Human Rights and National Interest (Opinion)

By Zeeshan Chandi

History has shown that the national interest has always been given priority over human rights in the world. The world’s great powers always have been behind the atrocities against human beings in the world. In just one hundred years, millions of people have died just to show their strength and to gain the upper hand over their rivals. All wars in the world are blamed on the United States, but many countries, such as Russia, China, India, Israel, Britain and Germany, are equally complicit in human rights abuses.

Germany committed genocide against Jews. The United States killed millions of innocent people in Japan to show its power to the world. Soviet- Russia- killed millions of people in Europe. China killing the religious and ethnic minorities. India killed millions of innocent people in Kashmir and still Kashmir is under siege. Humanity is ashamed to see these events of history, how the massacre of innocents has always been going on.

The tragedy is that those who deprive human beings of their rights are the protector of their rights. Given the current state of the world, it seems that there are only a few countries that are ruling the world. These countries have always given priority to their national interests and human rights have remained in name only. The question is that, if human rights were not to be enforced, then why they have been created? And the world’s largest organisations always have been failed to enforce human rights.

Many Innocent people have been killed for racism in America. Saudi Arabia lacks basic rights such as freedom of expression. A journalist is assassinated and the world continues to make trade deals with Saudi Arabia. Iraq was completely destroyed and peace has not been possible there to this day. In Myanmar, Rohingya Muslims were brutally killed and their homes burned.

In Syria, millions were killed and displaced due to the proxy war between the USA and Russia, and Iran and Saudi Arabia. A missile is fired at a school bus in Yemen, killing more than 100 children. Millions have been killed in sectarian hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Thousands of people have been killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan due to US-backed terrorists-Mujahideen- as Hillary Clinton said “We created them against USSR and left after winning against USSR”. China is eradicating minorities in its own country and putting them into torcher cells. India has been eliminating the minorities through its own terrorist organisations and massacred millions of people in Kashmir.

The annual report released by human rights organisations highlights the atrocities committed by India. All of these countries are directly or indirectly linked to various terrorist organisations. Who can strike anywhere in the world, anytime for their own benefit. Despite all this, there is no restriction on any country to stop human rights violations and none of them is being asked. Human rights are not practical in international relations. Morgenthau believed that “morality required following the national interest because national survival was a moral duty for a nation.

A nation that would ‘subordinate’ the national interest to some other standard is unworthy of a nation great in human civilization.” He described very well that national interest should be first priority for the survival of a nation. It’s not about any one country, it’s about the whole world that they don’t care about human rights when it comes to their national interest and security. We take the example of Israel, how the Jews occupied Palestine.

According to Human Rights Watch, Israel is committing crimes “against humanity of apartheid and persecution” against Palestinians. In the case of Palestine, the whole world recognises that Israel has occupied it illegally, but no one can do anything against Israel. The world’s major powers are backing Israel. This is because Israel has modern weapons and she is one of the best economies in the world. According to the UN report “between 2008 and 2021, the conflict has killed 23 Palestinians for each Israeli.” Take the example of India in the same way that despite killing millions of people, India is like a favourite child at home in the world. India suppresses the Kashmir issue by calling it an internal matter because India is being supported by powers like France, Britain and the United States.

China commits genocide against Muslim minorities but Pakistan remained silent because Pakistan is economically dependent on China. It is part of Pakistan’s foreign policy and has seen more national interest than human rights. In my view, human rights and the national interest are two opposites. Because looking at history and the current situation, no one can deny that human rights have been trampled on in the name of national interest.

Human rights organisations are created only to suppress weak and developing countries. Human rights have always been violated and their violations have increased over time. If we read the history of all the great powers of the world today, how they have gained power by massacring, fighting wars and killing millions of innocent people.