Human Rights

Human Rights  » Principles of Citizenship

Principles of Citizenship

"Know your human right" (High profile campaign of the fortieth

anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of

Human right).

"Human rights and fundamental freedoms are the birthright of all

human beings; their protection and promotion is the first

responsibility of Governments" (Vienna Declaration and Program

of Action 1993).

"For our human livelihood, approach to citizenship is the very

first instigation" (Coined by Lay Vicheka, 2005).

"Live to the best of our dignity", I would say, is my very

persuasion to such the essay titled; Principles of Citizenship.

Until today, "the best way to lead humankind is through

rationalism" is still valid. Everything shall have its one or

more purposes, but prior to gaining such the purpose(s), we

should initiate by knowing ourselves as much as possible.

Everyday, on daily national television, we have been brainwashed

by human rights' issues from global perspectives, the rights of

the citizens, the relationship between the rulers and the ruled,

inter-state relations, and even human right. The purpose of this

essay is to define the word "citizenship" from my perspective. I

will draw the ideas from the very general perspectives to the

very specific ( Cambodia ). How a person holds a "citizenship"

values.

Recently, I have been accused of "proving to be intelligent

(from mostly the uneducated)", but no matter what will happen,

how hard it will be and how mistaken I am, I believe that I am

positively contribute to Cambodia's well-being, and this is one

of other contributions for Cambodia' general good. Thanks for

reading my article(s) and constructive criticisms.

Most of us holding National Identification Card, Passport and

other administrative certificates; birth, marriage, and death,

but we don't know for sure what are the essences of those

materials. The purpose of this paper is to endeavor to catch the

"already-there opportunities" of every people as much as

possible.

Its Definition

I am not trying to coin the new definition of the term

"citizenship", since it has been clearly defined by well-known

professional experts. But I like to express my own view on such

the abstract tactic. Citizenship, in my perspective, is people's

routine activities that directly or indirectly affect the

government's policy. For example, if a person decides to go to

cast the ballot, he or she is filling one of the principles of

citizenship, which will affect the government. Such the decision

to cast the vote does affect the government's policy, because

people's political rights is one of the most prominent policy of

the government.

So what are the fundamental and central rights and obligation of

citizen? It would be too much to list all the fundamental and

central rights and obligation of the citizen, since I just want

to show the path to "citizenship" and you, the readers, are

obliged to steer your own boats.

The Right to Life:

"Every Khmer citizen shall have the right to life, personal

freedom, and security. There shall be no capital punishment."

Article 32 of the Cambodian constitution (1993, amended in 1999).

Don't think this "right" is awfully simple, as I was confused

myself as well. The right to life has a very broad meaning and

as Smith stated in his International Human Right; "other rights

just add qualities to this right." So what are those rights to

life? I think to make the reader easy to understand, I take

Maslow's theory on physiological needs; food, shelter, clothes,

love, care, dignity...etc as the foundations of these "rights to

life." Just think about these physiological needs and then you

will understand that your right to life is arisen from these

needs. The right to life is the birthright of every humankind as

indirectly stipulated in the universal declaration of human

right and the charter of the United Nations Organization.

We are lucky to be born human, but our human quality or tenet

will be withdrawn if our right to life is inadequate or

non-existent. For our essence of humankind, the right to life is

extremely important and must be equal amongst all other human

persons, either in the Cambodian, regional or global context.

And as I quoted on the top; "the right to life the foremost

responsibility of the government." It is the International

Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for the second

generation is - in particular, concerned with the right to life:

the right to education, the right to appropriate housing, the

right to social security, and the right to a safe and healthy

working environment and adequate leisure and rest time (Smith,

2005, p. 46).

Cambodian constitution 1993 and amended in 1999 all clearly

stipulated such the right to life: personal freedom and

security, the right to choose employment, enjoy the protection

of the State, etc. And we even see that the right to life must

be meticulously equal amongst all the Cambodian people and the

rest of the world, as article 31 stipulates "The Kingdom of

Cambodia shall recognize and respect human rights as stipulated

in the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights, the covenants and conventions related to human

rights, women's and children's rights."

The Right to Political Participation:

Don't think this "right" is awfully not important for the people

in the twenties century. But why political participation from

the people of all walks of life is important?

Most people (wrongly) think that politics is just for only some

kinds of people; lawyers, politicians, intellectuals and other

interest groups. Moreover, politics are not important to them,

since it does not positively or negatively impact their lives.

Such the ignorant mentality has, of course, extended until

today. When just starting with political topic, most of the

elders would say "it is none of our business, what we should

care is to make sure our stomachs are full, politics is nothing

to us, it is just for the politicians and their counterparts."

Yes, as I said above, the right to life is the most fundamental

right, preceding all others, but it is hard to make most of

Cambodian people be aware of their rights or even innate rights,

since political participation is largely abstained. As we can

see, Cambodian people's rights like other people around the

world are guaranteed by the state and other legal instruments.

For instance, Article 15 of Agreement on a Comprehensive

Political Settlement on the Cambodia Conflict " states that:

All persons in Cambodia and all Cambodian refugees and displaced

persons shall enjoy the rights and freedoms embodied in the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant

international human rights instruments. To this end, a) Cambodia

undertakes:

to ensure respect for and observance of human rights and

fundamental freedoms in Cambodia ; to support the right of all

Cambodian citizens to undertake activities which would promote

and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms; to take

effective measures to ensure that the policies and practices of

the past shall never be allowed to return; to adhere to relevant

international human rights instruments; b) the other Signatories

to this Agreement undertake to promote and encourage respect for

and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in

Cambodia as embodied in the relevant international instruments

and the relevant resolutions of the United Nations General

Assembly, in order, in particular, to prevent the recurrence of

human rights abuses .

Not only the international instruments, Cambodian constitution

also guarantees the right to enjoy political participation as

they are the steer of their country.

Though many criticisms have been drawn on Prime Minister Hun

Sen's government, I still claim that his government does have

the mentality toward free-market economy and for-the-people

policy. What I am trying to do here is just to show you the

readers that all of us already have power-in particular, the

political power. But our weakness is that we don't know or may

be scared to use such the innately imposed powers.

The right to political participation is already stated in many

Cambodian provisions and other legal acts, and what we should do

now is to make those abstract ideas into realities; "the most

valuable of an idea is practice, people can be well-respected

when they turn their ideas into practice."

Citizen's Rights Vs Human Rights:

It shows much difference between Human Rights and Citizen's

Rights, especially for such the perplexed world. So how the two

rights prove differences?

As stated by ancient Greek and French philosophers, humankind is

bounded by innate rights; physiological needs, unlimited use of

natural resources, expression, dignity, movement, and indeed,

these rights are guaranteed by the state, with legal act and

other provisions as the testimonies. However, since we are the

citizens of one state, we are bound by the contract with the

state. This contract is the Constitution. Of course, my

aforementioned rights are guaranteed by the Cambodian government

as well as other governments in the world, but one statement has

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been added to those innate or natural rights: "as long as it

does not impinge with other rights." Such the statement has

turned, I thought, the innate/natural rights into citizen's

rights.

Returning back to those ancient philosophers, human rights are

unlimited, genuinely equal, but such the theory does not apply

anymore to our modern civilization. To restore the public order

and other public goods, we are divided between the rulers and

the ruled. The ruled vote for the rulers to hold the offices.

Though we are the ones that select members of parliament, we are

already expected to comply with the laws adopted by whom we have

selected, and of course, they must comply also with what we have

expected before we vote for them. This stream, I call, is the

mutual contract; we are bounded by the laws adopted by those we

vote for and they must also comply with our opinions. By raising

such the concrete example, I believe, we can clearly see that

human rights have been turn to citizen's rights since we are the

citizens of one state. This means that our rights are limited

and we are obligated to pay remedies for our wrong-doings:

accountabilities.

Conclusion

It is too brief to view the principles of citizenship from just

few pages of paper; I can assume that it is not in-depth and

carry too little scopes. The rights to citizenship are too broad

and I believe no one can cover them all, but somebody may carry

it more effectively than another. It would take long to cover

such the topic from philosophical, historical and social

backgrounds, and this is beyond my knowledge and target. These

few papers just seem to be the initiative on "provoking

Cambodian people's already-set rights."

But how can one have the citizenship? Education, I believe, is

the primary source to grant such the aspiration. Educated people

seem to be more on tract with current state of affairs, so it is

the educated ones who can see better light on citizenship.

What about the uneducated/low-educated one? Do their aspirations

toward citizenship are dim? I truly believe so. I am not

underestimating the uneducated/low-educated ones, but what I am

saying is for the better tomorrow. For, the better light to

citizenship, ones must be educated to be on par with the

government's and international affairs and other specific

branches of knowledge and know-how. Let's just take a very

simple example: to have a chance to read this article, somebody

needs to have some practical knowledge of English and social

issues. Moreover, we need knowledge and attitude to understand

government's legal acts and international legal instrument

including: treaties, conventions, protocols, etc.

This little article strives to push the government to put more

attention to education; quality education. In the event such the

aspiration is achieved, the government will have a lot of

assistants and volunteer advisors.

For the purpose for getting more knowledge on citizenship, you

are humbly requested to view more international instruments,

tabulated hereunder:

"Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia, adopted by the

Constitutional Assembly in Phnom Penh on September 21, 1993 at

its 2 nd Plenary Session. Amendments passed 4 th March 1999 ."

Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the

Cambodia Conflict" (Paris, 23 October 1991).

"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights"

"Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or

Degrading Treatment or Punishment," Adopted by the General

Assembly resolution 39/46 of December 10, 1984 ."

"Convention on The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

Against Women (1979)".

"Convention on the Rights of the Child, Adopted the General

Assembly resolution 44/25 of November 20, 1989 ".

"International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,

Adopted by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of December

16, 1966 ".

"The Charter of the United Nations, Done at the city of San

Francisco the twenty-sixth day of June, one thousand nine

hundred and forty-five".

"The International Bill of Human Rights, adopted by General

Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of December 10, 1948 ."

And for our aspirations for "citizenship", you are obliged to

learn about your own powers.

"Great power comes from great responsibility" (extracted from a

movie titled SPIDER MAN).

About the author:

Final year student of law. Transltor for Pyramid Co.Ltd.