Dimapur, December 10 (MExN): On International Human Rights Day, the Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO) questioned the inability of the State Government to set up the State Human Rights Commission, several court directions in the past.
A press release from the NVCO Press and Media Cell on Saturday stated that the day is observed on December 10 every year to create awareness and mobilise political will to promote respect for the rights and freedom enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. However, the Nagaland state government is ‘just concentrating on the Hornbill Festival as it coincides with the final day celebration.’
According to the release, NVCO President Kezhokhoto Savi emphasised on the global theme ‘Dignity, freedom and Justice for all,’ and said that both the Declaration and WHO’s Constitution assert that health is a fundamental human right for all people. As such he underscored that all persons should have access to health services without discrimination and related health inequities including integrating human rights, equity, gender responsive and intercultural approaches to guide public health policies and ensure that communities experiencing racial discrimination have access to comprehensive, culturally appropriate and quality health services.
Savi went on to state that the International Human Rights Day in the year 2021 was very different as people of the state were in a deep mourning period over the several precious innocent lives “mercilessly gunned down by the Para Military Security Forces on December 4, 2021 at Oting village under Mon district, Nagaland whose ‘Human Rights’ were violated in the highest degree.”
Promoting human rights is one of the core purposes of the United Nations, and this core purpose is deliberately failing in Nagaland as the state could not constitute a State Human Rights Commission till date, he added.
As indigenous people of the land, Article 371A of the constitution of India provides a special provision giving the Naga people rights to protect their own way of life, its land and resources, however, “one of the main problems faced by the citizens of this state is the existence of the Central Government imposing the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act, 1958, amended in 1972 widely seen in Nagaland as ‘draconian.’”
However, he lamented that knowledge about human rights is not popular among the citizens of Nagaland. “As a result, violation of human rights is so common in Nagaland that the purpose of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is defeated considerable number of times.”
According to him, “Nagaland is being shown to the world as an example of a slaughter house of human rights.”
