No justification for the violation of human rights!

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No justification for the violation of human rights!

International Human Rights Day is being observed in India this year in the midst of a hot debate over the gross violation of human rights by parties in power, whether Congress or BJP or CPIM.. At the centre of this debate is the very definition of human rights, what they are and what they imply about the duties of a State in modern times.

This debate reflects the struggle between the Old and the New. On one side stands the old world of exploitation of the majority by a minority, with rights enjoyed by a privileged few while the rest have only duties. On the other side stands the new world that is struggling to emerge, on the basis of recognizing that human beings are born to society and have rights by virtue of being human.

During the period of the Cold War between the two superpowers, the very conception of rights was completely debased. The US imperialist promoted a conception of rights according to which individuals, collectives and even countries that opposed US imperialism were branded as agents of Soviet Union to be deprived of all rights. The Soviet social-imperialists likewise condemned those who opposed or criticized them as imperialist agents who had no rights.

Within India today, the forces of the status quo are opposed to the modern definition of human rights – which is that human beings have rights by virtue of being human, and that it is the duty of the State to ensure that these rights are fulfilled and never violated under any pretext.

The bourgeoisie uses the imperialist concept of rights to justify their widespread violation in the country. The Constitution lists various nice sounding policy objectives in its Directive Principles. These are just a wish list of what the state should ensure. These are not rights which the state is duty bound to enforce. They are not justicable. The government cannot be hauled up in court for disregarding them.

The Indian state violates the rights of people at will in the interest of the big capitalists who rule the country. The right to life and livelihood, the right to lead a decent life, the right of nations to self-determination, and other economic, social and political rights are violated in India on a daily basis.

Communists.are duty bound to champion the modern definition of human rights and to fight to establish that kind of state and society wherein human rights are realized in practice. Human rights include the right to conscience, right to life, to work and earn a secure livelihood, right to a dignified standard of living befitting the modern age, among other things. Human rights belong to all human beings by virtue of being human. It is the duty of the state to guarantee these rights by providing enabling legislation and mechanisms for their realization.

There cannot be any ideological or other justifications for the violation of these rights. It does not matter whether it is the Congress, the BJP or the CPIM that tries to advance ideological and political justification for trampling on human rights.Those who trample on human rights, and try to advance justifications for doing so, are part of the old world. There can be no justification whatsoever for the violation of human rights in modern times.

History of Struggle over Human Rights

Fifty nine years ago, on December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since then, every year, December 10 is being celebrated as Human Rights Day.

The United States and other colonial powers ensured that the Declaration adopted in 1948 contained no measures or mechanisms to enable the realization of human rights for all. The delegation from the socialist Soviet Union struggled hard to make the Declaration meaningful and a weapon in the hands of people to overcome their exploiters. The main contention at that time was on the question of the role of the state in ensuring human rights.

The US delegation, headed by Eleanor Roosevelt, categorically refused to accept the obligation on governments to assure the enjoyment of these rights. The Soviet delegation proposed far reaching amendments relating to right to work (article 23), right to social security (article 22), and others, which were turned down. As far as the imperialists were concerned, the dyad of rights and duties meant the right of capitalists to continue their exploitation and the duty of the exploited to accept their fate.

In essence, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was turned into a document that is harmless to bourgeois rule. The imperialists refused to accept the modern definition of human rights as rights that are inviolable, and which cannot be given or taken away by anyone. On the contrary, the imperialist powers defined rights as something which can be given or taken away by the state, to suit the interest of the ruling class.

With the coming to power of Khrushchev and the transformation of the socialist Soviet state into a social-imperialist state, the cause of human rights suffered a decisive blow. The social-imperialist Soviet Union promoted the concept that rights depend on whether a people aligned themselves with the US camp or the Soviet camp. The continuation of such a conception and policy can be seen in the conduct of the CPI(M) and the West Bengal government today.

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