10th of December every year is the day set aside by the United Nations for annual commemoration of Human rights. It is regarded as human rights day. It is the day the world celebrates the the United Nations adoption of the Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and it is the day used to raise awareness about the inalienable rights that every individual is entitled to as a human being irrespective of the person’s tribe, color, religion, race, gender, language etc.
It is the day of worldwide celebration of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations in 1948 and the date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948.
Human rights are those rights which a man cannot survive without. It is the essence of existence. These are rights a person is born with and is expected to live with until the day of his death.
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These rights locally are provided for in the Nigerian constitution in chapter four of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, 1999. It spans from section 33 through section 44 of the constitution.
For the sake of emphasis, those rights will be reproduced here:
- Rights to life (section 33)
- Right to dignity of human persons (section 34)
- Right to personal liberty (section 35)
- Right to fair hearing (section 36)
- Right to private and family life (section 37)
- Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (section 38)
- Right to freedom of expression and the press (section 39)
- Right to peaceful assembly and association (section 40)
- Right to freedom of movement (section 41)
- Right to freedom from discrimination (section 42)
- Right to acquire and own immovable property (section 43)
- Right against compulsory acquisition of property (section 44)
The importance of these rights cannot be overemphasized, even the constitution recognizes its importance as a citizen cannot survive without them and the constitution went further to provide in s.46 that if you feel that any of these rights are being threatened and it likely to be breached or it’s breached you should approach the court. This same content was also provided in article 8 of the African Charter on Human and People rights. To this effect, don’t wait until any of your fundamental rights are breached, whenever you feel they are about to be breached you should run to court; the high court of state or the federal high court.
Happy World Human Right day.