Human Rights

Section 1

After completing this section students should be able to:

1. Explain the meaning of human rights, dignity, binding, covenant and taking a reservation.

2. Identify the rights included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

3. Describe policies of Belarusian government in relation to international human rights agreements.

4. Identify and analyze examples of human rights violations in Belarus and elsewhere in the world.

“The people’s good is the highest law”

Cicero

Lead-in

1. What rights are guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

2. Can you think of examples of times in Belarusian and world history when specific rights have been violated? How does the violation illustrate treatment of people as though they are not human beings?

3. Why does dignity matter so much to us? Can you recall times in your childhood when you may have felt your dignity was violated? How does the power of such memories demonstrate the innate need for dignity?

Reading

Task 1. Are these statements true or false? Give arguments to support your choice.

1. Human rights are the rights all people have simply because they are human beings.

2. Government can violate human rights.

3. We have our human rights from the moment we are born until the moment we die.

4. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights applies to all countries in the world.

5. The UDHR is a binding treaty.

6. Belarus has adopted most international human rights treaties.

7. Human rights cannot become law.

Task 2. Read the text then explain the words in bold and suggest synonyms for the highlighted words.

Human Rights

Human rights are the rights all people have simply because they are human beings. To advocate human rights is to demand that the dignity of all people be respected. Both government and private individuals can violate human rights. Human rights apply in people's homes, schools, and workplaces. In fact they apply everywhere. We have our human rights from the moment we are born until the moment we die.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a statement of basic human rights and standards for government that has been agreed to by almost every country in the world. First written and adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1948 under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt, it proclaims that all people have the right to liberty, education, political and religious freedom, and economic well-being. The Declaration also bans torture and says that all people have the right to participate in their government process. Today these rights are generally promoted, recognized, and observed by countries that belong to the UN.

The UDHR is not a binding treaty. However, the UN has established a system of international treaties and other legal mechanisms to enforce human rights. These include the following major treaties:

• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects the freedoms of speech, religion, and press and the right to participate in government.

• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides for the right to adequate education, food, housing, health care, protection of property, and employment in safe conditions at an adequate salary.

• The Convention on the Rights of the Child spells out basic human rights to which children everywhere are entitled, including the right to education and to be free from exploitation.

Some believe the right to a clean environment should be added to the Covenants, while others call for a right to economic development for poor countries. Belarus has signed and ratified the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and has signed but not ratified both the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

There are other important human rights treaties covering specific areas of human rights, including genocide and discrimination against women. This is done by announcing that a country is taking reservations, which is a legal way of making a provision less enforceable than it might otherwise be ("take a reservation" means that a country could reserve its position (for further negotiation/discussion) on the parts of the document with which they don't fully agree). The government gives a number of reasons for these reservations, including the fact that the treaty would take away the power of individual states to make law under the system of federalism, as well as the belief that other countries should not impose their views on the states. Those who advocate ratification argue that states could still decide how to implement treaties.

Belarus has adhered to most international human rights and refugee law treaties¹: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Refugee Convention, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Human rights are standards that all countries can use when writing laws. Sometimes human rights become law in a country when the government signs an international treaty guaranteeing such rights. Human rights also can become law if they are included in a constitution or if the legislature of a country passes laws protecting or guaranteeing these rights. Even though they may not refer to them as "human rights," there are many provisions that protect human rights (Constitution, state and local laws).

Many of the human rights documents—including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—mention cultural rights, and it is widely accepted that all people have a right to their own culture. But what does this right to culture mean when culture comes into conflict with other universally accepted human rights? For example, the practice of female infanticide, or the killing of female babies, might be accepted in one culture, but the world community condemns it as a violation of a human right, the right to life. So cultural rights, like many other rights, are not absolute.

Task 3. Find English equivalents for the words in the text:

• достоинство, гордость; чувство собственного достоинства

• пытка

• обязывающий договор

• разъяснять, растолковывать

• соглашение; пакт; международный договор политического значения

• обязывать; требовать

• придерживаться, соблюдать; присоединяться

• беженец

• положение, условие; постановление

• детоубийство

• осуждать; приговаривать, выносить приговор

Task 4. What are the antonyms?

advocate violate adopt

liberty to ban binding treaty

to enforce to condemn absolute

Task 5. Answer the questions:

1. When was the UDHR adopted?

2. Who leaded the creation of the UDHR?

3. What kind of agreement is the UDHR?

4. What are the major international treaties?

5. What treaties has Belarus adhered to?

6. What does taking a reservation mean? ("take a reservation" means that a country could reserve its position (for further negotiation/discussion) on the parts of the document with which they don't fully agree)

7. How do different countries apply human rights? Are there any contradictions?

Task 6. Write (present) the main idea of the text using the highlighted words.

Follow-up

You have been selected to join a group of space pioneers who will establish a colony on a distant planet. In order to create the best possible society, you and your group decide to make a list of the human rights that all space colonists should have.

1. List the three most important human rights that you believe should be guaranteed to all colonists.

2. Compare your list with those of other group members. Explain reasons for your selections.

3. Why do you think some of the rights you listed are more important than others?

4. Do any of the rights you listed conflict with one another? If so, which ones? Why?

5. Compare your list of rights with the rights listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Which ones did you include? Which ones did you not include?

6. Are all the human rights you listed also legal rights? When does a human right become a legal right?

Section 2: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS

After completing this section students should be able to:

1. Knowledge of the important human rights documents of the past.

2. Knowledge of the events that led to the creation of these documents.

3. Knowledge and understanding of the human rights tradition and the place of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in that legacy.

Lead in

1. Define human rights.

2. Why human rights are considered “universal”?

3. What is the name of the document that lists the 30 human rights?

4. What world situation preceded and led to the creation and establishment of the United Nations?

5. What are the major events in history that mark human rights milestones?

Watch a film and check your answer to the questions.

Reading

Task 1. Read the text then explain the words in bold and suggest synonyms for the highlighted words.

The subject of human rights did not begin with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, but evolved from a tradition that stretches back more than 2,500 years.

THE CYRUS CYLINDER (539 B.C.)

In 539 B.C., the armies of Cyrus the Great, the first king of ancient Persia, conquered the city of Babylon. But it was his next actions that marked a major advance for Man. He freed the slaves, declared that all people had the right to choose their own religion, and established racial equality. These and other decrees were recorded on a baked-clay cylinder in the Akkadian language with cuneiform script.

Known today as the Cyrus Cylinder, this ancient record has now been recognized as the world’s first charter of human rights. It is translated into all six official languages of the United Nations and its provisions parallel the first four articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

THE SPREAD OF HUMAN RIGHTS

From Babylon, the idea of human rights spread quickly to India, Greece and eventually Rome. There the concept of “natural law” arose, in observation of the fact that people tended to follow certain unwritten laws in the course of life, and Roman law was based on rational ideas derived from the nature of things.

Documents asserting individual rights, such as the Magna Carta (1215), the Petition of Right (1628), the US Constitution (1787), the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), and the US Bill of Rights (1791) are the written precursors to many of today’s human rights documents.

THE MAGNA CARTA (1215)

The Magna Carta, or “Great Charter,” was arguably the most significant early influence on the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today in the English-speaking world.

In 1215, after King John of England violated a number of ancient laws and customs by which England had been governed, his subjects forced him to sign the Magna Carta, which enumerates what later came to be thought of as human rights. Among them was the right of the church to be free from governmental interference, the rights of all free citizens to own and inherit property and to be protected from excessive taxes. It established the right of widows who owned property to choose not to remarry, and established principles of due process and equality before the law. It also contained provisions forbidding bribery and official misconduct.

Widely viewed as one of the most important legal documents in the development of modern democracy, the Magna Carta was a crucial turning point in the struggle to establish freedom.

PETITION OF RIGHT (1628)

The next recorded milestone in the development of human rights was the Petition of Right, produced in 1628 by the English Parliament and sent to Charles I as a statement of civil liberties. Refusal by Parliament to finance the king’s unpopular foreign policy had caused his government to exact forced loans and to quarter troops in subjects’ houses as an economy measure. Arbitrary arrest and imprisonment for opposing these policies had produced in Parliament a violent hostility to Charles and to George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham. The Petition of Right, initiated by Sir Edward Coke, was based upon earlier statutes and charters and asserted four principles: (1) No taxes may be levied without consent of Parliament, (2) No subject may be imprisoned without cause shown (reaffirmation of the right of habeas corpus), (3) No soldiers may be quartered upon the citizenry, and (4) Martial law may not be used in time of peace.

UNITED STATES DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (1776)

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, approved the Declaration of Independence. Its primary author, Thomas Jefferson, wrote the Declaration as a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and as a statement announcing that the thirteen American Colonies were no longer a part of the British Empire. Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms. It was initially published as a printed broadsheet that was widely distributed and read to the public.

Philosophically, the Declaration stressed two themes: individual rights and the right of revolution. These ideas became widely held by Americans and spread internationally as well, influencing in particular the French Revolution.

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (1787) AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS (1791)

Written during the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia, the Constitution of the United States is the fundamental law of the US federal system of government and the landmark document of the Western world. It is the oldest written national constitution in use and defines the principal organs of government and their jurisdictions and the basic rights of citizens.

The first ten amendments to the Constitution—the Bill of Rights—came into effect on December 15, 1791, limiting the powers of the federal government of the United States and protecting the rights of all citizens, residents and visitors in American territory.

The Bill of Rights protects freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to keep and bear arms, the freedom of assembly and the freedom to petition. It also prohibits unreasonable search and seizure, cruel and unusual punishment and compelled self-incrimination. Among the legal protections it affords, the Bill of Rights prohibits Congress from making any law respecting establishment of religion and prohibits the federal government from depriving any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. In federal criminal cases it requires indictment by a grand jury for any capital offense, or infamous crime, guarantees a speedy public trial with an impartial jury in the district in which the crime occurred, and prohibits double jeopardy.

DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND OF THE CITIZEN (1789)

In 1789 the people of France overthrew their monarchy and established the first French Republic. Just six weeks after the storming of the Bastille, and barely three weeks after the abolition of feudalism, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was adopted by the National Constituent Assembly as the first step toward writing a constitution for the Republic of France.

The Declaration proclaims that all citizens are to be guaranteed the rights of “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.” It argues that the need for law derives from the fact that “…the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those borders which assure other members of the society the enjoyment of these same rights.” Thus, the Declaration sees law as an “expression of the general will,” intended to promote this equality of rights and to forbid “only actions harmful to the society.”

THE FIRST GENEVA CONVENTION (1864)

In 1864, sixteen European countries and several American states attended a conference in Geneva, at the invitation of the Swiss Federal Council, on the initiative of the Geneva Committee. The diplomatic conference was held for the purpose of adopting a convention for the treatment of wounded soldiers in combat.

The main principles laid down in the Convention and maintained by the later Geneva Conventions provided for the obligation to extend care without discrimination to wounded and sick military personnel and respect for and marking of medical personnel transports and equipment with the distinctive sign of the red cross on a white background.

THE UNITED NATIONS (1945)

World War II had raged from 1939 to 1945, and as the end drew near, cities throughout Europe and Asia lay in smoldering ruins. Millions of people were dead, millions more were homeless or starving. Russian forces were closing in on the remnants of German resistance in Germany’s bombed-out capital of Berlin. In the Pacific, US Marines were still battling entrenched Japanese forces on such islands as Okinawa.

In April 1945, delegates from 50 countries met in San Francisco full of optimism and hope. The goal of the United Nations Conference on International Organization was to fashion an international body to promote peace and prevent future wars. The ideals of the organization were stated in the preamble to its proposed charter: “We the peoples of the United Nations are determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind.”

The charter of the new United Nations organization went into effect on October 24, 1945, a date that is celebrated each year as United Nations Day.

THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1948)

By 1948, the United Nations’ new Human Rights Commission had captured the world’s attention. Under the dynamic chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt—President Franklin Roosevelt’s widow, a human rights champion in her own right and the United States delegate to the UN—the Commission set out to draft the document that became the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Roosevelt, credited with its inspiration, referred to the Declaration as the international Magna Carta for all mankind. It was adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948.

In its preamble and in Article 1, the Declaration unequivocally proclaims the inherent rights of all human beings: “Disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people … All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

The Member States of the United Nations pledged to work together to promote the 30 articles of human rights that, for the first time in history, had been assembled and codified into a single document. In consequence, many of these rights, in various forms, are today part of the constitutional laws of democratic nations.

Task 1. Find English equivalents for the words in the text:

• растянуться

• завоевывать

• терракота

• предшественник; предвестник

• взяточничество

• ключевое событие, веха

• сбор налогов

• конфискация, наложение ареста, взятие силой

• вынужденное самоинкреминирование

• официальное обвинение, обвинительный акт

• беспристрастный, справедливый

• вторичное привлечение к уголовной ответственности за одно и то же преступление

• угнетение; притеснение; гнет

• тление

• остаток

• недвусмысленно, ясно, определённо

• грубое нарушение закона

• наступление

Task 2. Answer the questions:

1. What was the world’s first recorded charter of human rights?

2. Why is the Magna Carta cited as one of the most important legal documents in history?

3. What is meant by the term “natural law” and how does this relate to the subject of human rights?

4. What was the original purpose for forming the United Nations?

Task 3. Name the main events that led to the creation of the important human rights documents of the past.

Section 3. INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

After completing this section students should be able to:

1. Know the most important international human rights laws.

2. 3 dimensions of human rights

3. Understand how international human rights law and human rights bodies are organized and their relationships.

Lead in

Task 1. Answer the questions:

1. What are Human Rights?

2. Who is responsible for protecting them?

3. Do Human Rights really apply to all people?

4. What makes up the body of international human rights law and how do these enforce human rights?

Task 2. Watch a film and make notes under the following headlines:

• International Bill of Human Rights

• Subsequent Human Rights Documents

• 3 dimensions of human rights

• The Human Right Council

• Human Right Enforcement System

• NGOs

• 2 controversial issues

Task 3. Compare your notes with a partner and present the summary of the film.

Reading

Task 1. Read the text then explain the words in bold and suggest synonyms for the highlighted words.

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." This is what it says in the very first Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The idea of Human Rights is one of the most important fundaments of human co-existence. At the same time human rights are subject to fierce debates and Human Rights violations are common all over the world.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an ideal standard held in common by nations around the world, but it bears no force of law. Thus, from 1948 to 1966 the UN Human Rights Commission’s main task was to create a body of international human rights law based on the Declaration, to establish the mechanisms needed to enforce its implementation and use.

INTERNATIONAL BILL OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The Human Rights Commission produced two major documents: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Both became international law in 1976. Together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, these two Covenants comprise what is known as the International Bill of Human Rights.

The ICCPR focuses on issues such as the right to life, freedom of speech, religion and voting. The ICESCR focuses on food, education, health and shelter. Both Covenants proclaim these Rights for all people and forbid discrimination.

Article 26 of the ICCPR established a Human Rights Committee of the United Nations. Composed of 18 human rights experts, the Committee is responsible for ensuring that each signatory to the ICCPR complies with its terms. The Committee examines reports submitted by countries every five years to ensure they are in compliance with the Covenant and issues findings on a country’s performance.

Many countries that ratified the ICCPR also agreed that the Human Rights Committee may investigate allegations by individuals and organizations that the State has violated their rights. Before appealing to the Committee, the complainant must exhaust all legal recourse in the courts of that country. After an investigation, the Committee publishes the results. These findings have great force. If the Committee upholds the allegations, the State must take measures to remedy the abuse.

SUBSEQUENT HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTS

In addition to the Covenants of the International Bill of Human Rights, the United Nations has adopted more than 20 principal treaties further elaborating human rights. These include conventions to prevent and prohibit specific abuses such as torture and genocide and to protect specific vulnerable populations such as refugees (Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951), women (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979), and children (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989). Other conventions cover racial discrimination, prevention of genocide, political rights of women, prohibition of slavery and torture.

Each of these treaties has established a committee of experts to monitor implementation of the treaty provisions by its States Parties.

THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

In the early 2000s, the United Nation’s Human Rights Commission came under increasing criticism for failing to uphold human rights standards across the world, in part because its membership had expanded to include many States widely regarded as major human rights violators. As a result, in March 2006 the UN Human Rights Council replaced the Commission. An intergovernmental body with membership comprised of 47 States, the Human Rights Council has the task of promoting and protecting human rights internationally. Its mechanisms to forward these ends include a Universal Periodic Review which assesses situations in all 192 UN Member States, an Advisory Committee which provides expertise on human rights issues, and a Complaints Procedure for individuals and organizations to bring complaints of human rights violations to the attention of the Council.

The Council also continues to work closely with the UN Special Procedures established by the former Commission on Human Rights and now assumed by the Council. Special Procedures is the general name given to individuals or working groups appointed to examine, monitor, advise and publicly report on either human rights situations in specific countries, known as country mandates, or on major phenomena of human rights violations that span many countries, known as thematic mandates. Currently there are 29 thematic and nine country mandates. Called variously “Special Rapporteur,” “Special Representative to the Secretary-General” or “Independent Expert,” these mandate holders report to the Human Rights Council on their findings and recommendations. They are sometimes the only voice that alerts the international community to certain human rights issues.

EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS BODIES

Translated into more than 300 languages, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the foundation of all modern human rights laws and covenants. Among such charters is the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Convention was adopted in 1953 by the Council of Europe, comprised of 47 Member Nations which are home to some 800 million citizens. The Council was formed in the aftermath of World War II to strengthen and promote democracy and the rule of law.

The Convention is enforced by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Any person or organization whose rights have been violated by a Member State of the Council of Europe may seek recourse from the European Court. First, however, the complainant must exhaust all recourse in the courts of that country.

Another organization created to ensure democratic and fair government is the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), composed of 56 participating states including the United States and Canada. In the event of Member States violating human rights, the OSCE hears complaints from human rights organizations and requires a defense from the governments accused of improper conduct. OSCE was formed in 1975 with the signing of the Helsinki Accords, an international declaration drafted as an attempt to improve relations between the Communist Bloc and the West.

HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS FOR THE AMERICAS, AFRICA AND ASIA

In the Americas, Africa and Asia, regional documents for the protection and promotion of human rights extend the International Bill of Human Rights. The American Convention on Human Rights pertains to the inter-American states— the Americas—and was entered into force in 1978. African States have created their own Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1981) and Muslim states have created the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (1990).

The Asian Human Rights Charter (1986) was created by the Asian Human Rights Commission, founded that year by a group of jurists and human rights activists in Hong Kong. The Charter is described as a “people’s charter,” because no governmental charter has been issued to date.

HUMAN RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM

Human rights provisions are written into national laws in many countries. The existence, standard and level of enforcement of such laws vary widely, however, among nations. In an attempt to rectify this, continental and international enforcement bodies were created.

European Court on Human Rights

This court, located in Strasbourg, France, enforces the European Convention on Human Rights. Any person or organization whose rights have been violated by a Council of Europe Member State may seek recourse from the European Court, after exhausting all recourse in the courts of their country.