Human Rights Day - Embrace diversity: End discrimination...!!!

Human Rights Day - Embrace diversity: End discrimination:

World in the fight against discrimination
Dulshani Gunawardena and Dilanka Mannakkara

'Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind.'

The UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights doesn't use the word 'discrimination'. It uses without 'distinction of any type'

Comparisons between the Universal Declaration and the Sri Lankan Constitution.

Based on a seminar delivered at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on December 10, International Human Rights Day. Lectures were delivered by S. Skandakumar, Dayan Jayatillake, Mohan Samaranayake and Prof. Laksiri Fernando.

Voices against Discrimination
Martin Luther King Jr. King of freedom


Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms

He was the most prominent leader of the African American civil rights movement. He fought valiantly for the rights of the black Americans who were discriminated in each and every way by the Whites. His inspirational, motivating speeches not only influenced Blacks but also touched Whites. In His iconic speech "I have a Dream" he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movements and after several struggles was able to win the rights for the African Americans and created a society for them to live with dignity and honour of their race.

Nelson Mandela: Father of the Rainbow Nation

Nelson Mandela was born in a South Africa where racial discrimination was at its peak.

The Black Africans were treated worse than animals. They were not allowed to use the same roads, dining places, sanitary facilities, transport as the Whites. Mandela fought against this injustice.

He lead the African National Congress. He was arrested and

spent 27 long years in prison for his active role in gaining rights for the Black Africans. Finally South Africa became a country where racism was much diminished due to Mandela's great determination and courage. He became the first Black president of a democratic South Africa. Mandela was appreciated for his great service and for fighting

against discrimination as he was garlanded with the Nobel Peace Price in 1993.

Steve Biko: The unsung hero

He was a student leader who founded the Black Conscious Movement and played a huge role in empowering it. He always believed in the fact that whether you are black or white its the same and he fought for it. His movement was banned and he was arrested and he suffered torture in the custody of south African police. He suffered major injuries and

faced a cruel death. Although he could not achieve his dream the freedom for blacks during his lifetime its because of brave warriors like Biko a New South Africa


Ali is mostly famous among the public as one of the greatest boxers who was very outspoken and arrogant. But as a great sports personality he fought for the rights of his kind, the minority, the black Muslims. He was even banned from fighting because he voiced out against the injustice that was happening for the Black Americans. Ali was forced to join the military for the war against the Viet Kong guerrillas. He firmly refused and was famously quoted saying "I ain't gonna quarrel with them Viet Kong, they don't call me nigga". Due to this brave statement he was stripped of his world heavy weight championship. He continued fighting for the rights for the Blacks. Ali was refused to

enter a white only restaurant and he famously threw away his precious Olympic Gold medals to the Amazon river due to frustration.

Eminent scientist, Arthur C. Clarke once stated that Sri Lanka probably possessed the greatest cultural and natural diversity in context with its landmass.

Human Rights: What actually are they?

As the words itself imply, human rights are the rights each human being possesses with no barrier of race, religion, creed, sex or any other barrier. As the Universal Declaration on Human Rights states, 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights'.


Human rights are there for two reasons:survival and dignity. This is in contrast to animal rights which emphasizes only on survival.

Formerly, the traditional grounds concerning discrimination were race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property and birth or other status. Additional grounds introduced in 2006 due to modern developments such as age and status, particularly for children, work or descent (caste), sexual orientation, HIV status and disability.

Is discrimination always bad?

Contrary to popular opinion, discrimination is NOT always bad. Allowed discrimination and special measures belong to this context.

Under such measures, developing countries are allowed to discriminate between citizens and non citizens in economic rights. The district based university enrolment system in Sri Lanka provides another such example, where the hardships of students with lesser facilities are considered.

Human Rights and Sri Lanka

The war was a main hindrance to the enforcement of law against violation of Human Rights. Today, though peace has been restored, many forms of violence still exist in Sri Lanka. An example is the recent attacks to Catholic churches by large unknown,

Excerpts from the Human Rights day message of UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon
No country is free of discrimination. We see it everywhere, in many forms: old and new, covert and blatant, public and private. It may appear as institutionalized racism, as ethnic strife, as episodes of intolerance and rejection, or as an official national version of history that denies the identity of others.
Discrimination targets individuals and groups that are vulnerable to attack: the disabled, women and girls, the poor, migrants, minorities, and all those who are perceived as different.
These vulnerable people are frequently excluded from participating in the economic, political, cultural and social lives of their communities. The bigotry that stigmatizes and excludes them can be exploited by extremists. In some countries, we are witnessing the rise of a new politics of xenophobia.
But these victims of discrimination are not alone. The United Nations is standing with them, committed to defending the rights of all, and particularly the most vulnerable. That is our identity and our mission.
The international human rights community continues to counter bias and hatred. Public awareness has led to global treaties offering legal protection from discrimination and unequal treatment.
But abstract commitments are not enough. We must continue to confront inequality and intolerance wherever they are found.
On Human Rights Day, I invite people everywhere, at all levels, to join the United Nations and human rights defenders around the world in the fight against discrimination.
extremist mobs. Despite the advanced thinking much encouraged today, some Sri Lankan nationalists continue to believe in the concept of the pure Sri Lankan: 'Sinhala Buddhists of high caste and upcountry origin'.

Another major problem in the Sri Lankan context is that the general public, clergy as well as public and private officials do not have a sound knowledge of human rights. Many victims do not even know that they their rights have been violated. They do not realize that they have been discriminated and that discrimination itself is a severe offense, yet remedial by the law.

Gender discrimination has also evolved into a burning issue today. Though barriers in education, healthcare and professional engagement is much less comparative to other Asian countries, Sri Lanka shows a higher tendency of domestic violence compared to developed countries. Sixty percent of all Sri Lankan women are reported to have experienced some form of domestic violence which is shocking.

There is also great disparity in the laws pertaining different communities of the country. The age of marriage is such an area that raises such concern. Under the Roman Dutch Law prevailing today in Sri Lanka, the new legal age of marriage is sixteen(16). However under Muslim Law, a female could be married as young as twelve years even without her consent.

A not-much-spoken issue concerning racial discrimination is that of the indigenous communities of veddahs. Though the law has been passed to grant up country Tamils citizenship, many Tamils up to date have yet been unable to benefit and continue to face many legal challenges.

What can be done: Proposals against discrimination

As the UN secretary general mentioned in his text, eradicating discrimination completely would not be a very realistic and practical solution as people generally are biased towards their own kind. One cannot end discrimination by just setting up strict rules and regulations. Instead there should be a change in the mind set, attitude and thinking patterns. People should be more empathetic and the conscience about human rights should be burned deep into the hearts and minds of the people.

Every Government institute, police station, schools, private institutes should be educated on the rights and actions against such violations against human rights and to be pro active in shameful acts such as discrimination.

There are much machinery against discrimination in Sri Lanka today. These include the Supreme Court, Human Rights Commission-State Inquiries, National Child Protection Authority and the Official Languages Commission.

Sri Lanka has faced much opposition and controversy over proposed actions brought forwards. Such an example is that of the Equal Opportunities Commission proposed in 2001. This was opposed by nationalistic movements. S. Skandakumara stated that under current proposals, this commission should be revived and granted more authority as an instrument. It should possess more powers of investigation and enforcement. It should also concentrate on discrimination based on multiple grounds such as intersections for age, disability, gender, ethnicity etc.

Examples from USA and India

In the modern context USA is the world's superpower which is not only because they posses the richest economy in the world or they are equipped with ultra modern war machinery but It is because they embrace cultural diversity, the lacks, whites, latinos, Chinese, Indians live in harmony with each other. Looking at our big brother India, is another prime example for embracing diversity. In a majority population of 80% of Hindus they have elected their most powerful official who is the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh who is a Sikh which accounts to only a mere 2 percent. The former President was a Scientist Abdul Kalam who is a Muslim. The party leader Sonia Gandhi is an Italian by origin.


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