Within?, a target calls explicitly for protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms. A key element for this is the creation of awareness concerning legislation tied to adequate protection. Indeed, a??of the United Nations Human Rights Council considered human rights education and training as “essential to the effective realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
Awareness of one’s rights and means of securing those rights are considered prevailing social and economic progress instruments. But the absence of basic legal understanding might be a root cause of deception, exploitation, and deprivation of rights. For example, suppose a portion of the population of a given country has no formal education, which in itself is against the right to education. In that case, it significantly increases the level of vulnerability.
Unaware of the enforceability of human rights, people, especially women and children, do not report crimes and violations of such rights and continue to suffer. In this framework and with the core aim of simplifying law to its last letter, making certain that everybody is aware of their rights,?, a member institution of the?United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI)?in India, decided to do something about it.?
A team of its?, as part of an initiative called ‘Saral Kanoon,’ by an organization based out of Ahmedabad -the country’s fifth-most populous city-, collaborated for the development of two handbooks to ensure the enforcement of women’s and children’s rights. The project has been conducted under the guidance of Prof. (Dr.) S. Shanthakumar, the Centre’s Director, led and reviewed by Ms. Apoorva Patel, the Centre’s Head.
These handbooks are touted to be “actionable guides” that will help raise awareness about pressing domains of law in India concerning vulnerable groups. Around thirty students have put in their efforts to make the handbooks comprehensive and, at the same time, easy to grasp. The project was also overseen by the Centre’s faculty members, alongside advocates at the High Court of the state of Gujarat on the western coast of India.
The?Handbook on Women’s Rights?follows a chronological pattern and exhaustively deals with the significant facets of law concerning the title. Considering the most relevant issues surrounding women in India, it discusses themes such as female genital mutilation, sexual and other forms of domestic violence, and forced marriages, among others. “We have kept a dynamic outlook while designing the handbook,” commented Ms. Patel.
“And we as researchers have dealt with themes such as cybercrimes against women and the recent contentious matter of marital rape,” the expert added. The chapters within the handbook open with the basic iteration and meaning of what entails in the text to come and the basic sense of the issue dealt with. It is followed by a detailed commentary about the statutory provisions that directly or remotely address the subject(s) discussed.
The same is followed by interactive and informative heads titled, ‘know the procedure,’ which crisply inform the reader about the potential remedy(ies) that lies to them in case they ever encounter or are privy to any such issue(s) as dealt with in the handbook. It achieves the dual objective of being an exhaustive guide and being a quick and practical solution provider to the reader and the public at large.
The product, towards the end, also contains certain annexures “that can be viewed as supplements to the procedural information provided in each thematic chapter and allow the handbooks to live to their name, actionable,” Ms. Patel notes. “The legal aid movement cannot achieve its goal until people are aware of their legal rights and greater awareness translates into better and broader access,” she commented. ?
About the?Handbook on Children’s Rights, the sequencing, and the manner in which the top-notch research is displayed is similar to the one on women’s rights. The handbook pays appropriate regard to the provisions of the umbrella statutes concerning children’s rights. The themes covered and discussed at length vary from child labour, child education, adoption, juvenile marriage, and child trafficking, and to name a few.
These critical themes are backed with dedicated and exhaustive research and provide a brief yet detailed overview of the current state of things in the country, the dire need for attention as felt by specific issues, the relevant provisions of law which are there to address these issues, and how the said provisions are to be invoked in order to ensure that children’s rights prevail in practice if such rights are impacted.
The handbooks, although written in English, will be translated into Indian regional languages and distributed in schools, civil society organizations, shelter homes, and Child Welfare Commissions. “Despite appropriate legal measures in place, due to the dearth of knowledge, these avenues are not explored by the aggrieved for far too long, denying them justice,” said Mr. Aman Garg, a student convenor who helped with the project’s coordination.
“This is an honest attempt to not only aid in improving the situation in terms of women’s and children’s rights but also great at sparking the much needed academic and legal discourse in this domain,” explained the Director of the Centre, Prof. (Dr.) S. Shanthakumar. Members of the Centre also noted that “education on legal topics should not be restricted to institutions of higher education and must be disseminated to the general public.”
