Payal Singh, Uttaranchal University
INTRODUCTION
“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity...”
Nelson Mandela.
Human Rights are moral norms or principles that tend to describe certain standards of human behavior. These rights are very well known and universal in nature which means they are applicable everywhere at every time all over the world, and strengthens the fact that each and every person around the world truly deserves to be treated with dignity and equality. These are thereby protected as natural and legal rights on levels of international as well as municipal law. The milestone document in the very history of human rights is UDHR or Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10th December 1948. It has 30 Articles and it sets out all the fundamental human rights to be universally protected for the very first time. Since that time due to the rise of digital era, more awareness has been created in this regard. The UDHR itself has been translated into over 500 languages to make it known and understood all over the world to each and every person. As rightly quoted by John F. Kennedy, “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man is threatened…” It is thereby explained in the very beginning of the preamble of the document that recognition of the inherent dignity and equal rights of all members of the human family is the very foundation of justice, peace and freedom in the world. Technology can be a powerful tool for human rights. The increased access to internet and rapid social media development had enabled activists to organize and spread their message to broader audiences. We keep learning about new human rights activists or groups or social propaganda on daily basis, and we get to put forth our opinions in support or objection to those. There is no more filter as we can on our own do our research and make ourselves aware about the current situation and changes regarding human rights. In the current digital age these rights are either being violated or increasingly fulfilled in the online environment and in current time even though the context of human rights is slightly changed, the agenda however remains the same…
