Human Rights and the Harmonious World – A Brief
Perspective
By Inonge Limbambala, from Zambia
A Harmonious world?
How possible is it for the world today to ever experience a time
without conflict in its various dimensions? Is a "harmonious world"
a tangible possibility or mere utopia? The word harmonious, an
adjective, can be defined as "friendly". Its synonyms include
peaceful, rhythmical, unison, compatible and concordant. The word
"harmony" can also be described as the art of using chords in
music.
Broadly speaking, the word harmony is likely to bring to one's
mind the thought of serenity and orderliness. Therefore, the idea
of peace and security is greatly intertwined with a perceived
harmonious world, one that is not void of the enjoyment of the
rights and freedoms, which form part of the core of human
existence. A harmonious society, in essence, could be thought of as
one that holds in very high esteem the rights and equality of all
people while abiding by the principles of human civilization and
the laws of nature.
Recent Trends in Armed Conflict
The armed conflicts that continue to ravage many parts of the
globe essentially erase what would be desired components of a
harmonious world. According to the first Human Security Report
released by the Canadian organization Human Security Centre, armed
conflicts, genocide and politicide have declined sharply since the
early nineties. Also in a fifty year time span, the number of war
causalities, coups and other war-statistics have gone down, often
dramatically.
A sample of stats from the report's overview is as
follows:
* The number of armed conflicts are down more than 40percent.
* There were 25 ongoing armed secessionist conflicts, the lowest
number since 1976.
* The number of refugees in the world dropped by 45percent between
1992 and 2003.
* The post WWII peace period between major powers is the longest in
several hundred years.
* The average number of deaths per conflict fell 98 percent between
1950 and 2002 (from 38,000 people to 600 people).
* The United Kingdom and France have engaged in more international
conflicts since 1946 than any other countries.
Commenting on possible reasons for the decline, Andrew Mack, the
principal investigator behind the study, stated, "We no longer have
huge wars with huge armies, major engagements, heavy conventional
weapons, most of today's wars are low-intensity wars fought with
light weapons, small arms, often in very poor countries, they are
extremely brutal but they don't kill that many people."
According to the report, most wars today are fought in small,
poorly-equipped countries. While acknowledging that human rights
abuses do occur in these conflicts, these wars produce far fewer
casualties than the major wars of 50 years ago. Other factors
affecting the decline of deaths (both military and civilian) is the
emergence of high-tech war making and the overwhelming military
advantage enjoyed by some countries - precision guided missiles and
overwhelming numbers have led the United States and its allies to
quick victories in conflicts such as the Gulf War, Kosovo, and
Afghanistan.
However, many these armed conflicts have been viewed by many as
a major contributor to increased human rights violations. The
continued prevalence of horrific sexual violence against women in
conflicts has been a constant reminder of how consistently women
and girls are dehumanized and subjected to unimaginable acts of
violence.
Poverty and Human Rights
Poverty still continues to wreck havoc among more than a billion
of the world's population-meaning around a sixth of the world's
inhabitants are living in extreme poverty. The ever-widening gap
between the rich and poor directly contradicts the notion that all
human beings are born equal in dignity and rights. The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights treaties
hold out the promise of life with dignity, where every person
enjoys adequate standard of living and access to those essentials
that give practical meaning to such a life, including food, water,
shelter, education, work and health care.
The UN Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals
include the halving of extreme poverty, promoting women's equality
by the year 2015. It would be desirable for many if the MDGs, in
this regard, could be seen as a stepping stone towards broadening
the range of economic and social rights obligations applying to
all, as well as to providing the context for the promotion of
transnational human rights which should in turn enhance
international decision-making on policy and practice in the areas
of debt, aid and trade.
Disarmament and Human Security
Another dimension of a harmonious world could be viewed from the
perspective of general and complete disarmament. This is an issue
that has and still continues to be high on the agenda of the
international community, considering the recent trends in terrorism
and the horrific effects of the use of weapons of mass destruction.
This has in effect resulted in the negotiation and conclusion of a
considerable number of bilateral, regional and multilateral
agreements. From the human rights point of view, efforts to address
the issue of protecting civilians and their rights in time of
international conflict really began to bear fruit after the Second
World War.
It was during and subsequent to this time that a number of
international legal instruments were concluded on the subject. For
instance, During the 1990's, due to the dramatic increase in the
number of civilian casualties caused by landmines, the
international community made systematic efforts to address the
humanitarian problems associated with landmines-anti-personnel
landmines in particular. The negotiation and conclusion of the
Amended Protocol II to the Inhumane Weapons Convention (CCW) and
then the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Landmines later
followed.
In recent times, it has increasingly been recognized that
humanitarian concerns and human rights are really the core of
peace, security and disarmnent. Human security is now deservingly
seen as a broad and comprehensive paradigm incorporating all
elements of life and ensuring a decent human existence. It should
be appreciated that the international community still endeavors to
align the process of disarmament with the pursuit for human
security by exploring ways to avoid recourse to arms and create
conditions for individual security, especially when the State
provision of security for its citizens is lacking.
UN Human Rights Council
The recent establishment of the United Nations Human Rights
Council, which United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan in his
address to the Council on 19th June 2006 described as a "great new
chance for the United Nations and for humanity to renew the
struggle for human rights" formally assumed all mandates,
mechanisms, functions and responsibilities of the UN Commission on
Human Rights. This also included the Sub-Commission on Human
Rights, whose main function was to undertake studies on human
rights issues, to make recommendations concerning the preventions
of discrimination of any kind relating to human rights and
fundamental freedoms, as well as the protection of racial,
national, religious and linguistic minorities.
It is hoped that the Human Rights Council will execute this
mandate most efficiently, taking into consideration provisions such
as the Universal Periodic Review, as stipulated in the UN General
Assembly resolution A/Res/60/251 which provides for periodic
reviews of Member States with regard to the upholding of human
rights. This would indeed be a great compliment to the unrelenting
global fight, in its numerous dimensions, for a better, and indeed
harmonious world through the upholding of human rights and
freedoms.
REFERENCES
Amnesty International (2005).Report 2005-the state of the
world's human rights
"Human Security Report". Human Security Centre
"Peter Heinlein "Report: Political Violence Down Since End of Cold
War". Voice of America, 18 October 2005
United Nations (2003). Disarmament Yearbook-Volume 28
Wars 'less frequent, less deadly'". BBC News, 17 October 2005
(China.org.cn)