1. As declared under Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), all human beings are born free and equal. They should therefore aspire to act within a spirit of brotherhood. This right is conferred upon Hindus.
2. As well as inalienable rights, they also have conferred upon them inalienable duties to each other, as individuals and members of society. Whilst ethnic, social, and national identities exist, and have the right to do so, human beings are eventually all members of one global community, the samaj. This applies to Hindus.
3. The Hindu samaj, as the largest remaining repository following Dharma, are under an obligation to set the standard and example to follow, and with which to enhance existing norms of international human rights.
Hindus are entitled to live free from laws which disable their human and civil rights, on grounds of race, colour, gender, language, political persuasion, religion, national or social origin, economic position, or other status declared under Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Article 26 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966), Articles 1 and 24 of the American Convention on Human Rights (1969), and Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1981). As with all individuals, there should be no interference with entitlement to rights and liberties conferred by international human rights, and its application under national law. Hindus are therefore equal before the law, and cannot be disabled thereof just because they are Hindus.
1. Hindus have, as do all individuals, the right to freedom of conscience, liberty of belief, freedom of religious expression, and the freedom to manifest their beliefs, as declared in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), Articles 18, 20 and 27 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966), Article 12 of the American Convention on Human Rights (1969) and Article 8 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (1981).
2. Hindus have the right of freedom of expression, freedom to receive and disseminate information, and freedom of thought. They also have the right for freedom for peaceable assembly and right of association. As declared in Article 16 of the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), Article 19 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966), Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights (1969), and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (1981), every individual has Hindus thus should also benefit from these rights.
3. It is commonly accepted that Hindus convert to other beliefs. Nevertheless, individuals have the right to be exempt from coercion, which impedes their freedom to adopt Hindu Dharma if that is the belief of their choice, by virtue of Article 18 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966).
4. Where Hindus exist as minorities, they like other ethnic, religious, linguistic, or recognisable social groups, have the right to community, their own culture, language, and to profess and practice their Dharma, as declared in Article 27 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966).
5. The only limitations should be where such expression is prescribed by law as necessary to ensure public safety, public order, social health and morals, respect for others, and to protect the inalienable rights and freedoms of other members of society, thus breaking the fundamental principles of the Charter.
1. Hindus have the right to reside free from any exclusions which restrict, exclude or nullify their enjoyment, exercise and participation on an equal footing with other communities, which impairs their fundamental freedom in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life, in what is recognised internationally as racial discrimination. This is in accordance with Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), Article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966), Article 26 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966), Article 1 of the American Convention on Human Rights (1969), and Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (1981).
2. Hindus have the inalienable right to life, right to existence, and inviolable as persons under national and international law, as described in Article 6 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966), and Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (1981).
3. Hindus have the right to be exempt from torture, cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment and punishment, as described in Article 7 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966). Under the same Convention, Hindus are entitled to be free from arbitrary or unlawful interference and defamation on character via Article 17, and equality before the courts an tribunals via Article 14.
4. Hindus have the right to live free from endangerment from organisations and propaganda, whose sole purpose is to justify and to promote racial and ethnic hatred and discrimination, including Hinduphobia. This is in accordance with Article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966).
5. Hindus have the right to live free from any oppression, conditions causing their physical violation in whole or in part, segregation, discrimination and inhuman treatment known as apartheid, as described under Article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966), Article 1 of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1973).
6. Hindus have the right to live free form servitude, being held as slaves, or being traded as human commodities in any form of slave trade, as described under Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Article 4 of the European Convention of Human Rights (1950), Article 8 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966), Article 6 of the American Convention on Human Rights (1969), and Articles 4 and 19 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (1981).
7. Hindus have the right to be protected and reside free from any form of mass killing, which is aimed to destroy Hindus, because they are Hindus, in whole or in part, in the internationally recognised crime of genocide, as described in Articles I to IV of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948).
8. That Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu propaganda, designed to bring about the denigration, physical destruction, or otherwise violation of Hindu human rights, be recognised as a hate crime, and to be in contradiction and full abrogation of the fundamental principles of international law and human rights, as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966), the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966), and the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1973), the American Convention on Human Rights (1969), the African Charter on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights (1981).
1. In the case of violation of Hindu human rights, in whatever form, legal and other recourse be sought initially through the internal mechanisms provided under domestic jurisdiction. This may include the justice system, advice and aid from political representatives and those in political office, and via the media.
2. In the event of redress at the domestic local and national level being denied, absent, or otherwise unavailable, recourse is to be sought at the global level, through the appropriate organisations and international organs designed to effect this purpose.
3. Parallel to the above, and in like manner, the Hindu community needs to be educated as to its entitlement of human rights under international law. In like manner, the wider society needs to educated into the exact nature of Hindu human rights abuses. This is to be done at national and international level, via lobbying, cultural awareness, dialogue with political office holders and the media, dialogue with other communities, and other forms of information dissemination.
In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this Charter.