European platform for policing and human rights

The European Platform for Policing and Human Rights is a platform for police services and NGOs supporting the Council of Europe Programme ‘Police and Human Rights beyond 2000’.

The platform provides a practical network for police services, NGOs and non-commercial bodies within the Council of Europe States with an interest and experience in the field of policing and human rights. It is also a way through which members can display a commitment to human rights standards in policing in a democratic society. Participants share best practices in the field of policing and human rights at a European level.

The most significant rights for European police officers are set out in Council of Europe instruments, which include the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Social Charter and the European Code of Police Ethics.

The European Convention on Human Rights 1950. In all Council of Europe member States, the governments are bound by the European Convention on Human Rights which regulates civil and political rights to life, prohibition of torture, right to a fair trial and freedom of assembly and expression.

The rights included with the Convention apply to all persons within a State’s jurisdiction, including members of the police service.

The European Social Charter. This convention was drafted to complement the European Convention on Human Rights and to protect social and economic rights, such as the right to work, the right to organize and bargain collectively, and the right to social security.

The European Code of Police Ethics 2001. The European Code of Police Ethics 2001 is a non-binding document that recommends a wide range of principles that governments of Council of Europe Member States should be guided by and implement in their internal legislation, practice and codes of conduct in relation to their police services. Articles 31-34 of the Code describe the rights of police personnel and are guided by the overall principle, that police in an open democratic society, should have the same rights as everyone else living within the jurisdiction of the State to the fullest possible extent. In particular, police staff should have the right to organize or participate in representative organizations, to receive an appropriate remuneration and social security, and to be provided with special health and security measures, taking into account the particular character of police work. If disciplinary measures are brought against police staff, they should be subject to review by an independent body or a court.

1. What is the purpose of creating the European Platform for Policing and Human Rights?

2. What instruments of the Council of Europe set out the most significant rights for European police officers?

3. What rights are regulated by the European Convention on Human Rights?

4. For what purpose was the European Social Charter drafted?

5. What status does the European Code of Police Ethics 2001 have?

6. What rights of police personnel are described in the Code?

1. Do the following tasks.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed and adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948. It details the rights of individual men and women to basic freedoms such as freedom of speech, freedom of religious worship, freedom from fear and hunger, etc. The Declaration has 30 sections, or articles.

Here are the first ten articles in their original form. Read through them, then match words in the articles with the dictionary definitions 1 – 27 below the box. The words are in the same order as the definitions.

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of freedom.

Article 4: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6: Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8: Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him / her by the constitution or by law.

Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10: Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his / her rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him / her.

1. The same (adjective)

2. The things that you should be allowed to have (noun)

3. A feeling you have that you have done right or wrong (noun)

4. To have the right to do or have something (verb)

5. Difference (noun)

6. A group of people with distinct physical characteristics or culture (noun)

7. Referring to government or party politics (adjective)

8. Having the legal power over someone or something (adjective)

9. The act of limiting something (noun)

10. The situation of being free (noun)

11. The situation of being a person who belongs to someone and works for them without payment (noun)

12. The situation of having to work very hard for someone, usually in poor conditions and with very little or no pay (noun)

13. The buying and selling of people against their will (noun: 2 words)

14. To say that something must not happen (verb)

15. Hurting someone badly so that they are forced to give information (noun)

16. Causing fear, anguish and inferiority (adjective)

17. The unfair treatment of someone because of their colour, class, religion, language, etc (noun)

18. The act of breaking a rule (noun)

19. The act of encouraging, persuading or advising someone to do something morally or legally wrong (noun)

20. A court, often one which specialises in a particular area of law (noun)

21. Basic, essential (adjective)

22. Laws and principles under which a country is governed (noun)

23. Done at random, without reason (adjective)

24. The act of keeping someone so that he / she cannot escape or enjoy freedom (noun)

25. The punishment of being made to live in another country, or another part of a country (noun)

26. Not biased or prejudiced (adjective)

27. Duty to do something (noun)

PROJECT WORK

• Find out about one of the human rights organizations. Present your findings in class.

• Find about the Miranda Warning. Present your findings in class.

• Prepare a presentation on one of the following topics:

1. History of Human Rights.

2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

To make your presentation successful you are to meet the following requirements:

• prepare a presentation according to the plan given on page ???

• time frame – 4-5 min.

• to conclude, suggest a problem question for your fellow-students to discuss

• use the words and expressions from the unit under consideration.

Recommended resources:

1. http://www.hrw.org

2. Encyclopedia Britannica on Line

3. Multilex. English-Russian Electronic Dictionary. MediaLingua JSC.

Review What You Learned

1.What is a right?

2. What is the meaning of “right” when we speak of a Human Right?

3. How human rights are protected?

4. What are main functions of the police?

5. What legal papers regulate human rights?

6. What human rights organization do you know?

7. What are they needed for?

Legal Skills in Action

A The landmark decision of McCann & Others v.UK is the first time that the European Court of Human Rights has decided a case on the most basic human right of all, the right to life. The dramatic facts arose out of an attempted bombing mission in Gibraltar in 1988 by three members of an IRA active service unit. They were shot dead in the street by SAS soldiers who believed that they were armed and about to detonate a remote control bomb in a vehicle parked in a public place. After the shooting, it was discovered that all these assumptions were erroneous. The Court’s finding of a breach of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights infuriated the British Government. The decision, by the narrow margin of ten to nine, was contrary to both the spirit of the 1988 inquest in Gibraltar, where a jury had decided by majority that the killings were lawful, and the opinion of the European Commission.

Could you define what the right to life means?

Was the right to life violated by the decision of the British judges?

Article 2 states that “Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law”.

IRA – the Irish Republican Army

SAS – special air service

For more information on abbreviations see Units 13-14.

B In each of the following situations, one or more of the articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been broken or abused. Match each of the situations with the relevant articles (1-10):

1. A man has his house broken into and his television stolen. He goes to the police but they tell him to go away because they have more important things to do.

2. Archie White, a magistrate, has his car stolen. The police arrest and charge the man they think is responsible. The next day the man is taken to court for an initial hearing. The chairman of the justices (the head magistrate) in the courtroom is Archie White. He tells the members of the public that they have to leave the courtroom.

3. Two friends, one white and one black, have been threatened with violence. They go to the police to ask for protection. The police agree to help the white man, but not the black man.