Another observance, and gone
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: December 11 2012 -

Although the high-profile visit of Rahul Gandhi, AICC General Secretary and Scion of Gandhi dynasty to Imphal on December 10 appeared to have overshadowed the State-wide observance of International Human Rights Day to honour the UN General Assembly's adoption and proclamation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights on this day in 1948.

Nonetheless, it is an observance whose significance is only becoming increasingly more relevant for the people in a conflict zone like Manipur where the question of security on their lives precariously hangs by a thread.

Prolonged imposition of draconian Military law like Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958, which gives sweeping power to personnel of armed forces even to open fire and kill somebody on mere suspicion all in the name of counter insurgency and the never ending armed conflict between the State and non-State actors have come to pose a serious challenge on the daily struggle for survival of the people.

Today, people in Manipur do not even have the faintest idea of whether they would come home alive once stepping out of their homes.

The ongoing conflict has also resulted in spilling over numerous cases of human rights violations including forced disappearance of innocent people, arrestment of suspects without arrest warrants, fake encounters and rape of innocent women, all defeating the very purpose of global enunciation of human rights.

Against this backdrop, various social organizations and human rights groups in Manipur have been observing International Human Rights Day year after year to ring out the message for respecting the rights of each and every individual in the society, regardless of their social standing and political affiliations or ideologies.

However, all these efforts seem to have not given the kind of impact that is expected. Innocent people continue to suffer the brunt of the ongoing conflict with no hope of justice from any quarters and incidents of human rights abuses are rampant.

On the other hand, Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC), which was established on June 27, 1988 under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 with the main purpose of safeguarding human rights and preventing violation of human rights in accordance to the International standards and norms, continues to remain defunct for the last three years, mainly because of negligence by the State Government.

Despite the fact that it is mandatory to have an active and functional State Human Rights Commission where victims of human rights violation could approach for help, Manipur Human Rights Commission has stopped functioning since 2010 as no new appointments have been made after retirement of its then Chairman and Members.

As long as the Government abdicates its responsibility of making the state Human Rights Commission functional, observance of International Human Rights Day would remain just an annual ritual.

This is indeed a sad commentary on the prevailing human rights scenario in Manipur.