May Social Justice Characterize the World!
World Day of Social Justice 2022 / February 20 / Article
May Social Justice Characterize the World!
Fr Dr M. D. Thomas
Director, Institute of Harmony and peace
Studies, New Delhi
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The 20th day of February is designated as ‘World Day of Social Justice’. The day is also called World Social Justice Equality Day. The United Nations General Assembly has decided to observe this day, approved it on 26 November 2007 and launched it in 2009.
The declaration recognizes the need to promote social justice. It includes
efforts to tackle issues, such as poverty, exclusion, gender inequality, unemployment, human rights and social protections. The
day guarantees fair outcomes for employment, social protection, social dialogue
and fundamental principles and rights, as well.
The celebration reflects on guaranteeing fair outcomes
for all through employment, social protection, social dialogue, fundamental
principles and rights at work. The declaration is also a step toward a commitment
for continuous social justice and fair globalization.
The pursuit of social justice by the United Nations is
part of their global mission to promote social development and human dignity.
In fact, the adoption of the declaration on social justice for a fair globalization
by the International Labour Organization is just one example of many actions of
the commitment to social justice by the system of United Nations.
According to the former Secretary General of the United
Nations, Ban Ki-moon, “the gap between the poorest and the wealthiest around
the world is wide and growing. This situation is not only between countries but
within them, including many of the most prosperous. The World Day of Social
Justice is observed to highlight the power of global solidarity to advance
opportunity for all”.
There are many social justice issues in the world
today. Gender inequality, systemic racism and unemployment are just a few. World
Day of Social Justice recognizes the need to promote efforts to tackle issues,
such as discrimination, poverty, gender equity and access to justice for all. The
purpose of the day is to focus on the plight of social injustice throughout the
world and to press for improvements and solutions.
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. The day is also pledged to promote
equitable distribution of income and greater access to resources through equity
and equality for all. Every year the United Nations hosts an event to
celebrate this day and the people that helped make it what it is.
Teachers and parents alike also use this day to teach
the young children in this world about the ideologies of social injustice and
why it is important. It is in view of cautioning the next generation not to make
the same mistake, like the ones before, so that we can all live a happy, safe,
fulfilling life without fear.
Over the
recent years, the idea of social injustice has been classified into five
different components: the dignity of the human being, primacy of the common
good, reciprocal rights and responsibilities, the dignity of workers and rights
for workers, and last but not least, fundamental options for the poor and the
vulnerable. These concepts are at the heart of the United Nations as it pushes
for human dignity and equality for all.
World
Social Justice Day is celebrated to raise a voice against social injustice and
to bring the various communities internationally together to eliminate poverty,
gender and physical discrimination, illiteracy and religious discrimination to
make a socially integrated society. Removing the barriers regarding
gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability is the purpose of
observing the day.
The year 2021 focused on efforts by the international
community to search for solutions to achieve sustainable development, poverty
eradication, the promotion of full employment and decent work, universal social
protection, gender equality and access to social well-being and justice for
all.
· In the words of Frederick Douglass, “Where justice is
denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails and where any one
class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob
and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe”. Further, “There
may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never
be a time when we fail to protest”, affirms Elie Weasel.
· Leigh Bardugo says, “Sometimes, the only way to get justice is to take it for yourself”. Marian Wright Edelman suggests the right way out, when he states “the challenge of social justice is to evoke a sense of community that we need to make our nation a better place, just as we make it a safer place’.
Finally, ‘justice’ means ‘paying
everyone his or her due’. It is the principle that people receive that which
they deserve. Justice is fairness in the way people are treated. Justice is
truth. Justice would mean refraining from partial behaviour. Justice is ethics.
God does not discriminate, but gives a fair deal to everyone. The humans have
to learn to give everyone a fair deal, too. One requires being fair and just,
in view of being spiritual, as well.
· On the occasion of the World Day of Social Justice, all efforts are to be made to ensure that fellow citizens in India and in the world society, in view of measuring out a fair deal with one and all. Let our society be characterized by social justice, in view of a human and divine feel!
In
special, the unfortunate sisters and brothers in the society, who are denied
social justice, are to be reached out with a fair deal. May social justice
characterize the human world! May thus there be a better tomorrow, in our country
and in the society at large!
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The author is Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi, and has been committed to interfaith relations, national integration and social harmony, for the past over 40 years. He contributes to the above cause through lectures, articles, video messages, conferences, social interactions, views at TV channels, and the like.
He
could be viewed, listened to and
contacted at the following portals – websites ‘www.mdthomas.in’ (p), ‘https://mdthomas.academia.edu’, ‘https://drmdthomas.blogspot.com’ and ‘www.ihpsindia.org’ (o); social media ‘https://www.youtube.com/InstituteofHarmonyandPeaceStudies’, ‘https://twitter.com/mdthomas53’, ‘https://www.facebook.com/mdthomas53’; email ‘mdthomas53@gmail.com’ and telephone 9810535378.
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