The Hindu : New Delhi News : `We have been complacent on human rights'

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Wednesday, Dec 20, 2006
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`We have been complacent on human rights'

Staff Reporter

Minorities rights award presented to Father Cedric

NEW DELHI : Father Cedric Prakash, known for his work in the field of human rights, was conferred the Minorities Rights Award for 2006 here on Monday.

Presenting the award on the occasion of Minorities Rights Day, former chairperson of National Human Rights Commission A.S. Anand asked whether there was a reason to celebrate Minorities Rights Day when human rights were being trampled upon.

"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948 by the U.N. But the declaration was not presented to the world as treaty for ratification, which becomes binding on nations. It was only a vision or an aspiration," he said.

Mr. Justice Anand said the problem was people were silent when they ought to have spoken. "We have been complacent when we ought to act," he said.

Father Prakash said: "It is important to remember that a large number of minorities still live on the fringes of society. They are denied the rights of citizens of our country."He said this was a day when people should renew the rights of every citizen, especially those of the minorities.

"On this day I can't help think of my Muslim brothers and sisters in Gujarat. Many of them are outsiders in a place they once called home. In Ahmedabad, they are confined to ghettos and it is difficult to get an apartment in the upper class western part of the city."

He said a mass grave was found in Lunawada and that the relatives of the victims were still looking for the mortal remains of their loved ones.

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