Man suffers, not only when the part of the world in which he is residing is hit by natural calamities like earthquakes, famines, floods, diseases, etc., but occasionally by the one driven mad by political, economic or social power. In both types of situations response from the rest of humanity is spontaneous. In the former case, it takes the form of efforts to bring relief to the stricken. But whenever man has been made to suffer at the hands of other men, the conscience of humanity has been outraged, and the cry has gone round for some sort of guarantees to afford protection to him against the tyranny of his fellow human beings, so that he can be assured of at least his rights to life, liberty and security.
Many conflicts within a country is sparked by a failure to protect human rights, and the trauma that results from severe human rights violations often leads to new human rights violations. As conflict intensifies, hatred accumulates and makes restoration of peace more difficult. In order to stop this cycle of violence, NUG must institute policies aimed at human rights protection.
The values of freedom, respect for human rights and the principle of holding periodic and genuine elections by universal suffrage are essential elements of democracy. In turn, democracy provides the natural environment for the protection and effective realization of human rights. These values are embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and further developed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which enshrine a host of political rights and civil liberties underpinning meaningful democracies.
Irrespective of the aforementioned declaration of human rights, Afghanistan shows a dismal picture of law and order accompanied with the rampant human right violation. Insecurity, crimes against humanity, increasing violence against women and children, lack of access to education, torture and killing of the innocent people either by Taliban NATO forces or Afghan forces are just some of the human rights violations happening in our country.
Accroding to Public Health official, on Wednesday May 04, 2016 zt least 120 schoolgirls were poisoned in the Rustaq district of northern Takhar province. Health Director Hafizullah Safi said that scores of students of the Khanaqa School were poisoned. “So far 120 girls have been evacuated to hospital, but their health condition is stable,” he added.
Though, last year in May, Afghanistan endorsed the global Safe Schools Declaration, thus committing to do more to protect students, teachers, and schools during times of armed conflict, including through implementing the guidelines on protecting schools from military use but so far no progress has been seen in this regard.
Another reason is that in the absence of an effective national judicial system, the right to judicial protection has been compromised as uneven local standards have prevailed in criminal trials. Fair trial principles are enshrined in the Afghan constitution and the criminal procedure, but frequently violated for various reasons, including the lack of well-educated, professional staff (especially defense lawyers), lack of material resources, corruption and unlawful interference by warlords and politicians.
In our society the disparity in perspective and outlook between two persons or two groups of people means being each other’s enemy. This sort of attitude has created a great deal of mistrust among the people. Is it really the sort of attitude that must be adopted by the most superior of the all the creatures? Does this suit the sane minds that have the capacity to think and to distinguish between the right and the wrong? Such sort of attitude is really very destructive for a nation and does not let the cooperation, national integration and nation building take place easily.
In fact, every group thinks that it knows all the truths in the universe and has all the positive qualities in the world; that it has been the most blessed and beloved group on the face of earth and that the developments that have taken place are basically because of it – in fact, it thinks that the whole world and the incidents in the world revolve around it and it is the main character of the novel while all others are supporting characters or side-heroes.
Discussion, in the real sense, is this the practice of the wisdom and understanding of human thinking and mind. And it seems we lack wisdom and understanding, therefore, what has been done to innocent school girls in Takhar is nothing more than frustration. Unless, we overcome this frustration and invite wisdom and understanding with open arms and have healthy discussions with one another, we are not able to bring about positive changes in our society.
These human rights violations must be matter of great concern not only for Afghan government but for the international community extending donation in various fields’ human endeavors. The donor countries must demands for guarantees withholding human rights. The government must take prior measures in protecting and promoting human rights.