Kerala - Kozhikode   

Human rights programme to discuss violence against women

Special Correspondent

`People cannot be denied jobs for not being trade union members'

KOZHIKODE: Violence against women, environmental destruction, medical ethics and child labour are among the issues that will figure at a programme being organised by the State Human Rights Commission to coincide with the observance of Human Rights Day on Saturday.

The programme, to be held at Kozhikode Government Law College, will be inaugurated by Speaker Therambil Ramakrishnan.

Announcing the details here on Thursday, V.P. Mohan Kumar, Acting Chairman of the commission, told presspersons that observance of Human Rights Day would be a reminder of the earnest endeavour of the commission to safeguard human rights and check violations. Similar programmes were organised by it every year.

Answering questions, Mr. Mohan Kumar said the commission's job ended with submission of reports based on inquiries into cases of human rights violations. It was for the Government to take follow-up action on these reports. The details of the Government's response to reports submitted by the commission in recent months were not immediately available. Asked if sufficient support was being received from the Government, he quipped, "The commission does not need Government's help."

Mr. Mohan Kumar said instances of people being denied employment for not being members of any recognised trade union had come to the commission's attention. Such instances had to be seen as denial of right to work, which was a human right. Right to worship was also a human right.

He said it was not possible to check the activities of agencies which went around in the garb of human rights agencies. Anyone who could get hold of a sword, could claim to be an oracle these days, he said when his attention was drawn to the mushrooming of human rights organisations.

He made it clear that while the State Human Rights Commission had the authority to initiate action suo motu whenever allegations of human rights violations were made, it always exercised abundant caution in such matters, because at stake was the reputation and sentiments of the person whose action was made the subject of inquiry. There had been several instances of individuals and agencies making loud and apparently serious allegations and disappearing from the scene after the commission started its investigation. For example, in a case in which a person was accused of having fathered an illegitimate child, if the commission's investigation found the charge baseless, the damage to the reputation of the accused would be irreparable.

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