The Importance Of Human Rights In India

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Advancing International Human Rights to Protect against Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Protecting the Rights of Migrant Workers are the two issues before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). In April 2014, the Supreme Court acknowledged how transgender is a third gender and asked the government to treat them as a minority. The UNHRC adopted a resolution related to sexual orientation and gender identity with India taking the position of abstain. Being a signatory to the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and political Rights and UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, India is bound to share the World’s View on torture. India’s commitment to the struggle against torture is manifested through its legislative and administrative actions. I. Advancing International Human Rights to Protect against Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people has only recently been addressed by the UNHRC because of its perception as a controversial and sensitive topic. Stigma and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) ranges from psychological harassment to physical assault, violence (SGBV), and often is tied in with misogyny and a lack of respect for women’s rights. Persecutions and abuses on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity can be hard to identify, because they take place both in private and public, and are deeply involved within religious, and cultural values. To date, over 76 states still retain laws that criminalize same-sex relationships by either fining, imprisoning, practicing “corrective” rape, and the death penalty on the accused. Advancing universal human rights to protect against discrimination based on SOGI is the core of HRC’s mandate. Human rights mechanisms supported by HRC aim at promoting universal rights, which include the to right to express safely one’s sexual orientation, and to exercise freely one’s sexual rights. The principles of equality, universality, and non-discrimination are the foundation of human rights, enshrined in the 1945 Charter of the United Nations and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The first article of the UDHR states, “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Similarly, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) contends that each state should respect the rights of all individuals recognized within the Covenant, “without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” This position is consistent with other countries, including Europe, Africa, South Africa, Hong Kong, Fiji, India, Nepal, and the USA. India isn’t a shining example in this topic but that is purely for the very rich and prominent culture within the country. A change as big as this will take time for the culture to adjust to, but things to help resolve the discrimination have been enacted. Recently many laws that once made LGBTI rights punishable by law, have been eradicated. Recently, attitudes towards homosexuality have changed even though India is an extremely conservative country. Specifically, there …show more content…
These migrant workers aid the economy of India and are usually very beneficial for India’s relationships with other countries as a good portion of migrant workers are seasonal. “One of the cornerstones of human rights law is its claim to universality. This principle, which states that human rights are inherent to all human beings, has been enshrined in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (1948). Thus, a migrant worker, as a human being, falls under the protection of all core human rights documents, provided his or her state of residence has ratified the respective treaty. Documents such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1966) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) (1966) have a ratification rate of almost 90% which means that almost all UN member States [India included] have formally pledged to adhere to the provisions set out in their conventions and are thus obliged to protect the civil and political as well as the economic, social, and cultural human rights of all persons under their jurisdiction.” (Background Guide: Topic

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