Second of a series
A multi-stakeholder approach makes human rights work.
Understanding the context, workings and interplay of these stakeholders —the human person and human communities, the state through its government and the United Nations, a supranational government, make human rights work. Ideally, these participants should have complemented each other with their respective roles in the realization of human rights. States and governments though, historically, are unforthcoming when made accountable of their actions or inactions in reference to international human rights standards.
The human individual and human communities.
The reason, purpose and object of human rights is the human person and the human communities it interacts and collectively builds culture with. Human beings are ‘rights holders’. It is strange therefore that human rights with its inherent nature are detached and seems unnatural to the human consciousness. The ideals that is dignity, life, development and justice are human rights essentials that every person possess without distinction. It is like a gemstone where every facet complements its entirety, the preciousness of human rights.
Dignity is the foundation of human rights. The preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) definite of its importance. Without acknowledging that dignity is inherent to humanity there would be no human rights.
Life as a human right is the definitive demonstration of human dignity. Disrespecting life as human rights essential is comparable to having contempt of every person’s worth. Human dignity and human life are of equal importance and so with the rest of human rights essentials.
Human rights is pointless if it doesn’t take into consideration human Development as inseparable and integral concept of its realization. The right to development is an inalienable human right. It puts the human person at the center as active participant and recipient towards the fulfillment of all human rights.
Justice as manifested in the utmost adherence to the rule of law is the cornerstone of human rights protection. Seeking justice is not only limited to having access to domestic and international remedies, it also implies and encompasses the idea of social justice. Simply said, justice is the idea of equality and equity. One can never disassociate social justice from human rights and vice versa.