#Men are created equal manual

government offices, universities, ngos and international agencies such as international committee of red cross and united nations high commission for refugees,'' says sinha.

''career-wise it can broadly be divided into four parts.

#Men are created equal manual

recently at a hr workshop organised by the press institute of india, the thomson foundation, cardiff and the british council, a manual 'press & people: a manual on human rights reporting in india' to be used as a resource book for working journalists on the different hr laws, with a special section on the reporting skills enabling journalists to report more effectively, was presented to the participants. ''you have an edge after doing a course in hr.'' even journalists are undergoing courses in hr to add credibility to their stories. hr should be considered a general subject in all disciplines.'' naik echoes similar views. mozafari, who feels that each and every individual should be aware of human rights, says, ''the knowledge of human rights is essential for government officers and for those in the police, army, judiciary, education field, health and such areas, as they all have a link with hr while taking decisions on the rights of people at any point of time. ''we have a large number of students comprising government officers, army personnel, employees of ngos, diplomats and law practitioners apart from young graduates and post-graduates from the field of political science, history, sociology and international relations,'' says sinha. people who wish to pursue a course in human rights come from diverse backgrounds. the aligarh muslim university offers masters in hr. the syllabus includes international hr instruments, domestic law including the regional instruments and the international aspects. with the minimum eligibility criteria being 10+2 for this course, anybody from the judiciary, ngos, para-military forces, doctors and teachers can take this course.'' the benaras hindu university has the distinction of being the first university in india to offer masters in law (llm) in human rights. hr project director, ignou, pandav naik says, ''our course content can be divided into three parts: society and development, hr in india and workbook exercise dealing with hr in daily life, which can be further classified into: know your rights, protect hr and implement hr. apart from teaching international instruments of human rights, importance is given to the implementation of human rights especially at the domestic level.'' the indira gandhi national open university (ignou) is offering a six-month certificate course in hr. there is equal emphasis on human rights, international humanitarian law and refugee laws. assistant professor m k sinha at the indian society of international law which offers a diploma in human rights and international humanitarian and refugee laws, says, ''in our diploma programme, equal importance is given to all related aspects of human rights. the course content of human rights may vary depending on the institute but generally comprises the instruments of human rights, articles on rights of the child, rights of the minorities, right to life, convention on women, international refugee law and implementation of human rights. wherever there is a breach of hr there will be conflict.'' therefore, it is only logical in the scheme of things that human rights is tackled as a subject by academic institutions. it is important for social stability at the national and the international level. according to m h mozafari, director & cultural attache, iran cultural house, ''hr became very important immediately after world war ii. in recent times nations are crying hoarse over the issue of human rights (hr). although it carries no legal binding, it is taken as the basis of all human rights laws. In this context the universal declaration of human rights, which was born on decemis one of the basic instruments of human rights.