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 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
Human Rights are universally recognised as the normative foundation on which human life is expected to be nourished. Academic interventions are necessary to disseminate the significance of Human Rights to various levels. Keeping this thought in mind, Centre for Public Policy Research and the Department of Political Science, Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam are observed World Human Rights day on 10th December 2008 by organising a talk on ‘Recent Trends in Human Rights’ followed by a quiz on the occasion of Human Rights Day on December 10th at Seminar Hall, Maharaja’s College.
The welcome address was given by the Prof. K P Joseph, HOD, Department of Political Science, Maharaja’s College.He welcomed the students, the resource persons and the public who were present for the talk and emphasised on the importance of human rights in the contemporary world.
This was followed by the presidential address by Prof. K C Abraham,advisory board, CPPR who spoke at length on the concept of human rights and threw some light on the issue of rights of homosexuals.Principal of Maharaja’s College, Dr. Sreekumar delivered the inaugural address for the occasion. He appreciated the part played by NGOs like CPPR in bringing about change in society and addressing human rights issues.
The talk on ‘Recent trends in Human Rights’ was given by Dr. K C Sunny, HOD, Dept. of Law, University of Kerala. He explained the theoritical foundation of the Human Rights and said that throughout history there was a deprivation of these rights by social and natural forces which resulted in exploitation, oppression and persecution. He also elaborated on the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights( UDHR). He said tha the basis for claiming human rights is the membership in the family of human beings, which is open to all human beings. Human Rights include civil and political rights, social economic and cultural rights group rights, right to development, right to clean environment, prevention of crimes against humanity, good governance etc.He also explained that the concept of human rights is not simple and nothing can be black or white, there are always shades of grey. For example, he said, how do we justify or condemn practices such as abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. There are contradicting view points on these topics. Thus he introduced the concepts of bioethics and law and hightlighted that ethics is concerned with the supreme good while law is based on what is convenient at a particular time and place. He compared and contrasted the laws regarding abortion and homosexuality in India and United States of America, stressing on the fact that laws related to abortion are similar while laws on homosexuality are different. He concluded saying that the basic question is whether the human rights standards enable different nations to adopt a uniform standards in tackling the problems of bio ethics.
The floor was then open for debate and discussion in which students clarified many doubts they had on th practical issues that the society and the government face related to human rights and how these can be resolved.
The vote of thanks was given by Mr. Abin Thomas who extended his thanks to Dr. K C Sunny, for his informative talk on the concepts of human rights. He also thanked Maharaja’s College, especially the political science department for taking interest in such issues and collaborating with CPPR.
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES
Digital RTI Mission
Digital RTI Mission is a project by Centre for Public Policy Research which aims at making Kerala the first RTI digital state of India and later expanding it to the rest of India.
L3 (Law, Liberty & Livelihood) This project aims to study the livelihood regulations and entry level barriers for informal sectors in 63 Indian cities.The project is supported by Sri Dorabji Tata Trust and implemented in partnership with Centre for Civil Society (CCS). [read more]
India Development Indicators
India Development Indicators is an online platform that leverages existing investments in data by standardizing, harmonizing, and visualizing development data at various resolutions such as state, district, parliamentary constituency etc.
[read more] School Chain Index
A project supported by Fraser Institute, Canada to trace and analyse managements in India that handle more than three schools. [read more]
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
The Right to Information Campaign
CPPR is the leading organisation active in RTI Act Campaign across Kerala. The Centre has conducted numerous awareness sessions to increase the common man's access to the act through practical knowledge dissemination. [read more]
ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms are out of court settlements aimed at settling disputes in an amicable manner. CPPR has initiated a campaign to take the benefits of ADR to the common man to get timely and cost effective justice. [read more]
Externship Externship is a unique concept of CPPR to encourage research entrepreneur- ship among the youth of indegenous and rural communities and empower individuals to generate solutions to their problems. [read more]
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
Theatre Workshop
Rangsanskruti, an existing theatre group engages in conducting workshops designed to discover and enhance creative abilities and skills of participants. [read more]
Soft Skills Development Training
It aims to build up the competencies of the employees so that it compliments with the organization’s core strengths in maximizing productivity & profitability. [read more]
URBAN GOVERNANCE
Urban Research
This wing dwells into the importance for urban research as more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Over 90 percent of urban growth is taking place in the developing world. Over 1 billion people live in slums worldwide. Aproximately 360 million people live in the low elevation coastal zone in urban areas.These increasing issues relating to traffic, transport and infrastructural set up in urban areas has led to a paradigm shift in the way we move forward. Urbanization is now considered a key element in promoting economic growth, if well managed. CPPR has taken up this initiative with the focus to help the corporation to find solutions to the urban problems in Kochi, recommend policy changes and to make sure that the policies are implemented on time.
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Theatre Workshop
