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Human Rights on Paper
We are fortunate to live in a country with a constitution that guarantees each and every citizen fundamental human rights that are enshrined and protected. The constitution is the supreme law of the land, and not even Parliament can take away your fundamental rights and freedoms. Today, as we celebrate World Human Rights Day, we must reflect on the past, assess the present and look to the future. Looking back, we must realise that the rights we enjoy were the result of the courage, struggle, blood, sweat and tears of those who stood up for what they believed in against dictators and corrupt leaders.
Thinking seriously
Their sacrifices must never be forgotten. The two most influential figures in our times remain the late Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. But these struggles would mean nothing if the State does not respect the rights of citizens today. For while human rights sound nice and look nice on paper, the true measure of the respect a society has for this concept is to be measured by reference to the status of the most vulnerable that live among us. The first fundamental right guaranteed in our constitution is the right to life, liberty, security of the person, and enjoyment of property. We are all meant to enjoy this right, regardless of our race, colour, religion or sex. Sadly, we live in a time when, and country where the State is unable to fulfil this basic obligation to its citizens. How do we reconcile what is on paper with the raw reality on the ground? No one feels safe in this country any more. Those with the option to go elsewhere are leaving or thinking seriously about doing so.
Many have fractured their families to protect their loved ones by sending their children abroad. We crossed the 500 murder mark. Law-abiding citizens are virtually imprisoned behind burglar-proofed windows and steel doors, as if we are the ones in prison. With a detection and conviction rate that ranks among the lowest in the world, there is no light at the end of this dark tunnel. Our murder rate is higher than that of New York, with over ten million people. Where is the right to freedom of movement and liberty, when we all live under self-imposed curfews, because the streets belong to the criminals after 7 pm and the police themselves tell us to avoid going out after dark?
Greater good
What is the meaning of the right to equality, when discrimination, based on gender, race and political affiliation, is what drives the inequitable distribution of State resources? How can there be equality when this culture of unfairness and victimisation is the by-product of the skewed and narrow kind of politics we have, where the personal power of the leader is of paramount importance, regardless of the people-divide it has created. What is the meaning of the right to life when your life has no value to the growing team of bandits who do not value their own life? What is the meaning of the right to enjoy your property when you are afraid to show and enjoy success, for fear that it might attract bandits? The dignity of the human being is at the heart of the concept of human rights. But the abused woman, who feels the weight of the sexy stares from police officers who can do no more than stare and smile while she pleads for rescue from domestic violence, finds no peace until she is murdered.
The young daughter, who is kidnapped and repeatedly raped while her mother pleads with her husband not to listen to the police and pay the ransom, is robbed of her humanity. The single mother, who struggled to bring up a son without a father, only to see his life snuffed out by senseless gang violence at 18, feels no dignity. The father, who is among the 3,000 workers laid-off from Pt Lisas industrial estate, with no means to put food on the table, feels cheated. The future will only be bright if we understand that these rights are owed to us by the State. We must cherish and jealously guard them. These rights are not, however, worth fighting for, unless you understand that we must all join hands and fight, because we realise that when the Government trample on your rights, they trample on mine, too, because we are both human.
Today for you, tomorrow for me. We are at a critical juncture, as the State has abdicated its responsibility to protect us, so that we can enjoy the basic right to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property. Self-interest must yield to the public interest. Personal pride, ego and power must give way to what is right and the greater good.
The decline and disintegration will continue, unless we unite for the sake of our children and their future, because it is either we swim together, or drown alone.
By Anand Ramlogan 17th Jan 2009
[Speech delivered in commemoration of World Human Rights Day, during the annual dinner of the Civil Rights Association]
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I am delighted that Anand has taken this very good review of the Human Rights situation in T&T.
What he points to about the limitations and unwitting restrictions on the Rights of people in T&T in recent times, is true. It was there and developing for at least the last 7 years in my estimation.
Many people in T&T will not know that they have Human Rights enshrined in the Consitution because they are not labelled as such. However, the Colonial Masters (the English) had been the main driving force for the development of the European Convention on Human Rights back in the early 1950's (the pre-independence period in T&T) - never mind that today they go kicking and screaming in rebellion against the European Court of Human Rights. The important point is that they recognised the value of Human Rights back then and T&T was lucky to have Human Rights embedded in a written Constitution.
Lucky? Yes, because the Colonial Masters still do not have an official written Consitution. They have cherry picked the very Rights they drove home in the ECHR and which they remain signed up to by Treaty. So, if T&T (and other then colonies) were by thought experiment given independence in a post-911 era, it is doubtful that Human Rights would have been wired into a written Consitution in the clear form it appeared back in the original T&T Constitution. Why? Because the Colonial Master has on occasion chose to deselect that which they did not like. How? They have re-written and derogated from parts of their Human Rights Act 1998 when they felt it was right to do so. (Their Human Rights Act 1998 in England is what cherry-picked parts of the ECHR, in order to give full legal force to parts of the ECHR).
So, T&T is fortunate to have Human Rights in its Constitution. But as I said before in my comment headed 'Depressing', "Constitutional law - being the hightest form of law for any Nation - is handicapped as easily as any other by one important pitfall: the law cannot bite where there is no human will. The law - all of it, every part of it - is like stranded ship without a functioning engine, when we collectively and individually fail to know, see and act!"
The successes in the Maha Sabha and Feroza Ramjohn cases were due to the determination of Anand Ramlogan and others who fought, fiercely all the way to the Privy Council to protect your Rights. Yes, read dat again. It was not jes for Maha Sabha or Ramjohn, it was for you!! You, you and you!!!
Anand says, "Personal pride, ego and power must give way to what is right and the greater good. The decline and disintegration will continue, unless we unite for the sake of our children and their future, because it is either we swim together, or drown alone."
The "must" referred to there is not achieved easily. Doh jes stop dey and think that dee govament go listen tuh Anand, and decide tuh behave itself. Nooooo....it doh work like dat. Govaments dee world ova doh do dem kinda ting. History has show that the driving force for change must come from the people and lawyers with real testicular or ovarian fortitude. Anand is right when he says, "Looking back, we must realise that the rights we enjoy were the result of the courage, struggle, blood, sweat and tears of those who stood up for what they believed in against dictators and corrupt leaders." However, do not sit there believing that that was then and now is now. The struggle for Freedom has only just begun. It begins with every sunrise. Unite in this cause else you and your descendents will suffer!
...firstly, thanks to Anand for taking the time to do a second review...on both the constitution and human rights aspect along with the interacting impact...its a lot more pragmatic and closer to reality... it does look good on paper as you say...and much appreciated...!
...however, with so much happening both locally in Trinidad and Tobago with the crime, food scarcity and inflation etc, and globally, with the Financial Meltdown and the economic crises thats affecting every nation, T&T being no exception, along with a ray of hope for the world in the inauguration of the 44th President of United States of America, Barack Obama...!
...but back to T&T, just in the midst all of these "uncertainties" of the global economy, the free-fall of oil prices and stock markets, the collapse of Financial Markets and Large Corporations, Banks and Financial Institutions included...and the "buzz word" in the large developed countries and where Governments are being pressured for "Financial Bail-Out" with taxpayers dollars...to stabilise their economies and to keep jobs and provide consumer confidence...for their own people and the rest of the people of the world...!
...all the while this is happening, our illustrious Prime Minister is hell bent and focused on "Constitutional Reform"...not to address any of the problems that our nation...and the world is facing, coping with and trying to stabilise markets and countries...but to "have himself installed as "Executive President"...accountable to no one...its amazing...!
...so I felt it necessary and convenient to provide a thought to ponder upon, given the recent events tied in with the inauguration of President Barack Obama...!...The Oath of Office of The President of United States of America...!
...Article 11, S...ection 1, Clause 8 of the Constitution ...!
...I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of The President of United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God...!
...this is what Barack Obama undertook and signed up for yesterday...!
...I only wish the same can be said for some of our home grown "illustrious Politicians" and "wannabe Presidents"...!
...you may notice, it did not say trample, and disrepect, and disregard, and frown upon, and to disavow, and to manipulate to the detriment of the people and the nation as a whole...!
...I just thought it might be the time for the people to observe and take notice and to "hold their elected officials" fully accountable for the so called "draft changes to our constitution" and to have the politicians explain how and why these so called changes are going to in some way be of benefit to the people and the nation...and not just only for "the Executive President"...!
...as President Obama said yesterday, the time for pause and reflection has long passed, the time for action is before us, each and every one of us...we're all in this together as one...for all of us...!
...so the thought to think out aloud is before us, how does the draft constitutional reform improve our lives and that of our children, and how does it serve to better observe, uphold and respect our Human Rights to which we are entitled by law, at the same time...?
...so don't worry about the self serving preacher, the self serving pastor, the self serving father of the nation, the self serving egoistical Prime Minister, the self serving wannabe Executive President, the self serving constitutional reform...don't worry with the mamaguy..."if ah fall, all alyuh fall"...!
...ask yourselves...what about us, where do we fit in the scheme of things, what about our rights, where does he and the constitution reform stand up and "Preserve, Protect and Defend" our rights...???...Where and When and How...???
...and Not Only On Paper...Please...!!!
...think hard and think out aloud...for all of us...!
...goodluck...Trini.t.o.o