Statement of the Lok Raj Sangathan on December 10, 2025
The United Nations Human Rights Day is observed annually around the world on 10 December. It commemorates the anniversary of one of the world’s most groundbreaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
This landmark document enshrines the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” (see ref. [1]).
Whereas the above remains a useful benchmark and a standard and a touchstone for assessing the actual condition of human rights, it may be sadly concluded that much of what has been written above remains wishful thinking while the reality is something quite different.
We refer the reader to our statement on the same occasion in 2022 (see ref. [2]). We had pointed out that “But neither the Declaration, nor any of the subsequent accords on these matters provide for any enabling mechanisms. Thus, people in countries that are signatories to it may not have any way of ensuring that they get these rights in practice.”
Moreover, the Declaration does not make it binding on its signatories to guarantee the inviolability of these rights. This is particularly true for instance in the case of Gaza and Palestine, where the most egregious violation of Human Rights is taking place daily for over two years, where an entire civilian population has been collectively punished for political events which were not of their own making.
These include indiscriminate bombing knowing that civilians are living in the areas of bombardment, killing of non-combatants, of women, children, the elderly and the sick, destruction of hospitals, food distribution and aid centres, and deliberate starvation via illegal blockades, all with the blessings of the so-called international community. The United Nations itself has proved to be nothing more than a talk shop, with the discriminatory veto power vested in the Allied Victors being used to block resolutions.
There has been a broadening of the violation of human rights in other theatres of conflict (read areas isolated by the United States of America and its allies who wish to carry out regime changes and foment wars). These are in violation of the Nuremberg Principle that the War Against Peace is the great War Crime; with the latest double tap attack on a Venezuelan boat under the pretext of fighting `narco-terrorism’, in contravention of the Geneva Convention.
Immigrants and minorities, particularly in the US, but also and elsewhere are being criminalised and subjected to inhuman treatment. Thousands of people are forced to migrate or flee as refugees due to severe economic hardships or wars or genocides or other disasters. Instead of providing such hapless people with basic facilities like food, shelter and medical aid, they are treated as criminals and hounded into camps and forcibly deported. This is happening not only in the US but even closer home, in India.
Seven decades after the declaration of formal independence from Britain, India ranks amongst the worst in terms of Human Development Index, as well as other indices. Much of the population suffers from endemic malnutrition, low levels of literacy, very poor life expectancy, high infant mortality, high rates of preventable blindness due to lack of vital minerals in the diet during infancy and early childhood, and all kinds of oppression, characterized by violence, discrimination, and debasement of the human persona.” India continues to languish at 130 out of 193 in the Human Development Index.
Recent remarks by the Chief Justice of India who even questioned a petitioner as to why the Rohingya people, who fled Myanmar due to religious and ethnic persecution, should be even referred to as “refugees” have been severely criticised by retired judges and people of conscience (see Ref [3])
As mentioned earlier, tens of thousands of people fighting for democratic rights, for economic demands, against the seizure of tribal lands and agricultural lands under the pretext of the `Eminent Domain’, people fighting for dignity of national or religious minorities have been put behind bars, many of them held without trials for long periods and given harsh sentences in several instances. Several individuals who had already been detained for some years in 2022, continue to languish behind bars to this day without guilt being proven or even the trials starting. It would be fair to conclude that the charges levelled against them are basically bogus, and the prosecution cannot really provide any evidence or prove charges which is why the cases are not brought to trial. But rather that the harsh laws like UAPA are used to make an example out of these individuals. (See other articles in this issue).
Many other examples may be provided which would be a roster of shame for any country professing to be a democracy. From the denial of rights to tribal people, minorities who are subjected to harassment, from the bulldozing of residences of people usually from the Muslim community who are merely accused of offences, to the abominable treatment of refugees and stateless persons such as Bangladeshi immigrants or the Rohingyas, the callousness of the authorities must be condemned.
This situation prevails because political power is concentrated in the hands of the Indian rich elites who preserved and perfected colonial institutions and modified them to suit their purposes. A thorough discussion of the role of institutions of the enabling mechanisms in India and in the world is the order of the day.
Lok Raj Sangathan calls for an immediate cessation of all human rights abuse and a complete overhaul of the system of laws and of jurisprudence and of governance. A breakthrough in this will liberate society and truly bring about the flowering of Human Rights.
[1] https://www.un.org/en/observances/human-rights-day
[3] https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/india/ex-judges-lawyers-write-to-cji-over-rohingya-remark/
