NHRC Chairperson Justice Arun Mishra says people should respect each other’s rights to live with dignity and justice

Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Justice Arun Mishra on Saturday said that everyone deserved to live life with justice and dignity, but people need to respect each other’s rights.

Speaking during the 74th Human Rights Day celebrations, organised by NHRC at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, Justice Mishra said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was adopted on this day in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), has entered into its 75th year of Amrit Kaal.

The NHRC Chairperson said it was a proud privilege to have a woman President on the  occasion adorning the highest constitutional post of the world’s largest thriving democracy.

This showed the country’s supreme commitment to human rights and social order providing justice and dignity to all sections of the society and further manifested the fragrance of Constitutional democracy.

Justice Mishra said India was a multilingual and multicultural society, which assimilated all religions into one ‘Sanatan Dharma.’

Talking about the concept of ‘Manav Dharma,’ he said the culture and philosophy of the country aimed at transforming humans into karma yogi, as enunciated in Bhagwad Gita.

This entailed the process of character building for the welfare of the Universe, in order to attain the highest spiritual gain and ultimately Moksha or Nirvana (salvation).

Justice Mishra said the fundamental right to live with human dignity carried responsibility and discipline constitutionally envisaged in Article 51A.

He stressed that performing duties was a prerequisite for claiming rights as every right was born from the commitment to duty. 

He recalled that Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi wrote to the UN Human Rights committee, “All rights to be deserved and preserved come from duty well done. Thus, the very right to live accrues to us only when we do the duty of citizenship of the world.”

To succeed in life, every person has the responsibility to discharge his duties.

Talking about Climate Change, the NHRC Chairperson said people need to perform their duty of protecting the environment, so as to protect the right to life and prevent Climate Change.

The right to live in a healthy environment cannot be claimed while continuing to fell the trees. Stating that man cannot exist alone, he said human beings need to co-exist with other living beings. Respect for each one’s rights is the day’s mandate for the survival of human race, added Justice Mishra.

He said the theme of this year’s Human Rights Day is Dignity, Freedom and Justice for all. Something should be done for the vulnerable groups, who still suffer from slavery, servitude, forced labour and compulsory labour.

The NHRC Chairperson further said that many children were forced to traffic drugs and work in drug factories. Human trafficking for illegal purposes and forced prostitution was also taking place in the country, apart from forced gambling and begging. 

Expressing concern over commercialisation of education, he said it was time to get rid of child labour, child trafficking and child sexual abuse.
Talking about atrocities against women, he said they cannot be made to suffer discrimination and gender violence for eternity.

He said without providing dignity and equal rights to women, a celebration of the day was meaningless. Women were discriminated against women worldwide due to social, customary and religious practices. The time has come to take care of the same by enacting legislative provisions to remove discrimination in inheritance, property rights, parental rights, domicile of married women, and legal capacity. Improving the condition of women in vulnerable sections and in rural areas was the need of the hour, he added.

Read the full speech here: