CHR-11 Human Rights in India Tutor Marked

Assignment (January 2013 July 2013)

Course Code: CHR-11
Assignment Code: CHR-11/January 2013 and July 2013
Total Marks: 100
Note : All questions are compulsory

Section-I
Answer each question in about 500 words each. Each question carries 20 marks. (2x20 -
40)

1. Discuss the various rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1948 (UDHR). How far the declaration has been instrumental in the development of
human rights by the United Nations.

Solution:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history
of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds
from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General
Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) (French)
(Spanish) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out,
for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.
THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of
achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ
of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education
to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and
international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among
the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their
jurisdiction.
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with
reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without
distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction
shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country
or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or
under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in
all their forms.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

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Article 7.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of
the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this
Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts
violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and
impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal
charge against him.
Article 11.
(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved
guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for
his defence.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which
did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was
committed Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the
time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or
correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation Everyone has the right to the
protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each
state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his
country.
Article 14.
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-
political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his
nationality.
Article 16.
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion,
have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage,
during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to
protection by society and the State.
Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18.

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Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes
freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with
others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship
and observance.
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to
hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21.
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through
freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this shall be
expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage
and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to
realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the
organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights
indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable
conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for
himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary,
by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours
and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of
himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary
social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability,
widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children,
whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and
fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional
education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible
to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the
strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote
understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and
shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

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(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their
children.
Article 27.
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy
the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from
any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set
forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his
personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such
limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and
respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality,
public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and
principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any
right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the
rights and freedoms set forth herein.
The UDHR comprises 30 articles that contain a comprehensive listing of key civil, political,
economic, social, and cultural rights. Articles 3 through 21 outline civil and political rights,
which include the right against torture, the right to an effective remedy for human rights
violations, and the right to take part in government. Articles 22 through 27 detail economic,
social, and cultural rights, such as the right to work, the right to form and to join trade unions,
and the right to participate freely in the cultural life of the community. The latter right relates
to everyone’s entitlement to be directly involved in and appreciative of the arts, and it is
clearly linked to the full development of one’s own personality (which, in accordance with
article 26, constitutes one of the goals of the right to education). Because of the ideological
fissures caused by the Cold War and the concomitant failure to develop a legally binding
international human rights instrument, it became common to view civil and political rights
independently of economic, social, and cultural rights, though this is a misinterpretation of
both the letter and the spirit of the document. For example, it is impossible for a society to
fulfill its commitment to the right to education (Article 26) without taking seriously its
commitment to the right to seek, receive, and impart information (Article 19). Likewise, it is
difficult to envisage the realization of the right to form and to join trade unions (Article 23)
without a commensurate realization of the right to peaceful assembly and association (Article
20). Yet, these obvious linkages were obscured by the selective use of human rights norms by
the main adversaries in the Cold War. The selectivity served to highlight what each side
considered as its respective strength vis-à-vis the other: the terrain of civil and political rights
for the Western bloc and the terrain of economic, social, and cultural rights for the Eastern
bloc.

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2. Critically evaluate the key principles of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979 (CEDAW).

Solution:

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

(CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an
international bill of rights for women. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines
what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to
end such discrimination.The Convention defines discrimination against women as "...any
distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose
of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of
their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and
fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."

By accepting the Convention, States commit themselves to undertake a series of measures to

end discrimination against women in all forms, including:

) to incorporate the principle of equality of men and women in their legal system, abolish
all discriminatory laws and adopt appropriate ones prohibiting discrimination against
women;

) to establish tribunals and other public institutions to ensure the effective protection of
women against discrimination; and

) to ensure elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons,

organizations or enterprises.

The Convention provides the basis for realizing equality between women and men through
ensuring women's equal access to, and equal opportunities in, political and public life --
including the right to vote and to stand for election -- as well as education, health and
employment. States parties agree to take all appropriate measures, including legislation and
temporary special measures, so that women can enjoy all their human rights and fundamental
freedoms.

The Convention is the only human rights treaty which affirms the reproductive rights of
women and targets culture and tradition as influential forces shaping gender roles and family
relations. It affirms women's rights to acquire, change or retain their nationality and the
nationality of their children. States parties also agree to take appropriate measures against all
forms of traffic in women and exploitation of women.

Countries that have ratified or acceded to the Convention are legally bound to put its
provisions into practice. They are also committed to submit national reports, at least every
four years, on measures they have taken to comply with their treaty obligations.

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3. Who are called refugees? Distinguish them with Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

Solution:

Refugees are people who leave their homes in order to seek safety, or refuge. In general,
people become refugees to flee violence, economic disparity, repression, natural disasters,
and other harsh living and working conditions. In the context of intractable conflict, refugees
are those who flee from inevitable, often long-term violence and other difficult living
conditions brought on by the conflict. The United Nations more narrowly defines refugees as
"persons who are outside their country and cannot return owing to a well-founded fear of
persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a
particular social group."

Though all people who flee conflict can be called refugees, refugee agencies commonly
distinguish between refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to decide who is
covered by international law and receives assistance and who doesn't. For the most part, little
assistance reaches a person fleeing a conflict until he or she crosses an international border.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), established in 1950,
distinguishes refugees and IDPs this way: "When a fleeing civilian crosses an international
frontier, he or she becomes a refugee and as such is eligible to receive international protection
and help. If a person in similar circumstances is displaced within his or her home country and
becomes an internally displaced person, then assistance and protection is much more
difficult."

On Jan. 1, 2002, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that there
were more than 12 million refugees in the world. This number of refugees has remained
relatively constant at greater than 10 million since 1981. Some refugees have been living in
camps for most of their lives. For example, Afghans have lived in camps in Pakistan and Iran
since the early 1980s when the Soviet Union invaded their nation. While some return each
year to resettle, almost equal numbers leave to escape new regional fighting. The number of
Afghan refugees living abroad now stands at over 3.5 million.

Currently, Asia hosts nearly 50 percent of the world's refugee population, with Africa and
Europe both hosting just over 20 percent. Ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, central
Africa (Angola, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi), and Bosnia-
Herzegovina have either created new refugees or prevented refugees from returning home in
2001. Each of these countries now has over 400,000 refugees living abroad, with Afghanistan
having at least seven times more than any other.

Refugees are a recognizable result of the breakdown of the economic and/or political
situation in an area. Refugees flee violence, discrimination, economic hardship, and political
conflict. In some ways, the very existence of refugees is evidence of the world's economic
and political disparities, thus proving that many changes need to occur in the world before
intractable conflict becomes a thing of the past. According to Albrecht Schnabel, "Refugees
and IDPs are prime indicators for social, political, and economic instability, for human
atrocities and great human suffering. They signal our failure to provide basic human security
for all."

In regions that have little exposure to outside media, refugees can be the first clue that trouble
is taking place. North Korean refugees found in China and South Korea tell of famines that

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the government didn't always acknowledge. Tibetans risking their lives to walk over the
Himalayas talk of repression by the Chinese government. When refugees fled Vietnam by
boat in 1979 or Cambodia by foot in the late 1970s and early '80s, it was obvious that
repressive governments were in power. The same can be said for Cubans who risk their lives
to swim or float to Florida.

Refugees have always been used as political pawns. During the Cold War, refugees were
considered trophies by the other side. A Soviet defector who spoke of the repressive Soviet
regime would further prove the American belief that Communism repressed a person's
political and economic freedoms. Today, refugees are used as bargaining chips by powerful
governments who don't wish to allow refugees to migrate to their countries. Instead, they
convince other governments to take in the refugees in exchange for financial assistance.
Refugees and IDPs are also political pawns in places like the Sudan, where opposing armed
groups fight over resources that are intended as relief. Refugee camps are raided to kidnap
boys as new recruits for the troops.

By understanding what makes a refugee and what life as a refugee is like, it is possible to
understand one result of intractable conflicts and conceive of ways to avoid such situations.
Also, knowing what refugees encounter allows relief agencies and concerned citizens to
provide better assistance that protects refugee independence and human rights and prepares
refugees to return home one day or to move elsewhere to a more secure life.

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4. Discuss the powers and functions of the charter based machinery for the
implementation of human rights? How far they have been successful in protecting
human rights.

Solution:

Charter bodies include the former Commission on Human Rights, the Human Rights Council
, and Special Procedures. The Human Rights Council, which replaced the Commission on
Human Rights, held its first meeting on 19 June 2006. This intergovernmental body, which
meets in Geneva 10 weeks a year, is composed of 47 elected United Nations Member States
who serve for an initial period of 3 years, and cannot be elected for more than two
consecutive terms. The Human Rights Council is a forum empowered to prevent abuses,
inequity and discrimination, protect the most vulnerable, and expose perpetrators.

The Human Rights Council is a separate entity from OHCHR. This distinction originates
from the separate mandates they were given by the General Assembly. Nevertheless,
OHCHR provides substantive support for the meetings of the Human Rights Council, and
follow-up to the Council's deliberations.

Special Procedures is the general name given to the mechanisms established by the
Commission on Human Rights and assumed by the Human Rights Council to address either
specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures are
either an individual –a special rapporteur or representative, or independent expert—or a
working group. They are prominent, independent experts working on a voluntary basis,
appointed by the Human Rights Council.

Special Procedures' mandates usually call on mandate-holders to examine, monitor, advise

and publicly report on human rights situations in specific countries or territories, known as
country mandates, or on major phenomena of human rights violations worldwide, known as
thematic mandates. There are 30 thematic mandates and 8 country mandates. All report to the
Human Rights Council on their findings and recommendations. They are sometimes the only
mechanism that will alert the international community on certain human rights issues.

OHCHR supports the work of rapporteurs, representatives and working groups through its
Special Procedures Division (SPD) which services 27 thematic mandates; and the Research
and Right to Development Division (RRDD) which aims to improve the integration of human
rights standards and principles, including the rights to development; while the Field
Operations and Technical Cooperation Division (FOTCD) supports the work of country-
mandates.

Charter-based bodies

) Human Rights Council

) Universal Periodic Review

) Commission on Human Rights (replaced by the Human Rights Council)

) Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council

) Human Rights Council Complaint Procedure

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 Section-II
Answer each question in about 250 words each. Each question carries 12 marks. (4x12 = 48)

5. Discuss the contribution of Human Rights Committee in the field of human rights.

The Human Rights Committee is the body of independent experts that monitors
implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by its State
parties. All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the
rights are being implemented. States must report initially one year after acceding to the
Covenant and then whenever the Committee requests (usually every four years). The
Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the
State party in the form of "concluding observations”. The Human Rights Committee is
composed of 18 independent experts who are persons of high moral character and recognized
competence in the field of human rights. Members are elected for a term of four years by
States parties in accordance with articles 28 to 39 of the Covenant. Members serve in their
personal capacity and may be re-elected if nominated.

In addition to the reporting procedure, article 41 of the Covenant provides for the Committee
to consider inter-state complaints. Furthermore, the First Optional Protocol to the Covenant
gives the Committee competence to examine individual complaints with regard to alleged
violations of the Covenant by States parties to the Protocol.

The full competence of the Committee extends to the Second Optional Protocol to the
Covenant on the abolition of the death penalty with regard to States who have accepted the
Protocol.

The Committee meets in Geneva or New York and normally holds three sessions per year.

The Committee also publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions,
known as general comments on thematic issues or its methods of work.

6. Describe in brief the general Principles underlying the U.N. Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 1989.

T he UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) provides an ideal approach for
children to learn about their human rights. Because it specifies human rights especially
relevant to children, everyone, but especially children, parents and adults who work with
children, should be familiar with this important component of the international human rights
framework. Compasito frames children’s rights within the broader context of human rights as
a whole and seeks to help children understand that along with all other members of the
human family, they too are rights-holders.

Children’s rights in the CRC reflect four general principles:

1. Non-discrimination (Article 2): All rights apply to all children without exception.
The state has an obligation to protect children from any form of discrimination.
2. The child’s best interest (Article 3): The determining factor in all actions dealing
with any child should be his or her best interest. In all cases, the best interests of the

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 child take precedence over the interests of the adults concerned (e.g. parents, teachers,
guardians). However, the question of how to decide on the best interests of the child
remains difficult to determine and open to discussion.
3. The rights to life, survival and development (Article 6): the right of the child to life
is inherent, and it is the state’s obligation to ensure the child’s survival and
development. This means that children cannot be subject to the death sentence or to
termination of life.
4. Respect for the views of the child (Article 12): The child has the right to express an
opinion and to have that opinion taken into account in any matter affecting him or her.

The Children’s Convention is a powerful instrument, which by its very nature engages young
people in an examination of their own rights. It is also an effective tool to assist people of all
ages in identifying the complex responsibilities that go with ensuring these rights for
children. Using the convention in this way will teach children how to advocate on their own
behalf.

7. Discuss the contribution made by the Vienna Congress (1993) in the area of human
rights.
On 25 June 1993, representatives of 171 States adopted by consensus the Vienna Declaration
and Programme of Action of the World Conference on Human Rights, thus successfully
closing the two-week World Conference and presenting to the international community a
common plan for the strengthening of human rights work around the world.

The conference was marked by an unprecedented degree of participation by government

delegates and the international human rights community. Some 7,000 participants, including
academics, treaty bodies, national institutions and representatives of more than 800 non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) -- two thirds of them at the grass-roots level -- gathered
in Vienna to review and profit from their shared experiences.

United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, in a message to the Conference,

told the delegates that by adopting the Vienna Declaration and Plan of Action they had
renewed the international community's commitment to the promotion and protection of
human rights. He saluted the meeting for having forged "a new vision for global action for
human rights into the next century".

The Vienna Declaration and Program of Action marks the culmination of a long process of
review and debate over the current status of human rights machinery in the world. It also
marks the beginning of a renewed effort to strengthen and further implement the body of
human rights instruments that have been painstakingly constructed on the foundation of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights since 1948.

The Vienna Declaration also makes concrete recommendations for strengthening and
harmonizing the monitoring capacity of the United Nations system. In this regard, it called
for the establishment of a High Commissioner for Human Rights by the General Assembly,
which subsequently created the post on 20 December 1993 (resolution 48/141). Mr. José
Ayala Lasso was nominated by the Secretary-General as the first High Commissioner and
assumed office on 5 April 1994.

The Vienna Declaration further emphasizes the need for speedy ratification of other human
rights instruments.

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8. Discuss the challenges faced by the human rights enforcement machinery on account
of terrorism.
Every time there is a terrorist attack, the familiarity of the policy discourse in politics and
society is deeply frustrating. No doubt, terrorism undermines the human rights of people. No
society that respects the rights of its people can be silent when the most fundam ental right to
life and liberty is violated.
In this context, it is pertinent to recollect a global policy perspective. The U.N. Secretary-
General’s High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change in its report “A More Secure
World: Our Shared Responsibility” noted: “Terrorism attacks the values that lie at the heart
of the Charter of the United Nations: respect for human rights, the rule of law; rules of war
that protect civilians, tolerance among peoples and nations; and the peaceful resolution of
conflict. Terrorism flourishes in environments of despair, humiliation, poverty, political
oppression, extremism and human rights abuse; it also flourishes in contexts of regional
conflict and foreign occupation; and it profits from weak State capacity to maintain law
order.”

Another important issue that receives less attention in the larger framework of policies to
fight terrorism is related to creating secure and humane societies. Our governments ought to
continue to work towards eradicating poverty, reducing disparities of income and wealth,
eliminating corruption and indeed formulating good governance policies.

Responses to terrorism should not result in the government ignoring any of these problems,
as it is important to create a society that respects human freedoms in all its manifestations.
Since terrorism attacks this fundamental notion of human freedom, we should fight it with
wholehearted commitment.

9. What do you understand by the term Self-determination? Describe the provisions

contained in the U.N. Charter regarding the right of self-determination.

All peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine
their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
Essentially, the right to self-determination is the right of a people to determine its own
destiny. In particular, the principle allows a people to choose its own political status and to
determine its own form of economic, cultural and social development. Exercise of this right
can result in a variety of different outcomes ranging from political independence through to
full integration within a state. The importance lies in the right of choice, so that the outcome
of a people's choice should not affect the existence of the right to make a choice. In practice,
however, the possible outcome of an exercise of self-determination will often determine the
attitude of governments towards the actual claim by a people or nation. Thus, while claims to
cultural autonomy may be more readily recognized by states, claims to independence are
more likely to be rejected by them. Nevertheless, the right to self-determination is recognized
in international law as a right of process (not of outcome) belonging to peoples and not to
states or governments.

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The preferred outcome of an exercise of the right to self-determination varies greatly among
the members of the UNPO. For some, the only acceptable outcome is full political
independence. This is particularly true of occupied or colonized nations. For others, the goal
is a degree of political, cultural and economic autonomy, sometimes in the form of a federal
relationship. For others yet, the right to live on and manage a people's traditional lands free of
external interference and incursion is the essential aim of a struggle for self-determination.
The principle of self-determination is prominently embodied in Article I of the Charter of the
United Nations. Earlier it was explicitly embraced by US President Woodrow Wilson, by
Lenin and others, and became the guiding principle for the reconstruction of Europe
following World War I. The principle was incorporated into the 1941 Atlantic Charter and
the Dumbarton Oaks proposals which evolved into the United Nations Charter. Its inclusion
in the UN Charter marks the universal recognition of the principle as fundamental to the
maintenance of friendly relations and peace among states. It is recognized as a right of all
peoples in the first article common to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which both entered
into force in 1976. 1 Paragraph 1 of this Article provides: All peoples have the right to self-
determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely
pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

10. Describe the key outcomes of Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing 1995).

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action were adopted by consensus on 15
September 1995. The Declaration embodies the commitment of the international community
to the advancement of women and to the implementation of the Platform for Action, ensuring
that a gender perspective is reflected in all policies and programmes at the national, regional
and international levels. The Platform for Action sets out measures for national and
international action for the advancement of women over the five years until 2000.
If implemented, the Platform for Action will enhance the social, economic and political
empowerment of women, improve their health and their access to relevant education and
promote their reproductive rights. The action plan sets time-specific targets, committing
nations to carry out concrete actions in such areas as health, education, decision-making and
legal reforms with the ultimate goal of eliminating all forms of discrimination against women
in both public and private life.
The Conference, which brought together almost 50,000 men and women, focused on the
cross-cutting issues of equality, development and peace, and analysed them from a gender
perspective. It emphasized the crucial links between the advancement of women and the
progress for society as a whole. It reaffirmed clearly that societal issues must be addressed
from a gender perspective in order to ensure sustainable development.
The overriding message of the Fourth World Conference on Women was that the issues
addressed in the Platform for Action are global and universal. Deeply entrenched attitudes
and practices perpetuate inequality and discrimination against women, in public and private

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life, in all parts of the world. Accordingly, implementation requires changes in values,
attitudes, practices and priorities at all levels. The Conference signaled a clear commitment to
international norms and standards of equality between men and women; that measures to
protect and promote the human rights of women and girl-children as an integral part of
universal human rights must underlie all action; and that institutions at all levels must be
reoriented to expedite implementation. Governments and the UN agreed to promote the
“mainstreaming” of a gender perspective in policies and programmes.

11. Who are called Indigenous People? Discuss the challenges faced by them to their
human rights.
There are approximately 370 million indigenous people spanning 70 countries, worldwide.
Historically they have often been dispossessed of their lands, or in the center of conflict for
access to valuable resources because of where they live, or, in yet other cases, struggling to
live the way they would like. Indeed, indigenous people are often amongst the most
disadvantaged people in the world.

There does not seem to be one definitive definition of indigenous people, but generally
indigenous people are those that have historically belonged to a particular region or country,
before its colonization or transformation into a nation state, and may have different—often
unique—cultural, linguistic, traditional, and other characteristics to those of the dominant
culture of that region or state. In some parts of the world, they are very few indigenous
people, while in other parts, they may number into the hundreds of thousands, even millions.
Over the years, many groups of people have been wiped out, either by diseases of colonizing
peoples, or through policies of extermination.

Those indigenous societies that remain today are predominantly subsistence-based (i.e.
farming or hunting for food for immediate use), and non-urbanized, sometimes nomadic.

Growing public interest in indigenous people and a long process of international negotiations
involving indigenous organizations prompted the international community to proclaim 1993
as the International Year of the World's Indigenous People, and then the period 1995-2004 as
the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, to focus on issues of concern to
indigenous people. In addition, 9 August has since 1995 been celebrated as the International
Day of the World's Indigenous People.

Each of these steps has been important in the struggle for the recognition of the rights of
indigenous people. These steps are all the more meaningful with the forthcoming anniversary
of a landmark human rights document adopted by the United Nations 50 years ago, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Declaration recognizes the inherent dignity of every human being and sets forth in detail
the rights to be enjoyed by all "without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status". Within the framework of the World Public Information Campaign, launched by the
United Nations in 1988, the Universal Declaration has been translated into more than 40
indigenous languages and widely disseminated among indigenous communities.

The United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004) also focuses attention
on the importance of human rights education for all, including indigenous people, in view of
the problems encountered by indigenous communities.

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The United Nations officially acknowledged indigenous people in 1982, when the Working
Group on Indigenous Populations, a special forum of human rights experts, was established
in Geneva for representatives of indigenous organizations and Governments to exchange
views on a wide range of issues.

The main areas of concern to indigenous people are reflected in the draft declaration on the
rights of indigenous people now being discussed in a special working group especially set up
for this purpose. The drafting process, begun in 1985, has yet to yield a final document by the
international community. Participants in this process have included indigenous people from
the world over, as well as government representatives.

12. What is International Humanitarian Law? How far it is different from human rights.
International humanitarian law (IHL), or the law of armed conflict, is the law that regulates
the conduct of armed conflicts. It is that branch of international law which seeks to limit the
effects of armed conflict by protecting persons who are not or no longer participating in
hostilities, and by restricting and regulating the means and methods of warfare available to
combatants. IHL is inspired by considerations of humanity and the mitigation of human
suffering. "It comprises a set of rules, established by treaty or custom, that seeks to protect
persons and property/objects that are (or may be) affected by armed conflict and limits the
rights of parties to a conflict to use methods and means of warfare of their choice". It includes
"the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case
law, and customary international law." It defines the conduct and responsibilities of
belligerent nations, neutral nations and individuals engaged in warfare, in relation to each
other and to protected persons, usually meaning civilians. It is designed to balance
humanitarian concerns and military necessity, and subjects warfare to the rule of law by
limiting its destructive effect and mitigating human suffering.
Serious violations of international humanitarian law are called war crimes. International
humanitarian law, jus in bello, regulates the conduct of forces when engaged in war or armed
conflict. It is distinct from jus ad bellum which regulates the conduct of engaging in war or
armed conflict and includes crimes against peace and of war of aggression. Together the jus
in bello and jus ad bellum comprise the two strands of the laws of war governing all aspects
of international armed conflicts.
The law is mandatory for nations bound by the appropriate treaties. There are also other
customary unwritten rules of war, many of which were explored at the Nuremberg War
Trials. By extension, they also define both the permissive rights of these powers as well as
prohibitions on their conduct when dealing with irregular forces and non-signatories.
International humanitarian law operates on a strict division between rules applicable in
international armed conflict and those relevant to armed conflicts not of an international
nature. This dichotomy is widely criticized.

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 Section - III
Write short notes on any two of the following in about 100 words each. Each carries 6
marks. 2x 6 = 12

13. Committee Against Torture

The Committee Against Torture (CAT) is the body of 10 independent experts that monitors
implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment by its State parties.
All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights are
being implemented. States must report initially one year after acceding to the Convention and
then every four years. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and
recommendations to the State party in the form of "concluding observations".
In addition to the reporting procedure, the Convention establishes three other mechanisms
through which the Committee performs its monitoring functions: the Committee may also,
under certain circumstances, consider individual complaints or communications from
individuals claiming that their rights under the Convention have been violated, undertake
inquiries, and consider inter-state complaints.
The Optional Protocol to the Convention, which entered into force in June 2006, creates the
Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT). The SPT has a mandate to visit places where
persons are deprived of their liberty in the States parties. Under the Optional Protocol, States
parties shall establish a independent national preventive mechanisms for the prevention of
torture at the domestic level which has also a mandate to inspect places of detention.
The CAT meets in Geneva and normally holds two sessions per year consisting of a four
week session in April/May and another four week session in November.

14. Human rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that
conducts research and advocacy on human rights. HRW headquarters are in New York City
with offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg,
London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto, and Washington. As
of June 2011, the organization’s annual expenses totaled $50.6 million. The George Soros
Open Society Foundation is the primary donor of the Human Rights Watch, contributing
$100 million of $128 million of contributions and grants received by the HRW in the 2011
financial year. The $100 million contribution from the Open Society Foundation will be paid
out over ten years in $10 million annual installments.

15. Human Rights and fundamentalism

The question of religious fundamentalism is not merely a question of tolerance, and a human
rights critique of this phenomenon which uses the framework of religious intolerance is not
enough to capture the entire political spectrum religious fundamentalisms cover.

For example, states have positive obligations under human rights law to enable freedom of
belief, freedom to choose or practice one’s religion, etc. but also a negative obligation to
ensure that other parties - non-state actors - do not create conditions in which religious
intolerance leads to human rights violations. While this is relevant and important as a
safeguard, in terms of addressing religious fundamentalisms the question is not one of

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tolerance or intolerance, although bigotry and prejudice is often at the core of religious
intolerance; religious fundamentalisms encapsulate very conscious political projects. While
religion itself might be invoked in support of a whole host of claims that are being made, it is
important to understand that fundamentalisms are about power, and not just about prejudice.

This brings me to the second challenge facing those who critique religious fundamentalisms
within a human rights framework. Religious fundamentalism poses a threat to human rights
not simply because of the specific acts of fundamentalist groups which may be recognised as
concrete violations of human rights standards; the real threat comes from the political aims or
the political project that is at the heart of fundamentalisms, which is essentially to transform
the way identities are ascribed and negotiated.

The human rights question is about us having rights as human beings. The fundamentalist
claim is very different: it is about ascribing humanity on the basis of a certain religious claim
which has to be legitimated by certain authorities, and which in turn lays down a whole set of
other obligations and subject relationships with self and others to a certain kind of regime. To
critique this core of the politics of religious fundamentalisms, human rights actors will have
to look beyond just the obvious standards against which violations can be assessed. They will
actually have to go deeper into the human rights framework and look into those values and
principles which constitute the ethical universe that is at the heart of the human rights project.
International human rights law in itself is not a sufficient basis for a political critique of
fundamentalism.

16. Role of NGOs in protection of Human Rights

Globally, the champions of human rights have most often been citizens, not government
officials. In particular, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have played a primary role in
focusing the international community on human rights issues. NGOs monitor the actions of
governments and pressure them to act according to human rights principles.

Clearly governments are friends of NGOs in that we desperately need them to implement
human rights, but at times we have to act as though they are our greatest foes.

In order to achieve these objectives NGOs need to work with governments which are obliged
by international law to uphold fundamental rights; we need multi-lateral organisations, such
as the European Union, the UN, ASEAN, among many others, to insist, in their dealings with
other countries, upon a respect for human rights; and we need the general public to be aware
of what fundamental rights are, what are the consequences of infringements, and how they
can, as individuals, successfully challenge restrictions imposed upon them by their
governments.

Above all, NGOs need to work with multi-lateral organisations to understand where slender
resources can most fruitfully be targeted. We have to ask ourselves constantly whether the
outcome would have been different had there been greater investment by the international
community in human rights awareness education, a genuinely robust and independent media,
a greater participation in democratic decision-making in either Rwanda or the republics of
former Yugoslavia.

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18
 CHR-12 Human Rights in India Tutor Marked
Assignment (January 2013 July 2013)

Course Code: CHR-12

Assignment Code: CHR-12/January 2013 and July, 2013
Total Marks: 100

Note: All questions are compulsory

Section-I

Answer each question in about 500 words each. Each question carries 20 marks. (2x20
= 40)

1. Discuss the various fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution of India.

2. Discuss the various forms of violence faced by women. What are the legal provisions
available to protect them from such violence?
3. Critically evaluate the role of judiciary in the protection of environment.
4. Analyse the emergence of the idea of Human Rights as it emerged during Bhakli and
Sufi
movements in India.

Section-Il

Answer in about 250 words each. Each question carries 12 marks. (4x12 = 48)

5. Discuss the main provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

6. Discuss the powers and functions of the National Human Rights Commission?

7. Discuss the guidelines that need to be followed in case of arrest and detention.

8. Describe the main provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act
(2005).

9. Describe the machinery provided in the Consumer Protection Act, (1986) for the
redressal of complaints of consumers.

10. Critically analyse the challenges faced by the contemporary human rights
movement.
11. What is FIR? What important points need to be kept in mind while getting an FIR
registered?
12. Evaluate role played by non-governmental organisations in the field of Human
Rights.

Section - III
Write short notes on any two of the following in about 100 words each. Each carries 6

19
marks. , 2 x 6 =
12

13. Buddhism and Human Rights

14. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)
15. Directive Principles of State Policy
16. Rights of Minorities

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