Imphal, December 09: How significant is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations to a person who is not sure of his/her right to life? This is an intriguing question that can be raised when various human rights groups in the State are gearing up for the observance of the International Human Rights Day under the theme of 'Dignity and justice for all of us' tomorrow.

Shouldn't the right to life be counted and given precedence before anything else ? In commemoration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10,1948 which seeks to ensure protection of the rights of their respective citizens by all the signatory State members, December 10 every year is being observed as the International Human Rights Day all over the world under various themes.

In the Declaration, the rights of the people to be ensured by the signatories are elucidated under five categories as civil rights, political rights, economic rights, social rights and cultural rights.

However, in a conflict situation State like Manipur, people are being deprived of their rights to life for the last many years with both the State actors (security forces) and some Non-State actors (UG groups) resorting to killing people without any proper trial.

Instances of killing people and raping women without any differentiation (whether innocent or UG) or without giving a chance to try them are numerous in Manipur.

In some instances, such brutal acts were perpetrated right in front of the eyes of their own family members, thereby leaving a permanent scar in the hearts of those who were left behind to mourn the dead and gone.

Many women have lost their husbands and children have been separated from their fathers or orphaned as a consequence of the prevailing armed conflict in the State which has been witnessing steady increase in the number of destitute children.

With incidence of killing taking place almost on a daily basis, people have become immune to the gore and bloodshed.

As a tradition, Manipuri society does not accord equal status to men and women.

While the men are free from any social sanctions, the women are subjected to various restrictions.

As a result, it is the women who suffer the most.

One such woman with whom The Sangai Express had the rare chance of interaction, Liya (not her real name) of Saibol village in Chandel district, who was left behind by her UG cadre-husband pregnant with their first son, recounted that although she could bear sneering remarks of the people in her village, she had always lived with fear in her heart on thinking what she would say when her son grows up and started asking about his father.

29-year old Anita (not her name), wife of an Assam Rifles jawan who was killed by some unidentified gunmen on the morning of March 23, 2006, said 'killing of my husband right in front of my children who were playing in the courtyard happily was the most brutal and inhumane act'.

At the time of the death of her husband, Anita was three months pregnant with their third child, the first child, a son being 3 years old and the second child, a daughter, just 2 years old then.

'After that incident, my eldest son is frighten of any loud noise', said Anita, who has been living against all odds just for the sake of her three children.

28-year old Tombi, wife of Gourahari who had been killed by unidentified gunmen on July 10, 2005, said 'killing of a person, however serious the crime they may have, without giving a chance for clarification is condemnable'.

She added, 'Nothing could be more unfortunate in this world than to lead the life of a widow.

I could not even go out and work to earn money for the family.

My self-esteem has become so low that I do not feel like attending any social or religious get-together always fearing what people might say.

But I know I have to survive and bring up the fatherless-child'.

Seitabati and her husband used to lead a very simple life along with their three children with the meagre income earned from running a 'Kangou-Bora-Cha Hotel'.

But life has never been the same again since August 30, 2007, the day her husband was found shot dead after being called out from the hotel by some unidentified persons.

'Women, whose husbands have been killed in similar manner, may be compelled to go astray in their struggle for survival, thus multiplying crimes in the society', she observed.

'We want to live in peace.

Such senseless killing should be stopped', the woman pleaded.

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