to accomplish the vision for a developed India.
d. Majesty of Human
Rights and Judiciary
Every citizen in the
country has a right to live with dignity; every citizen has a right to aspire for
distinction. Availability of a large number of opportunities to resort to just and fair
means in order to attain that dignity and distinction, is what democracy is all about.
That is what our Constitution is all about. And that is what makes life wholesome and
worth living in a true and vibrant democracy. At this point, I would like to remind all of
us that at social levels it is necessary to work for Unity of Minds. The increasing
intolerance for views of others and increasing contempt about ways of lives of others or
their religions or the expressions of these differences through lawless violence against
people cannot be justified in any context. All of us have to work hard and do everything
to make our behaviours civilised to protect the rights of every individual. That is the
very foundation of the democratic values, which I believe is our civilisational heritage
and is the very soul of our nation. Judiciary and safeguarding human rights are the
guardians of civilised life. Wherever life exists in our planet, no life can be allowed to
be devalued by anybody. The system cannot be a mute witness to this inhuman act.
Conclusion
Human Rights : Does
it mean Reverence for life. Empowered mechanism of human right protection
through creation of standard human beings would ensure survival of a prosperous democracy.
Judiciary is an important component in making the role of the standard human being
effective. Judiciary is not simply making
judicial pronouncements or enforcing law in a case. Judiciary is the whole process of
interpreting the social, political, economical and human rights to ensure that that
wholesome life with dignity and distinction is sustained. In this effort, National Human
Rights Commission becomes the eyes and ears and an impartial authority and work hand in
hand with judiciary.
The edifice of natural justice to protect the human rights today stands exalted. , high on a pedestal that the whole world looks up to. The fundamental and over-riding importance of the system cannot be overstated and the need for constantly maintaining its purity not forgotten. There cannot be any erosion of values, corrosion of quality or any cobwebs in the procedure. The majesty of human rights has to be maintained with magnanimity and magnificence. Empowered National Human Rights Commission therefore become inviolable role model, the perfect incorruptible ideal of a civilized society. That is what we have to strive for, attain and sustain. My best wishes. May God bless you.
H.E. The President
of India,
Distinguished
Invitees,
Excellencies,
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Dear Children,
The Human Rights Day is not an occasion merely to celebrate, but
also one of stocktaking to assess the progress made in protection of human rights of the
human family in the global village, and in the promotion of the human rights culture.
Despite this elusive quality,
however, the tireless pursuit of this objective is essential to the creating of society of
equity and justice, a society in which peace can prevail, in which all of its people, in
all of their diversity, can feel included in the great adventure of nation-building.
The distinguished
thinker, Mahbub-ul-Haq, once observed:
It is true that we may never be able
to eliminate all social and economic injustices or to provide equality of opportunity to
all people. But we certainly can take a few
practical steps to make our society a little more compassionate, a little more humane.
In each of the
succeeding years since it was established, this, in essence, has been the effort of the
Commission”.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
The UN resolutions,
including the Security Council resolution 1373 of September 28, 2001 condemn terrorism,
and emphasize the need for combating it, under the rule of law, consistent with
international standards of human rights. In
our own country, Article 20 (protection against expost facto penal laws, double jeopardy
and testimonial compulsion) and Article 21 (protection of right to life and personal
liberty) of the Constitution are non derogable even during an emergency. Article 359 makes this express provision. This is in accord with Article 4(2) of the ICCPR.
Respect for human dignity is preserved at all times.
The Commission, in substance, emphasizes this aspect in all its interventions,
since human dignity is the essence of human rights.
It is worth recalling the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan’s recent
observation:
In the Human Rights Day Message, this year, the UN Secretary General has
re-emphasized the commitment to the rule of law. He
says:
“... we must be guided by one
clear principle beyond any other: respect for the international rule of law.”
which
“... is the most effective tool
to fight criminality and terrorism, and the best guarantee of safety, security and freedom
for us all.”
Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I must acknowledge on
this occasion, with gratitude, the tremendous support the Commission has received from the
civil society: the lawyers, doctors, academia, NGOs, other experts, Special Rapporteurs
and Special Representatives, all eminent persons who have contributed greatly to the
success of our efforts. The readiness with
which this support has been made available to us, has given great impetus to our efforts. Their number is so large that it would be unfair
to name only a few, for want of time. This
support is invaluable, more so, because it is mostly voluntary and honorary. On my own behalf, and on behalf of the Commission,
I take this opportunity to thank all of them, and to say how much we value and cherish
their support.
Mr. President,
Dear Children,
I have deliberately
saved my reference to today’s children for the end. I do so for the lasting impact of
the Last Word. The Commission believes that
if we care for the children, they will take care of the future of the nation. The
majority of our population comprises the youth, of whom forty percent are below the age of
fourteen. This vast potential when fully
realised, is our bright future. The right to
development is the most basic human right of every child, and education is the most
effective tool for human development. That
right of the child must be honoured and respected the most.
The Commission firmly believes that the future of human rights, peace and
development depends on the child of today. The Commission, therefore, wholeheartedly
welcomes the participation of children in today’s function. Presence of the children
here, is not merely symbolic, it is also a message that without their active participation
no programme relating to human rights is meaningful.
I thank all of you, for your presence, participation and attention.
Message of the UN Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan on the occasion of Human Rights Day, 10 December 2002
“Few periods in history have brought a grater sense of a seismic shift in the
workings of international relations than the present one -- in the interaction between
states and between peoples alike. Globalization,
the spectre of international terrorism and the increasing recognition of the universality
of human rights are all part of this shift. To
manage it, we need a vision that can help bring about a new equilibrium. That vision must respect human rights, confront
the threat of terrorism, and draw as never before upon the resources and legitimacy of
multilateral cooperation. That confronts us
with a complex challenge, but one in which we must be guided by one clear principle beyond
any other: respect for the international rule of law.
Yet the strength of the rule of law lies is its universal relevance and application
– in its grounding in the fundamental human rights of all people. It applies equally to the strong and the weak. Its application is the duty of states large and
small. It is the most effective tool to
fight criminality and terrorism, and the best guarantee of safety, security and freedom
for us all.
On this Human Rights Day, I appeal to all Governments, communities and individuals
to recommit themselves to the universal application of the rule of law. Let us ensure that we never take this precious
legacy for granted. Let us nurture, develop,
strengthen and defend it. On this Day, let us
rededicate ourselves to that mission.”
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