Democracy, human rights and media [Archives:2003/665/Opinion]

Ismail Al-Ghabiri
The media have emerged as powerful tools, which effectively influence public opinion, and, therefore, the importance of the media is very high in democratic societies. Universal declaration of human rights has given further strength to the cause of media freedom but there is no way can stop misuse or manipulation of the media like parts of the world have seen the worst form of media misuse by vested interests and the spread of hate massages through the media. In these circumstances, it is important to look at the relationship of the media with democracy as well as human rights. Democracy literally means rule by the people (from the Greek demos, “the people” and kratos, “rule”). It has traveled a long way since the days of the Japadas of ancient India and the City-States of ancient Greece. To some it is a form of government. To others it is a way of life. It has changed its substance in terms of time and space and has relevance in every sphere of life. The political aspect of democracy has the earliest root in time. For the most part if recorded history it remained a negative concept until the seventeenth century. People protested against the systems which upon one ground or the other excluded them from a share in power. The basis of democratic developments is the demand for equality, the demand that the system of power be erected upon the similarities and the differences between human beings. The history of democratic thought has centered around two problems: to establish the right of the whole community to share the direction of the state and the means of attaining this diffusion of power. For this, three conditions were necessary: (a) the secular state had to be divorced from the ecclesiastical community. (b) the feudal notion of social relations had to be replaced by the contractual. This was possible in Europe through the commercial revolution slowly between 1400 and 1750 and rapidly since then (c) popular ignorance has to be dispelled by the growth of literacy and the evolution of a consciousness of power in the masses. Modern democratic theory is built upon the notion that the only way of responding to the demand and the need for total experience in modern communities is to give that experience the full opportunity of expression by offering the citizens the responsibility of sharing power. Right to vote to all adult citizens, freedom of expression including the freedom of the media, equality of opportunity and respect for human rights has emerged as modern democratic values. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is of historic significance and its importance needs no stressing. Today it is supplemented by an impressive array of instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and some fifteen other declarations constituting what might be called the international law on Human Rights. Over 50 international treaties, which represent the practical extension of the principles, are set forth in these declarations. The problem of Human Rights claims special attention by the mass media because it is affected in several respects by communication. Information as such, is fundamental Human rights duly defined in several international instruments and the role of the media has to be analyzed form the standpoint of its effective support or alleged non-support for other human rights. For it is largely through the media that people are able to learn about the rights that they have won through a struggle or those which have been granted to them as well as those which they have yet to win. Indeed, to enter into communication with others in itself gives one a feeling of strength and an increase in awareness. On the other hand, isolation increases one's vulnerability and also gives a sense of uncertainty. The first task of the media in this field is, therefore, to help the society to make human rights a living reality by ensuring that everyone enjoys the right to know what his rights are. In this area the mass media can really play a major role in enlightening the public opinion and in helping people to take cognizance of their rights. Educators and communicators, particularly media persons, must shoulder the responsibility for bringing human rights to everyone's knowledge, and advocating that everyone should respect human rights both for one's own sake and for others. Numerous international instruments, in fact, relate to this objective. In 1974 a recommendation adopted by the General Conference of the UNESCO concerning Education for international Understanding, Cooperation, and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms States that Member States should urge educators, in collaboration with pupils, parents, the organizations concerned and the community, to use methods which appeal to the creative imagination of children and adolescents and to their social activities and thereby prepare them to exercise their rights and freedoms while recognizing and respecting the rights of others. This could well be the role given to the mass media whose primary functions include information and education. The General Conference of UNESCO in its twentieth session in 1978 proclaimed that, “in countering aggressive war, radicalism, apartheid and other violation of human rights, which are inter alias, sowed by prejudice and ignorance, the mass media, by disseminating information on the aims, aspirations, cultures and needs of all peoples, contribute to eliminate ignorance and misunderstanding between the peoples, to make nationals of country sensitive to the needs and desires of others, to ensure the respect of the rights and dignity of all nations, all peoples and all individuals”. But only awareness of human rights is not enough to ensure that they will not be violated. A second major responsibility of the mass media should be to lay bare and to denounce such violations. Those working in the mass media should be eager to count themselves among the forces fighting to promote and protect human rights. Similarly, mass communication institutions must have in their foundations, a system of values which embraces respect for human rights, including the rights of every person of free and independent development. This entails the constant concern to denounce all violation therefore in other countries. It is very important, as it is still all too common throughout the world for the oppressed peoples to be deprived of the opportunity to make use of the media and to make their voices heard within their own countries. The whole question of human rights is intimately connected with all the major problems facing mankind. Human rights are indivisible, but they are also inseparable from the aspirations of links uniting human rights development, peace, disarmament and many other issues. This broad vision leads to the urge for the formulation of the “third generation” human rights. If the principles proclaimed by the American Revolution (1776) and the French Revolution defined the “first generation” human rights, namely civil and political rights, the October Revolution (1917) gave rise to economic and social rights which have been confirmed tanned enlarged by different revolutionary movements occurring during the twentieth century and constitute the “second generation” human rights. The world community is currently busy defining the “third generation” human rights which are rooted in solidarity and are seen as comprising, for example, the international rights to development, the right to healthy environment, the right to peace, the right to a communicate as a wide ranging formula embracing the right of heard and the right of people to reciprocity and the exchange of information. It is not impossible, however, for the mass media to contribute to the denial of human rights. This happens for instance, when the mass media distort or overlook the rights of minorities of or entire social categories like women and young people. It also happens when the mass media treat racial issues in a way that may foster discriminatory attitudes. In the turbulent world of today, it appears that the need to fulfill this responsibility is unlikely to diminish for a long time to come. Journalists everywhere have a duty to work out ways in which it can be exercised as a long-term policy as well as everyday practice.

Terrorism
Terrorism always involves a criminal act, the use or the threat of violence (as in kidnap or hostage taking) and presents the unique danger of readiness to kill at random, not in anger or hatred but deliberately, to produce an impact. The physical target of a terrorist act, the individual victim, may be unimportant in itself as the most important target is the larger audience. Terrorism is designed to produce a psychological effect far wider than the concrete results of a particular incident. This is why terrorists will never fail to claim responsibility for the violence. Without identifying themselves and communicating some demand or ultimatum their acts is pointless. After the Second World War, terrorism developed into a technique of low intensity warfare. States used it in conjunction with propaganda as a weapon against an enemy without a formal declaration of war. This is one major reason why the United Nations did not gear up for combating terrorism during the Cold Ware period. In fact, the media became part of the tools of the trade for terrorists as they need and seek publicity like politicians and the salesmen in the age of the Global Village.
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