Human Rights Book
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Prepared by Karnataka Women’s Information and Resource Centre For NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg New Delhi 110 001, India Tel: 23385368 Fax: 23384863 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.nhrc.nic.in © 2005, National Human Rights Commission The views expressed by the authors in this publication are not necessarily the views of the NHRC. Edited by Mimmy Jain Designed and produced by Rajika Press Services Pvt. Ltd Contents Acknowledgments Preface Note Introduction Dossiers 1. The Rights of the Child ..................................................................................................Maharukh Adenwalla 13 2. The Rights of the Disabled ..................................................................................................Meera Pillai 25 3. The Rights of the Dalits ..................................................................................................Martin McGowan 39 4. Reproductive Rights ..................................................................................................N B Sarojini 51 5. Human Rights and the Environment ..................................................................................................Ashish Kothari & Anuprita Patel 71 6. Land and Housing Rights ..................................................................................................Miloon Kothari & Sabrina Karmali 91 7. The Rights of Home-based Workers ..................................................................................................Vibha Puri Das & Aditi Kapoor 109 8. Gandhian Struggles for Land Rights ..................................................................................................Dr. D Jeevan Kumar 121 9. The Rights of Fish Workers ..................................................................................................Nalini Nayak 141 10. The Right to Information ..................................................................................................Aruna Roy et al. 163 Acknowledgements The Karnataka Women’s Information and Resource Centre (KWIRC), an activity of the Singamma Sreenivasan Foundation (SSF) in Bangalore, has been working since 1999 on developing source material on human rights education, based on the human rights movements in India. The rationale behind the effort is that Indian students should know about the form such struggles have taken in India. Our efforts were supported by a grant received from the Ford Foundation, which facilitated identification and preparation of ten dossiers on rights/movements within the broad spectrum of human rights. These dossiers could serve as reference material at the university level. Each of the dossiers that are listed below was authored by an activist who is deeply involved in, or closely associated with, the relevant movement: 1. The Rights of the Child by Maharukh Adenwalla 2. The Rights of the Dalits by Martin McGowan 3. Human Rights and the Environment by Ashish Kothari and Anuprita Patel 4. Land and Housing Rights by Miloon Kothari and Sabrina Karmali 5. The Rights of Home-based Workers by Vibha Puri Das and Aditi Kapoor 6. The Right to Information by Aruna Roy et al. 7. The Rights of Fish Workers by Nalini Nayak In order to deepen the awareness of human rights among grass-root organisations, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), New Delhi, provided us a grant that enabled us to revise and edit the dossiers for the university level and to prepare a composite manual for grass-root organisations. Three more dossiers were prepared for both levels. These are: • The Rights of the Disabled by Meera Pillai • Reproductive Rights by N B Sarojini • Gandhian Struggles for Land Rights by D Jeevan Kumar The suggestion that a manual be prepared for grass-root organisations was made at the Round Table on ‘Human Rights Education’, organised by the SSF on 10-11 October, 2002, at New Delhi, in collaboration with the NHRC, New Delhi. This manual was prepared by the KWIRC, Bangalore, by distilling relevant material from a set of ten dossiers prepared earlier for university students. We are grateful to Dr. Justice A.S. Anand, Justice J.S. Verma, Justice Sujata V. Manohar and Justice V.S. Malimath for their valuable advice and support for the project; to Aruna Sharma and Sudha Shrotria of NHRC for the interest and support; to Ms. Sarasu Thomas of NLSIU for preparing the first draft. We acknowledge the contribution and commitment of Nageena Nikhat Khaleel, Research Associate, SSF, who coordinated the project. We are especially indebted to Dr. Devaki Jain, Trustee, SSF for initiative, support, guidance and encouragement that she provided throughout the project. (V S Badari) Director, SSF Preface Justice A. S. Anand Chairperson (Former Chief Justice of India) 28th November, 2005 The National Human Rights Commission has expressly been mandated to promote Human Rights literacy and awareness vide section 12(h) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. The Commission has been serving this encompassing purpose within its best means. The Commission, in collaboration with the NCERT had brought out a Source Book on Human Rights in 1996. The Source Book was prepared for the promotion of Human Rights Education in the country, particularly at the school level. Its purpose was to make available Human Rights information to teachers and students, policy makers, curriculum developers and other personnel involved in formulating and implementing educational programmes. It persuaded the University Grants Commission to introduce human rights education at the university level. As a result, human rights education is now being imparted in over 35 Universities /Colleges across the country and also in the National Law Schools. However while reviewing the status of human rights education in India, one finds that due emphasis has not been given to include human rights as a subject or as part of the broad curriculum at the school level. Despite the Commission persuading both central and state governments not much seems to have been done by government to inculcate a culture of human rights in young minds. The importance of inculcating a culture of Human Rights in the impressionable minds of children is best reflected by the fact that the UN Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2004/71 relating to regional review and follow-up to the UN Decade for Human Rights Education has put onus on the inclusion and improvement of Human Rights Education in schools. In 2004 the Commission, in collaboration with the National Council for Teacher Education brought out a Handbook for Sensitisi ng Teachers and Teacher Educators on “ Discrimination Based on Sex, Caste, Religion and Disability”. The Handbook aims at creating awareness among teacher-educators to foster the need for inherent equality by consciously keeping away prejudices based on sex, caste, religion and disability while handling teaching-learning situations. Of late, human rights are increasingly becoming the subject of concern for legal fraternity, academicians, researchers, policy makers and voluntary organisations. It is said that the awareness of human rights is largely limited to the educated sections of society, while ideally it is necessary to create awareness about human rights at all levels. There has been a growing realization that human rights cannot be taught only from formal documents. Indigenisation of human rights education thus, can be one of the crucial components of human rights education in India. NHRC has been supporting such efforts initiated at the non-governmental level. Taking note of the need to develop appropriate course material for human rights education largely drawn from the experiences gained out of the human rights movement in India, the Karnataka Women’s Information and Resource Centre, Bangalore has drafted “ Human Rights Education for Beginners”. One of the topics covered in the book includes the Right to Information. We are aware that the Right to Information Act came into force on the 12th October 2005. This of course is not reflected in the text, which was written before the Act got Parliamentary clearance, nevertheless a chapter concerning Right to Information is worthy of inclusion in the book to enable the students to learn about the movement for the enactment of the legislation before it gained legal acceptance. Education and awareness are key to creation of a human rights culture in the country. The present publication, I am sure, will prove to be a useful material for the students. (A.S.Anand) Note The materials used in this document are a set of ten dossiers prepared by experts in the following fields: 1. The Rights of the Child 2. The Rights of the Disabled 3. The Rights of the Dalits 4. Reproductive Rights 5. Human Rights and the Environment 6. Land and Housing Rights 7. The Rights of Home-based Workers 8. Gandhian Struggles for Land Rights 9. The Rights of Fish Workers 10. The Right to Information All the dossiers were originally written for students at the university level. Adapting them for grass-root organisations was indeed a daunting task. At the university level, the dossiers were meant to be narratives of struggles. The details of the struggle were perhaps best encapsulated in the dossiers on fish workers’ rights, Gandhian rights and the right to information. Other dossiers such as those on land and housing rights, reproductive rights, disability rights, home-based workers’ rights and environmental rights were a combination of a detailed