10 Dec 2024 | Updated 13 Dec 2024
Human rights. While surely not something that can be compartmentalised into one day, it is a day of necessary interlude and reflection amidst our fast-paced, misinformative cultural zeitgeist. Despite our strides as a human race, we witness on a near daily-basis the human rights that are being forgone and forgotten. The day serves to remind us that the fight for rights is not a battle won just yet.
Our rights, our future, right now
Khalsa Aid fights for our rights, our future, right now - the theme of Human Rights Day 2024. Inspiring generation after generation to recognise the human race as one, we acknowledge the relevance of our long-term mission and wish to do more.
Celebrating 25 years of Khalsa Aid this year, we take this opportunity to highlight the pivotal work completed throughout our journey to uphold human rights around the world.
The right to clean water
According to the UN, over two billion people are suffering and consequently displaced by severe water scarcity. While improvements have been made within the last twenty years - yielding an increase of 12% of the global population accessing safely managed water since 2000 - Khalsa Aid strategy asserts what can be done right now to ensure those remaining are accounted for.
Khalsa Aid’s pivotal Water4Africa project has provided over 150 solar-powered water sources across Sub-Saharan Africa, benefitting over 185,300 people daily with sustainably-sourced, clean water. In every emergency deployment, Khalsa Aid prioritises clean water distribution and water filtration equipment to combat water contamination as a result of collapsing environments and poor hygiene in dire circumstances.
The right to shelter
150 million people globally are estimated to be homeless. Khalsa Aid provides shelter through various short-term and long-term initiatives aimed at supporting displaced and vulnerable populations.
Our developmental Focus Panjab project benefits financially-disadvantaged households, 1984-affected families and bedridden individuals with reconstructed, permanent shelter - providing over 200 homes across the Panjab region to date.
Langar Aid, our flagship UK project, concerns itself deeply with rehabilitation, and providing a warm space for rough-sleepers in collaboration with the Coventry City Council. In the recent event of SWEP activation in the UK, Langar Aid accommodated for up to 50 people seeking shelter from the dangerously cold weather sweeping the nation.
The right to education
Despite decades of progress towards the accessibility of education, 250 million children and young people across the globe are still out of school - unafforded the privilege to choose.
The Back to School project branched out of Khalsa Aid’s refugee relief carried out in Torbali, 2017, and now operates in Iraq to revitalise the joy of learning, and support hundreds of children with essential educational resources.
Khalsa Aid sponsors over 1,500 underprivileged children in Panjab under its Focus Panjab project, providing a comprehensive, quality education through the funded Dashmesh Public School and further examination support.
A simple menstrual health and hygiene education afforded to most is unfortunately a novelty to those in resource-poor countries. A reported 34% lower secondary-age and 47% higher secondary-age female students are out of school, compounded by a lack of education and gender intersects. With seemingly no other choice, these girls face early marriage, or an early entry into the workforce. The Pad the Path project delivers an interactive, accessible menstrual health and hygiene workshop to over 2,300 young girls in Sub-Saharan Africa, removing an obstacle to growth and empowerment.
The right to a healthy environment
In 2022, the UN adopted the right to a healthy environment in a historic move to counter the fast environmental degradation of the globe.
Khalsa Aid facilitates multiple biodiversity conservation projects across the globe, namely in Australia, India, Iraq and Sub-Saharan Africa. Our dedication to the planet is reflected in our commitment to avoiding single-use plastic products, opting for solar energy, and emphasizing sustainable, eco-friendly solutions—especially through the menstrual products offered in our Pad the Path project.
Our burgeoning Plant the Path project sets out to plant trees across Sub-Saharan Africa to increase food harvest, provide shade during more lethal weather climates and improve flood prevention in villages and schools. In the same vein, Focus Panjab’s Biodiversity Conservation project has cultivated three mini forests across the state - in turn improving quality of life and providing sources of income to the unprivileged.
The right to dignity and respect
In the spirit of compassion, all human beings are to be equal in dignity, choice and respect. Khalsa Aid continues to embolden the people we support, regardless of their circumstance, with educational resource, health and social care, and, simply, agency.
We work closely with the persecuted Yezidi community across multiple IDP camps in Northern Iraq. At the hands of ISIS, young girls and women of the minority-religion Yezidism were subject to violent persecution through capture, systematic rape, torture and slavery. Through the pivotal Project Dignity, Khalsa Aid has worked to empower and revitalise the Yezidi identity with transport provision, individual budgets, and a choice of clothing.
Pad the Path workshops venture to exterminate ideologies that perpetuate gender inequality and stigmas surrounding menstruation. The project has the power to break down barriers that hinder young women from accessing nearby growth opportunities, and enables the reclamation of their dignity.
Onwards
As we enter the new year, it is pertinent that the human race ventures forth with compassion towards one another. As human beings, it is our duty to recognise our rights and acknowledge those less fortunate who lack such privileges. This Human Rights Day, we encourage you to educate, reflect, engage and inspire your fellow human beings - all for our rights, our future, right now.
Khalsa Aid have extended Human Rights Day into Human Rights Week on our main social channels. Find inspiration on our Instagram account throughout the week, following the hashtag #KAHumanRightsWeek.