Who is responsible?

States – national governments – bear the primary responsibility for making human rights a reality. Governments must respect peoples' rights – they must not violate these rights. They must protect peoples' rights – ensuring that other people or bodies do not abuse these rights. And they must fulfill peoples' rights, making them a reality in practice.

Governments have widely differing resources. International law allows for the fact that making economic, social and cultural rights a reality can only be achieved progressively over time. However, the duty of governments to respect and protect these rights and to ensure freedom from discrimination is immediate. Lack of resources is no excuse.

Although governments may need time to realize economic, social and cultural rights, this does not mean they can do nothing – they have to take steps towards fulfilling them. As an initial step, they must prioritize "minimum core obligations" – minimum essential levels of each of the rights. Under the right to education, for example, core obligations include the right to free primary education.

Governments must not discriminate in their laws, policies or practices and must prioritize the most vulnerable when allocating resources. States also have obligations when they act beyond their borders to respect, protect and fulfill economic, social and cultural rights. These obligations extend to action they take through intergovernmental organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

As stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "every organ of society" has human rights responsibilities. Corporations play an increasingly significant role globally in the realization or denial of human rights. Amnesty International is committed to holding businesses accountable where their actions result in human rights violations.

Despite international guarantees of these rights, across the world: 923 million people were suffering from chronic hunger. Hunger is often driven by human rights violations, as Amnesty International has documented in North Korea, Zimbabwe and elsewhere. The current world food crisis, which itself has been fuelled by human rights violations, has led to an additional 75 million people being chronically malnutritioned.

Over a billion people live in 'slums' or informal settlements, with one in every three city residents living in inadequate housing with no or few basic services. Their situation is worsened by a global epidemic of mass forced evictions.

Every minute, another woman dies because of problems related to pregnancy. For every woman who dies, 20 or more experience serious complications. Over 100 million children (more than half of whom are girls) do not have access even to primary education.

Vocabulary

1. Democracy – демократия.

2. Community – сообщество

3. Convention –конвенция, соглашение

4. Civil and Political Rights–гражданские и политические права

5. Xenophobia- ксенофобия, боязнь иностранцев

6. Creed – вера