MUSCAT: Oman Human Rights Commission (OHRC) monitors the best human rights practices in the Sultanate of Oman, while ensuring sustainable development goals into national development strategies and plans, making them a major component of the long-term national development strategy (Oman Vision 2040). This vision is enhanced by a broad community in designing, implementing and evaluating plans.
This was revealed by officials at a symposium on the objectives of sustainable development and its relation with human rights on Wednesday.
The symposium is held in collaboration with the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development (FAPPD) in Jordan and the OHRC to highlight the importance of sustainable development, its objectives and results, which is reflected in the human well-being, which enhances human rights, preserves his dignity and guarantees him more care.
Dr Hamoud bin Ahmed al Yahya’ee, Chairman of the Services and Social Development Committee at the Majlis Ash'shura, member of OHRC, gave the opening address.
He said that the commission has organised the symposium to advance and defend human rights, raise awareness of related issues and shed light on relevant topics to make the mechanisms in place easier to use.
By saying that the core idea behind sustainable development is to meet the requirements of the present generation and ensure their well-being without compromising the capacity of future generations to do the same, he said governments are therefore anxious to consider their intrinsic responsibility to promote just economic and social progress, with their commitment to rational resource use, maintaining the integrity of environmental systems, safeguarding natural resources and making them renewable.
"Every international convention or agreement that Oman's Government ratifies is incorporated into Omani legislation. Development plans are more in line with justice and human rights concerns when the legal provisions of international covenants and accords are included into state law.
"It is understood that legality has a key function in regulating the movement of life, governing the relationships and rights of individuals, groups and institutions, and extending the range of contemplation," Al Yahya’ee added.
PROTECTION OF RIGHTS
When formulating plans and policies, care is taken to ensure that they contribute positively to the development and protection of rights.
In his paper 'Human Rights and Sustainable Development Goals,' Tomasito Villarin, member of Parliament, the Philippines, mentioned that human rights have high priority or they would not have the ability to compete with other powerful considerations such as national stability and security, individual and national self-determination, and national and global prosperity.
He also pointed out the equality between genders, referring to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The Social Covenant's list of rights includes non-discrimination and equality for women in economic and social life (Articles 2 and 3), freedom to work and opportunities to work (Article 4), fair pay and decent conditions of work (Article 7), the right to form trade unions and to strike (Article 8), social security (Article 9), special protections for mothers and children (Article 10), the right to adequate food, clothing and housing (Article 11), the right to basic health services (Article 12), the right to education (Article 13), and the right to participate in cultural life and scientific progress (Article 15).
Dr Rana Kharouf, Legal Adviser to the Arab-Asian Parliament for Human Rights, stated that the overlap between human rights and development in light of globalisation is a reality. No matter what, development and human rights cannot be divided because they are mutually dependent and complementary on a global and local scale.
She claimed that in the modern world, human freedom - which enables a person to exercise their choices and take part in making important decisions that have a lasting impact on their life - shares a vision with human rights.
It is necessary to make a variety of proposals, such as creating long-term national strategies to enhance development indicators, primarily represented by improvements in health, education, training, housing and the environment. To achieve sustainable development at all scales, she emphasised the significance of creating a government advisory council that works on creating a national strategy and recommending studies and proposals that would link the efforts of the public and private sectors.
She recommended that human rights be included in educational institutions in a way that allows the individual to formulate developmental policies and achieve sustainable human development actively.
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