Human Rights Violations
Meeting People’s Security Challenge

By Khilendra Basnyat

DUE to moral and rational characteristics, human beings are placed atop other creatures in the universe. In order to utilise these characteristics, some necessary conditions are identified. The sources of human rights are these conditions such as liberties, dignities and so on and the capacity of the human beings to adopt with them.

Human rights, which are also called the language of humanity, are inherent rights of human beings. This is such a language, which communicates a message of equity, love and benevolence among the members of the human community.

If we turn the pages of the history of civilisation, each society has defined the concept of human dignity in various ways. On the basis of this identification, in fact, some elements of human behaviour have been accepted and others condemned.

In reality, each society has developed some values, norms, disciplines and practices in order to maintain social harmony and to coordinate various social aspects. What is more, individual codes of conduct have been prepared and responsibilities assigned based on some social and religious ideals.

Likewise, each society has also made the provision of giving awards in the form of social ranks and titles in order to promote the fulfillment of good responsibilities.

Actually, what is known as human rights now is the specialised and redefined standard developed from the norms, values, duties and laws of the past.

The western civilisation is of immense importance to develop human rights concept. Classical Greek philosophy is worth noting for placing importance on certain individual’s role in running the ancient civil society.

The western world developed the idea of human rights to every citizen. These rights were limited to protect the citizens from the abuse of state power especially on religious activities, individual liberties and political participation.

The concept of human rights is connected with ethics and morality. Modern human rights have originated from religious and ethical texts and practices of both the western and eastern civilisations.

The destruction due to the World War II led to the development of a new kind of humanitarian movement in the world. The movement has the sole aim of put an end of such destructive event.

In fact, the identification and establishment of human rights is as old as the human civilisation itself. The movement has evolved in various forms and manifestations.

Human rights movement, which is allied with the arbitrary rule of the rulers, has been developed through a collective expression of freedom.

The proclamation of the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt of "four freedoms" – freedom of speech, freedom of faith, freedom from fear and freedom from want – provides a basis for the advancement of worldwide human rights movement.

It was the establishment of the United Nations (UN) and the provision of the UN charter, which ushered in a new period of international concern for human rights.

The UN was set up to restore faith on human dignity and resolve disputes in a friendly manner through negotiation. From this point, human rights became the principle of international concerns.

Although the concept of the Third World was developed in the fifties, these countries defined human rights as interdependent to both individual as well as collective rights. This definition widened the scope of human rights and created the modern universal definition that human rights are inseparable, interdependent and applicable to all individuals and groups.

After the re-ushering of multi-party democracy in our country, the people have been guaranteed their basic rights. Actually, human rights are a birthright that flows from parents to children. However, some negative aspects of a functioning democracy have been witnessed during this period. For instance, taking advantage of the political freedom, some disgruntled elements have taken up arms and conducted terrorist activities in the name of people’s war. As a result of these activities, in the past five years or so many innocent people have lost their lives.

In fact, the basic rights as guaranteed by the present democratic constitution will have no meaning if the people have to live in fear and apprehension. Merely putting the blame squarely on the government will not check the violation of human rights or initiate any major breakthrough.

In order to solve the issue of the growing insurgency and guarantee human rights to the people, all political parties will have to forge a consensus and arrive at a conclusion on how this challenge to the security of the people can be met.

RNAC Creates A Soup

By Mohan K.C.

THE termination of the Boeing 757 jet lease agreement between Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) and China South West Airlines (CSWA) a few days back has sent ripples across all sectors mainly the tourism and the freight forwarding sectors. Whether the deal was in right order or not in the first place is not only the question but also it is unfortunate that this comes in the wake of the Lauda Air deal ending. Now RNAC is back to the two Boeings that it has at its disposal.

The ups and downs in the history of the national flag carrier have been a story that smacks of everything that is in the book of foul play. Forty-two years since it was established, instead of growing from strength to strength as has been the case with many a airlines in the region, our own airlines has gone down the ladders. In fact, corruption, financial irregularities, mismanagement and other such factors have been responsible for the deplorable situation that RNAC is in at present. It has gone so far that it now has tough times meeting its financial obligations including the arrears to be paid to Lauda Air and CSWA besides paying the salaries of its employees in time.

What is of interest at this point is that Thai international that had started its services at the same time as RNAC has a jumbo fleet of over 80 Boeing jets while RNAC fleet has been down to a mere two. The contrast is marked. When focus should have been on making RNAC efficient and sustainable, efforts have been on the contrary that is impoverishment of the national flag carrier in the guise of unfair air deals, commission and corruption. It is well known that two of the officials of the airlines are in custody and a number of others are on bail. This is enough to speak of what had gone on behind the scenes in the past decade or so.

This does not mean to say that corruption and financial irregularities were a part on in the post-democracy era but it was so also in the Panchayat days. But, at least, then the airlines had the planes which were so instrumental in expanding the air services to many destinations in Europe and Asia (Middle-East, South and South East). For the moment it might seem like a fairy tale that the wings could stretch as far as one wished but now all the glued feathers have fallen off and RNAC looks somewhat like a scorched chicken.

How the deals whether with Lauda Air or CSWA were made are shrouded in mystery. Money matters were high on the agenda rather than giving the fillip to the shortage of aircraft. Destinations were added but the lease was the way to get planes and not going for outright purchase of the required jet aircraft. There was the controversy over the type of aircraft—757 or 767 and so on. For a layman, it might have sounded more reasonable having bought a plane with some amount going as commission or leaving room for corruption in the purchase deal but that would have been only for once. The yearly agreement offers room for kickbacks every year, only that it has to be renewed every year. For this one can remember the bail amount of tens of millions of dollar for those accused in the Lauda Air deal. This is enough to point to the high stakes that was involved in leasing aircraft.

The rough estimates provided say that for the CSWA jet deal agreement, it was agreed to pay US$3,000 per hour with a minimum of 275 flight hours every month. This was what landed RNAC in the soup. It still has to pay a hefty sum of 50 or 60 million to CSWA. In this respect the termination may be good but what about the future. With the flights to London, Paris and Frankfurt in Europe and Singapore and Dubai in Asia being cancelled from September 1 of this year, the impacts will be felt on every sector of the national economy. It will not only effect to movement of tourists from the tourist generating markets but also of cargo. The multiple effects at what is termed as the peak season will adversely affect the economy of the country. Herein it may be worthwhile recalling that almost 16 per cent of the foreign exchange earning originate from the tourism sector. The sudden drop in such earnings will be quite a dampner in the overall national economy which has yet to brace up to face the challenges of this century.

On the one hand, there has been a sharp drop in tourist arrivals over the past one year and now when expectations were on the rise for improvement in the arrivals, the sudden move to cancel the flights to important destinations is cutting at the very roots of the life-sustaining tree.

Every sector is worried about the cancellation of flights announced by the national flag carrier. Now is the time to be decisive. Instead of going in for controversial jet leasing agreement, the concerned have to feel more responsible and show honesty and a sense of commitment when it comes to adding more aircraft to the RNAC fleet. If only restraint had been present in the past the present depressing scenario would not have emerged to, in a way, devastate the whole international flight schedule.

Metamorphosis

By Prakash C. Poudel

DESPITE many negative twists over my contempletion, eventually I fell prey to what I had dreaded the most. But it had to be between Scylla and Charybdis and it settled accordingly. For some time, I had wondered if I was destined to be doomed and it happened in an exemplary way: my wife rode-away for her job only after a week of our wedding. "I really feel it bad, honey, but you know well how I feel about my job. I can’t choose between you and the job; I love both," she tried to smile before she put on the helmet. With black helmet, jacket and glasses she reminded me of the junkie bikers biking down to Oklahoma from Texas, stopping in the middle of Arizona desert to drink couple of beers before they start again. Still to my satisfaction, there were not other bikers to accompany her with pipes in their mouths and tatoos all over. Thank God I was spared with that. But it has been a bone of contention within myself ever since I decided to tie the knot! Two days after our wedding I asked her if she would like to find a job that won’t take her far away from me for a considerable length of time. Her reply was instant. She snapped back, "What’s wrong with what I do? I did not know that you are a wet blanket!"

Well, that was it and I decided not to dig the subject again. Rather, I started to ponder over why not to find me something amusing and better to do while she is away. After all I had been living all by myself all these years. I never worried a bit about anybody then. Why should I now? It’s just little over two weeks that I know her; I hardly know anything about her, including simple things like what she likes to eat or wear or what time she prefers to be in bed. Forget about her hobbies and goals and plans in life! So, I chose the easiest and most comfortable (that’s what I thought) way-out by getting under the blanket and snoring away all the tensions. So, there I was, guffing and wandering in my dream, along with my friends, which I really used to do in my real life. After a couple of minutes of this heavenly pleasure I found myself in inferno, where my wife was watching the main gate, with swords on her both hands. My real wife doesn’t have moustache but this one had. She caressed it with a style and addressed me harshly like I was the object she had been looking for centuries to burn in hell.

"Mister, where you think you going?" She sounded exactly like my wife, which doubled my fear. I said, "Madam, I was wandering around and all of sudden I ended-up here. I don’t know where I’m at. A moment ago, I was in a park with my friends." Slowly, she brought her mouth close to my ear and thundered, "What the hell you were thinking? You could run away from me?" So saying, she grabbed my neck and dragged me out of the door. Like a madman, I woke-up, all of sudden, from my dream and looked around. I pinched my nose hard to see if I was still alive. It did hurt and the wall clock was ticking as usual; it was all real. To confirm further, I sneaked under the bed but there was nothing unusual to be found.

No sooner had I taken the breath of relief I heard the jingling sound of bangles coming from the kitchen. Lo Lord! there was my wife cooking evening meal! She smiled at me and murmured, "You were sleeping very soundly when I came in. So, I didn’t wake you up!"

I just did not find the word to tell her in answer. So I went to the bathroom to clean-up myself. Everything was beyond my comprehension when I found a pile of clothes set aside in a corner to be washed. The world in front of me stood still for a while. Leaving aside everything for later, I hurried to the kitchen. But, before I could say anything she said, "Will fish do for supper tonight?" I don’t know how did she find out but fish is among my favourite dishes. Personally, I still don’t know if she has a middle name?

There I stood motionless. After a while, I walked away, like a man rescued from the pile of rubbles and gutter after a great earthquake! In the meantime, I’m trying to see if I can add-up two and two and make five:2+2=5(?)