[governance] Call: Realizing our Human Rights as the foundation of Internet Rights

[Fouad Bajwa]

Realizing our Human Rights as the foundation of Internet Rights - Call
to both IGC, IGF, United Nations, its multistakeholders and the Youth
of the World to accept the UDHR as the foundation of Human Rights
recognition on the Internet (termed as Internet Rights)

Originated from: Fouad Bajwa (Pakistan) member IGC

I would request all stakeholders to fundamentally approach the issue
of Internet Rights and propose it to the Internet Governance Forum
Secretariat and its multistakeholders that the basis of furthering any
efforts with regards to Internet Governance and to strengthen Internet
Governance efforts, all should be based on fundamental Human Rights
without discrimination, and that, while collectively agreed by all
member states participating, including their private sector and Civil
Society stakeholders should mutually respect Human Rights both offline
in their countries and online on the Internet while continuing to
further the Internet Governance Forum and seek an Internet Governance
Development Agenda.

I believe that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the
building foundation of Internet Rights. It calls for progressive
measures, national and international, to secure our universal and
effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member
States themselves and among the peoples of the territories under their
jurisdiction. Human Rights are the foundation of Human Development
both social and economic and the building blocks of legislation. In
order to further any process on the platform of the United Nations,
its member countries agree, recognize and further the UN Charter.

Though, the term “Internet Rights” appears to be vague at this stage
but I believe that it is both the foundation of Internet Governance
and the future of the Internet with respect to the fundamental rights
that all the users of the Internet and those that are yet to use it,
are entitled to, without any discrimination as the Internet itself is
an extension of human mind and endeavor evolved through human based on
progressive, conceptualization, evolution, communication, innovation
and usage by all of us human beings despite the prevailing polities
today.

For the past few days I have been motivated to explore my own
realization of Human Rights in an era where there are massive rights
violations in a developing region like my own and many others. I
believe that a right is a freedom of some kind; it is something to
which you, I or all of us are entitled to by default but our
individual, mutual, realization, respect and practice is the
fundamental guidance for all multistakeholders to respect these
freedoms in Governance and Policy Making with regards to the Internet.

Today there are 192 countries that are members of the United Nations
and this organization came into being in 1945 shortly after the end of
World War II initiated by five major powers that won the war namely,
Britain, China, France, the Soviet Union and United States. The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was created in 1948 and
agreed upon by the members of the United Nations.

The UDHR was adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217
A (III) of December 10, 1948 and the United Nations called upon all
its member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and “to
cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally
in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction
based on the political status of countries and territories.”

The UDHR document lists 30 rights to which everyone are entitled – no
matter who they are or where they live – simply because they are human
being – where as the recognition of (according to the UDHR preamble)
the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all
the members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice
and peace in the world. Despite the fact that this Declaration was
adopted by only 58 countries (that were UN members at that time),
today there are 192 member countries that sign and accept the United
Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights while
many laws exist to protect human rights.

Human Rights are defined as: “The basic rights and freedoms, to which
all human beings are entitled, often held to include the right to life
and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before
the law.” The 30 human rights in the UDHR (summarizing) include the
right to live in freedom and safety; the right to travel; the right to
belong to a country; the right to own things and share them; the right
to believe what you want to believe; and the right to say what you
think. They even include the right to enjoy the things you enjoy doing
and all universally accepted (by the United Nations and its member
countries) rights have been laid out at the end of this discussion.

Yet, millions of people continue to suffer because their rights are
not respected although the UDHR protects the right to adequate food;
more than 15000 children die of starvation every day. The UDHR also
protects the right to free speech, but thousands are in prison for
saying what they believed to be true and the UDHR accepted by 192
member countries of the United Nations accept the UDHR but still their
citizens continue to be abused. The UDHR forbids slavery, but 27
million people live as slaves today – more than twice the number in
the days of the slave trade and more than a billion people are unable
to read, although the UDHR includes the right to an education.

These are very serious abuses of human rights but it is also true that
possibly 90% of the human population of the world, both offline in the
physical world and online in the virtual Internet world are unable to
name to name more than three of their thirty rights universally
accepted by 192 member countries and the United Nations. Who then will
tell these people? I believe the answer today lies with us in the form
of a guideline by the former Secretary General of the United Nations,
Kofi Annan:
“Young friends all over the world, you are the ones who must realize
these rights, now and for all time. Their fate and future is in your
hands!”

We must realize and formally accept that with the invention of the
Internet and now after over three decades, where human advancement has
taken place with the advent of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) and the Internet in particular, the violations of
Human Rights and human abuse with (respect to not recognizing the
UDHR) continue to take place throughout the world in the various 192
member nations of the United Nations. There is a need to revisit the
UDHR, recognize and respect these fundamental human rights both in the
offline and online world.

I believe that if the United Nations Internet Governance Forum does
not formally recognize the UDHR to be the basis and foundation of
Human Rights over the Internet and/or does not include a main first
theme and session on Internet Rights in its proceedings in 2009 at
Sharam, Egypt, both the participating members from 192 countries
accepting and respecting both the United Nations Charter and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights are in direct violation of the
fundamental Human Rights and entitlement of these rights to their
citizens in light of the United Nations Charter.

For the Internet Governance Forum to continue into its next era after
its review by the General Assembly for its continuation, it is
fundamental for the forum to revisit the UDHR and revive the
recognition of this Declaration by its member multistakeholders and
accept that the UDHR is the fundamental building block of Human Rights
over the Internet. This recognition may be termed formally as the
declaration of “Internet Rights” with mutual agreement and consensus.
Only then the process towards Internet Governance for Development or
the Internet Governance Development Agenda will evolve with the mutual
respect for Human Rights without any discrimination.

I would like to call upon the members of the IGC, the organizers of
the IGF, the United Nations, Governments and the People of UN’s 192
Members Countries and the Youth of the world to realize our
fundamental Human Rights defined in the UDHR as the foundation for
evolving a universally acceptable Internet Rights charter and accept
the UDHR as the foundation of Human Rights recognition on the Internet
(termed as Internet Rights). The UDHR is given below for dissemination
and circulation to participating Governments, Private Sector, Civil
Society and Youth Members of the world:

Source: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Article 1.
 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one
another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.
 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour,
sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or
social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no
distinction shall be made on the basis of the political,
jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to
which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust,
non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.
 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.
 No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave
trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.
 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.
 Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.
 All are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to
equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this
Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.
 Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent
national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted
him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.
 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.
 Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by
an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his
rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.
 (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be
presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public
trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his
defence.
 (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of
any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under
national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor
shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at
the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.
 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy,
family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and
reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law
against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.
 (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence
within the borders of each state.
 (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own,
and to return to his country.

Article 14.
 (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries
asylum from persecution.
 (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions
genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to
the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.
 (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
 (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor
denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.
 (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race,
nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a
family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during
marriage and at its dissolution.
 (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full
consent of the intending spouses.
 (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society
and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.
 (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in
association with others.
 (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.
 Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or
belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in
public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching,
practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.
 Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this
right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.
 (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
 (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.
 (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his
country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
 (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
 (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of
government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine
elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be
held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.
 Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security
and is entitled to realization, through national effort and
international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and
resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights
indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his
personality.

Article 23.
 (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to
just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against
unemployment.
 (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay
for equal work.
 (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable
remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy
of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of
social protection.
 (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the
protection of his interests.

Article 24.
 Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable
limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.
 (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the
health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food,
clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and
the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,
disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in
circumstances beyond his control.
 (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and
assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall
enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.
 (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at
least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education
shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be
made generally available and higher education shall be equally
accessible to all on the basis of merit.
 (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human
personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and
friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall
further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of
peace.
 (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that
shall be given to their children.

Article 27.
 (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life
of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific
advancement and its benefits.
 (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and
material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic
production of which he is the author.

Article 28.
 Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the
rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully
realized.

Article 29.
 (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and
full development of his personality is possible.
 (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be
subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for
the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and
freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality,
public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
 (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to
the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.
 Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any
State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to
perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and
freedoms set forth herein.

***** Please feel free to edit or kindly sign this call and let us
forward it to the IGF Secretariat and as many stakeholders that we can
reach out to! *****

-- 
Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad Bajwa
@skBajwa
Answering all your technology questions
http://www.askbajwa.com
http://twitter.com/fouadbajwa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVDW1tDZzA
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance