Human Rights, Democracy and Governance

3

Human Rights

The emergence of ‘human rights’ as a secular religion is of relatively recent origin. It appeared out of the horrors of the Great Wars and was formalized by the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the 10 December 1948 in the General Assembly of the United Nations. Perhaps that is the reason human rights are not as sacrosanct in states that escaped the devastations wrought by the wars between peoples and nations. Southasia had to bear the human, material and moral costs of the Great Wars without having played any part in their conflagration. Wars taught Southasian leaders not to take violations of human rights lightly. Fundamental freedoms are enshrined as inalienable rights of every individual in every ...