By Sarah Rashdi
PAGOH, 21 December 2020 – On a global scale, the world turned the perception on component of human rights up a notch, in which to live in life without discrimination.
Adam Hafis, a Counsellor at Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS), Kuala Kangsar, shared a definition of human rights taken from FOMCA website, that depicts a clear understanding of its structure.
According to the website, human rights is the rights and freedom inherent to all human beings regardless of any status that they hold. It is inseparable and interdependent adherence to universality of human nature.
These rights include the right of life, the freedom of expression, the protection of discrimination and many more. It acts as a covenant to ensure everyone understands the legal framework of human dignity and self-esteem, in which they are entitled to.
During a live session “CSRTV: No Rights but Human Rights?” which was held last Friday (18 December), Adam added his thought, “Human rights is essential to protect the public composure, creating a mutually understanding community that lives in harmony and tolerant with one another.”
He also said, “In order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedom of individuals or groups, government plays a pivotal role to observe the people to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts.”
Adam raises recent issues
In this two-hour virtual session, Adam took this opportunity to share with the audience about the recent issues related to human rights.
He touched on a broad range of issues including civil, cultural, social rights and politics. He cleared the confusion by providing a thorough explanation regarding the issues.
He included the issues about the civil law which was believed to hinder human rights through restrictions put on the actions, the problematic issues created by the Rohingya, the rights to commit suicide due to life failure and many other intriguing issues.
He also encouraged people “to always fight for your rights and stop letting others to discriminate your life.”
“Lately, it can be seen through various media platforms regarding sexual crimes. While the crime is under investigation, a lot of old cases are being reported by the victims. Why do you think the victims took two to three years to make a police report?”
“Regardless of how old the case is, you still have the rights to protect your own dignity. Just drop your report to the right channel and don’t let others violate your rights.”
God’s prohibition versus Human rights
He emphasised, “Human rights must be something that could benefit the society. Otherwise, it is not human rights but your own desire.”
“The prohibitions and restrictions on certain issues such as LGBT come from the religion, while from the cultural perspective, it is the right of the minorities, therefore it is permissible.”
“Islam does not make permissible of the haram and the other way around. What is sinful, would remain sinful and it cannot be a reward.”
He also said that it should depend on the society’s norms as he had mentioned before, it should bring benefit to the society.
Those who missed the live session of “CSRTV: No Rights but Human Rights?” can watch it on Mahallah Zaid Harithah Facebook group.***