Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

The Vacuum of Democracy

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The Vacuum of Democracy

People living in a democratic society must serve as the ultimate guardians of their own freedom and must forge their own path toward the ideals which are also set forth in the preamble to the UNs’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world.”
Democracy rests upon the principles of majority rule and individual rights. Democracies guard against all-powerful central governments and decentralize government to regional and local levels, understanding that all levels of government must be as accessible and responsive to the people as possible.
Democracies understand that one of their prime functions is to protect such basic human rights as freedom of speech and religion; the right to equal protection under law; and the opportunity to organize and participate fully in political, economic and cultural life of society.
The freedom of belief and thought is a social need .It implies that man should be free in these vital aspects of his life and that there should be no obstacle in the way of his advancement and sojourns and no hurdle to the development of his capacities. One of the most venerable capacities in man, which he needs most intensely in order to develop freely, is his capacity for thought and belief.
The discourse of human rights is a highly debated issue in a democratic government. Human rights are commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights “to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being,” and which are “inherent in all human beings” regardless of their nation, location, language, religion, ethnic origin or any other status. They are applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of being universal and they are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone. They require empathy and the rule of law and impose an obligation on persons to respect the human rights of others. They should not be taken away except as a result of due process based on specific circumstances, and require freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture, and execution.
A number of standard individual rights are especially important to ethnic and religious minorities, including rights to freedom of association, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and freedom from discrimination. Human rights documents also include rights that refer to minorities explicitly and give them special protections. For example, the Civil and Political Covenant in Article 27 says that persons belonging to ethnic, religious, or linguistic minorities “shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language.”
It should be noted that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is based on moral values, adopted to preclude from violence, oppression and barbarity which had outraged the human conscience, and to ensure freedom, peace and justice around the globe. The modern human rights’ discourse aims to recognize human’s rights and dignity which root in moral values and religious concepts. The objective of the UDHR is stated in its preamble, “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people….”
Anyhow, it is worth mentioning that majority rule, by itself, is not automatically democratic. For example, no one would call a system fair or just that permitted 51% of the population to oppress the remaining 49% in the name of the majority. In a democratic society, majority rule must be coupled with guarantees of individual human rights that, in turn, serve to protect the rights of minorities and dissenters – whether ethnic, religious, or simply the losers in political debate. The rights of minorities do not depend upon the good will of the majority and cannot be eliminated by majority vote. In other words, the rights of minorities are protected because democratic laws and institutions protect the rights of all citizens.
It is aptly said that “form of government is called a democracy because its administration is in the hands, not of a few, but of the whole people. In the settling of private disputes, everyone is equal before the law…. And we pay special regard to those laws that are for the protection of the oppressed and to all the unwritten laws that we know bring disgrace upon the transgressor when they are broken.”
However, the immature democracy in Afghanistan is full of difficulties and cannot be a panacea for the bleeding wounds of the nation. The basic rights of the public are violated and their blood is spilled on the street by the armed insurgents right under the nose of the government. In short, people’ ballots could not stop the bullets and their freedoms are curtailed and their rights and dignity are trampled upon on a large scale.

Hujjattullah Zia is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at zia_hujjat@yahoo.com

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