Protection of Human Rights
Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are considered entitled: the right to life, liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equal treatment before the law, among others. These rights represent entitlements of the individual or group of the government, as well as responsibilities of the individual and the government authorities. Protection of human rights is a necessity for the development and growth of an individual personality, which ultimately contributes in the development of the nation as a whole. It is an internationally recognized issue and various international instruments have been established for the protection of human rights. The concept of human rights is dynamic and adapts to the needs of the nation and its people. The ultimate purpose of the national as well as international law is to safeguards the human rights of the people.
India is the biggest democracy in the world. Being a democratic country one of the main objectives is the protection of the basic rights of the people. Government of India has given due consideration to the recognition and protection of human rights.
The Constitution of India recognizes these rights of the people and shows deep concern towards them. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights contains civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Constitution guarantees most of the human rights contained in Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Part III of the constitution contains civil and political rights, whereas economic, social and cultural rights have been included in Part IV of the Constitution. All the statutes have to be in concurrence of the provisions of the Constitution.
The Constitution of India not only provides six fundamental rights to citizens but also has made them enforceable. The cases of the violation of human rights are alleged to be plenty which have taken different forms in different times. The examples are communal violence, caste rivalry, starvation death, exploitation of workers, domestic violence, custodian violence, sexual violence, social discrimination etc. For the eradication of this violence’s, a democratic polity, parliamentary form of government and an impartial and independent judiciary have been established.
The philosophy and objective of the Constitution of India is enshrined in the preamble which include the protection of the dignity of an individual. For the fulfillment of this objective Part III of the constitution guarantees fundamental rights to people which are essential for the development of an individual personality, these rights include right to equality, the right to freedom, the right against exploitation, the right to freedom of religion, cultural and educational rights and the right to constitutional remedies. It is the duty of the central as well as state Governments to provide adequate conditions to each individual to enjoy their human rights. The constitution through Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Part IV of the Constitution, ascertains the duties on the government to work for the welfare of the people and protection of human rights of the people. These are guiding principles for the state to make policies regarding distributive justice, right to work, right to education, social security, just and humane conditions of work, for promotion of interest of weaker section, raise the standard of nutrition and standard of living and to improve public health, protection and improvement of environment and ecology etc. so that each individual can enjoy rights to the fullest.