|
Speech |
HUMAN RIGHT
(INCLUDING CHILDREN’S RIGHTS AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS
ACHIEVING EQUALITY AND JUSTICE
“All mankind are one, and mutual rights be respected; the
sexes must honour each other; Sacred are family relationship
that rise through marriage and women bearing children.
Orphans need especial loving care. After death due
distribution should be made in equitable shares to all whose
affection, duty and trust shed light and joy on our lives.”
--- extracted from Surah Nissa.
What are human rights? Are not all human beings born equal?
Aren’t they endowed with reason and conscience and should
act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Yes this
is what I should think is our birth right, but is this what
you see in reality, certainly not – may be the answer.
The universal declaration of human rights proclaims two
broad categories of rights: civil and political on one hand
and economic, social and cultural on the other.
Human rights are based on the inherent dignity of every
human person and should be recognized without distinction of
any kind. Human rights are by nature universal acquired at
birth by all members of the human family whatever the
political jurisdictional or international status of the
country or territory to which the person belongs. The
growing recognition among human beings of their equal
dignity, which is their common heritage, is such that it
gradually promotes a spirit of brotherhood in their
relation.
Human rights as conceived in the 20th century suggest that
they are high priority and definite norms whose persuit is
mandatory. One of the distinctive features of human rights
today is that they are international rights compliance with
such rights has come to be seen as a legitimate object of
international concern and action.
Article 27 of the Bangladesh Constitution says that all
citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal
protection of the law. Article 28 of our Constitution spells
out the principle of non-discriminations.
‘The state shall not discriminate against any citizen on
grounds only of religion, race, sex or place of birth.
Therefore, all women have the equal right to enjoy
education, voting selling and buying properties,
guardianship inheritance, right of divorce and working with
men in any Institution. But in reality it does not happen as
women are suppressed under the circumstances of our society
and culture. It must be appreciated however that it is not
desirable to only talk about formal equality but also actual
equality.
In our country we are following Civil Law and Personal Law.
Civil laws meaning the non-religious laws, which are
regulate the public life of persons and which are used to
redress civil and criminal wrongs. These cover rights under
the constitution of Bangladesh, the codes of criminal and
civil procedure, the penal code, labour laws and laws
relating to citizenship and nationality. In general all
these laws are applicable to all the sections of society.
The State has also ratified the UN convention on the
Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women
(CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),
which deal extensively with the protection of women and the
girl child. According to this CRC convention the children
have right to have education, health care and secured life.
Having no social, economic or racial frontiers, violence
against Women and Children are common occurrence that most
blatantly deprecates their rights as human being. Bangladesh
as an underdeveloped country with a gender-biased society,
suffers from a number of social evils, of which repression
on the violence against women are most noteworthy.
Bangladesh’s international obligation to protect the
vulnerable groups of the society i.e. women, children
disabled and the like. Women’s right to equality and
affirmative action in respect to equality are guaranteed in
the constitution. According to the constitution of our
country, all citizens are equal before the law and are
entitled to equal protection of the law; the State shall not
discriminate against any citizen on the grounds of religion,
race, caste, sex or place of birth; women have equal right
with men in all spheres of the State and public life;
nothing shall prevent the State for making special
provisions in favour of women or for the advancement of any
backward section of the population.
In spite of the fact that the laws and the constitution of
Bangladesh give women all their rights, women’s de facto
position in the society speaks of a sorry tale. Women
constitute about 49 percent of the population but various
indicators reveal that the status of women is much lower
than that of men. As a whole, Bangladesh society is
unfriendly towards women and child to a great extent.
Violence against women and children are violation of human
rights. Only during last few decades violence against women
and children has been recognized as a human rights
violation. Previously the international community considered
it as problem in the public domain, demanding responses from
govt. or the international community. Today, many concrete
commitments to tackle violence against women and children as
a human right exist at the international level.
The word ‘violence’ means exertion of physical force so as
to injure or abuse another, while the phrase ‘violence
against women and child’ refers to many types of harmful
behavior directed at women and girl child because of their
sex. Violence against women and children taking place within
the family, community, at the work place or in society which
includes, interalia, ill-treatment, battering, incest,
sexual harassment, sexual abuse, custodial-violence,
trafficking in women and children and rape. All these are
violation of the life, safety, liberty, dignity and physical
and mental integrity of the victim and therefore an obstacle
to the development of a democratic society. Then what is the
solution? How will we be able to minimize violence against
women and children and ensure to achieve equality and
justice.
Kofi Annan in his Global Video Conference 8th March 1998
expressed ‘violence against women and children is perhaps
the most shameful human rights violation. And it is perhaps
the most pervasive. As long as it continues we cannot claim
to be making real progress towards equality, development and
peace.’
Violence, gender inequality against women and girls kill and
main vast number, it fills their lives with pain and terror,
from which some have never recovered. It exists in every
country of the world in some form and the statistics paint a
horrifying picture: 40% of all female homicide victims in
the UK are killed by their intimate partners: every year
thousands of women suffer dowry related deaths or are
disfigured by acid thrown on their faces by rejected suitors
in Bangladesh. Colombo, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.
We can see a silver lining between the clouds and a ray of
hope: A new language and new standard is the cry of the day
– Women’s Rights are Human Rights.
We have to celebrate because over the last 10 years we have
taken these struggles and repositioned them at the centres
of power at the national/regional and international level.
By placing women’s concerns, aspirations within a human
rights paradigm, we have made an undenial proposition: that
women are human and on that basis, they claim and are
entitled to the fundamental rights and freedoms inherent in
all humanity.
Mankind owes to the child the best it has to give . The
General Assembly proclaims the declaration of the rights of
the child to the end that he may have a happy childhood and
enjoy for his own good and for the good of society the
rights and freedoms herein set forth and calls upon parents,
men and women as individuals and upon voluntary
organizations, local authorities and national government to
recognise these rights and strive for their observance.
Women’s Organizations have been the main engine bringing all
forms of gender based violence against women and negligence
towards recognition of child’s rights into the public eye
and pressurising governments to honour their obligations
under international law. These organizations were also the
leaders in fashioning and delivering services to women
survivors of violence and abused children, long before
governments acknowledged their own responsibilities.
Even so, it is government that have entrusted with
guaranteeing the well being of all citizens and with
establishing the conditions in which women and men can
realize their potential. Thus, national frame work to
prevent, punish and prosecute violence or mistreat of women
and children should be viewed as a fundamental component of
the compact between those who hold the reins of power and
their citizens.
Men’s and Society’s involvement in end – violence work
holds great promise. Men’s anti violence networks that
seek to affirm gender equality should be encouraged. Real
men do not abuse women and children.
Actually women and children are deprived of their legitimate
right determined by the constitution. Their vulnerability
starts right after the birth and continues to face the
immense hardship in every aspects of life. In this backdrop
the mammoth task to establish equality rests on the govt.
while formulating appropriate policy and strategy to
minimize gender gaps. The policy makers should design and
implement gender sensitive programs and information to
address legal rights of women and children. the govt. should
recognize that the implementation of laws is more important
than to enact new laws. Appropriate accountability system
and monitoring mechanism needs to be developed soon as
possible. All sorts of reservation on CEDAW & CRC should
remove and make the provisions judicially enforceable.
That all forms of gender based violence falling within the
scope of the CEDAW definition and CRC should be considered
criminal offences and State parties to the Conventions are
also specifically obliged to act against private persons,
companies and organizations committing violence against
women and child.
We should also raise public awareness on human rights and
violence against women and child as a basic aspect of
development, peace and progress, equality and justice for
the right of women and children.
The moment is now, and not a minute more. What we need now
are the measures and programmes that women and children have
a right to ---- nothing less. We need to expand proven
strategies and develop new approaches so that women and men
can turn hope into reality and truly live lives free of
discrimination and violence. We need to create a world where
power and courage are honoured in both women and men, and
where both have the opportunity to reach their full
potential. Let us show that we exist, sharing the same
planet, let our voices be heard and that we too can change
the world for a stronger tomorrow for all mankind.
‘Inspired vision with appropriate action can change the
world for all.’ |
