SHILLONG, Dec 10: Asserting that COVID-19 has “exposed and exploited failures”, the Meghalaya Peoples Human Rights Council (MPHRC) has called upon the state government to apply human rights standards in tackling entrenched systematic inequalities, exclusion and discrimination.
The MPHRC’s on Thursday observed the Human Rights Day thematised on ‘Recover Better – Stand Up for Human Rights’, with focus on the need to build back better by ensuring that human rights are optimal to recovery efforts.
“This day is an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of human rights in re-building the world we want, and the need for solidarity as well as our interconnectedness and shared humanity,” the MPHRC said in a statement issued here.
“COVID-19 has zeroed in on the fissures and fragilities in our societies, exposing all our failures to invest in building fair and equitable societies. It has shown the weakness of systems that have failed to place a central focus on upholding human rights,” it added.
Speaking about the COVID-19 vaccines, the MPHRC said that extraordinary progress has been seen in vaccine development in recent weeks, which is a testimony to the ingenuity and determination of humans in times crisis.
“But vaccines alone cannot resolve the pandemic, or heal the damage it has caused. The government not only needs to distribute these vaccines equitably but they need to rebuild economies, repair the damage done by the pandemic, and address the gaps that it has exposed,” MPHRC Chairman Dino DG Dympep said.
The MPHRC stated that the failure of the government to invest sufficiently in universal and primary healthcare, in accordance with the right to health, has been exposed as extremely short-sighted.
Expressing shock over disproportionate toll of COVID-19 on individuals and groups, who are marginalised and suffer discrimination, the MPHRC said that over the past 11 months, the poor have become poorer, and those suffering systemic discrimination have fared worst of all.
“Children in homes with limited or no internet access or computer equipment have fallen behind in their education, or dropped out of it altogether, with girls badly affected. In terms of basic economic security, employment, education, housing and food, the pandemic is having a negative impact that is so vast and so wide-ranging it is almost impossible for us to grasp its enormity,” it added.
Webinar at NEHU
Meanwhile, the Legal Care and Support Centre, Department of Law, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, in collaboration with the Meghalaya State Legal Services Authority (MSLSA) organised a webinar on Human Rights Day as part of the Human Rights Day observance.
In his address, District and Sessions Judge and Member Secretary of MSLSA, NA Khan, informed that the State Legal Services Authority is open to everyone for any assistance and clarification of any doubt regarding legal matters.
The programme was followed by the deliberation on the topics — ‘Pandemic and Human Rights’ and ‘Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples’ — presented by the resource persons.