International Human Rights Day is designed by the United Nations General Assembly to be held on the tenth of December every year. Human Rights Day inspires everyone to speak up and take action to end discrimination in all forms whenever and wherever it happens.
Human rights are universal rights that mean that everyone should be treated equally and with respect. People should not be discriminated against because of: Gender, Race, Colour of their skin, Sexual Orientation Religion or the country in which they were born. The theme for this year is “EQUALITY – Reducing Inequalities, Advancing Human Rights.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral, and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance.
The principle of humane treatment requires that civilians be treated humanely at all times. Common Articles of the Geneva Conventions prohibit violence to life and person, including cruel treatment and torture, taking of hostages, humiliating and degrading treatment, and execution without regular trial against non-combatants, including the wounded, sick and shipwrecked.
Civilians are entitled to respect for their physical and mental integrity, their honour, family rights, religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs. Adverse distinction based on race, sex, nationality, religious belief or political opinion is prohibited in the treatment of prisoners of war, civilians, and persons hors de combat. All protected persons shall be treated with the same consideration by parties to the conflict, without distinction based on race, religious, sex or political opinion.
Every person affected by armed conflict is entitled to his fundamental rights and guarantees, without discrimination. Women and children are granted preferential treatment, respect and protection. Women must be protected from rape and from any form of indecent assault. Children under the age of eighteen must not be permitted to take part in hostilities.
International humanitarian law provides specific protection for pregnant women. It is the responsibility of the detaining authorities to provide for appropriate care, including medical care and supplementary food rations, for a pregnant detainee. The necessary medical arrangements must be made to ensure that childbirth takes place in an appropriate medical establishment, preferably a hospital outside the prison, and that medical care is given to mother and child.
Women and men equally so, should enjoy all judicial guarantees and be informed of their rights. Obtaining the services of a lawyer may be difficult, especially because of the cost involved. A woman abandoned by her family after her imprisonment may have little support in gaining access to a lawyer.
Apart from financial reasons, women may be unaware of their rights to be represented by a lawyer, or the authorities may refuse to allow them any contact with lawyers. The high illiteracy rate among female detainees in many countries may also make it even harder for women to ensure that their legal case is handled appropriately.
It is an irony of faith and terrible cause for concern that, after the Colonial Emancipation in Africa and Abolition of Slave Trades, nefarious citizens of Nigeria buy and sell Nigerians to people in other countries. Reminiscence of the darkest history of humanity when countries like Italy, France, Portugal, Britain and Spain captured and shipped Blacks from Africa in 1492 to work in farms and plantations as slaves.
While it was marginally understandable for whites to subject blacks to slavery then, based on the repugnant concept of racial superiority, the current debacle is a national and continental shame and terrible opprobrium.