Human rights : emerging issues

The tumultuous changes across the world today are unfolding new promises, challenges and threats. Global interdependence has now become a reality and the twentieth century has been characterized by the paradoxes unparalleled in human experiences. The most significant feature has been the shrinking of geographical boundary due to easy access to different forms of sophisticated information and communication technologies converting the whole world into a global village.

However new walls of caste, class, region, religion, ethnic, cultural and gender discrimination, religious fanaticism and fundamentalism have been errected. Therefore, while the iron curtains are gone, there are much more curtains in the minds of human being than ever before giving rise to serious socio-political problems all over the world. The by-gone century is also characterized by the paradox of sustained and unrelented efforts at the international arena for basic human rights on the one hand and the horrowing tales of Jewish holocaust and ethnic based upheavals in Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania etc. which are blatant slap on the face of humanity, gross violation of basic human rights, manifestation of false race superiority growing intolerance and religious fanaticism among people. Inspite of unparalleled scientific, technological and material advances, the finer and delicate bonds of humanity have somehow been forgotten and the world appears to be going back to the primitive age where 'might is right' was the rule of law and from where it had started its journey to the high roads of civilization. In such circumstances nothing seems to be more worthwhile than to express our firm faith on basic human rights and its practice in day-to-day life.