5.1.3 Read the text again to answer the following questions.

1) What are human rights? Give examples.

2) What are the most common forms of human rights violations?

3) What international organizations are active in protection of human rights?

4) What is one of the fundamental principles of the UNO?

5) What are the purposes and aims of international humanitarian law?

6) What international agreements form the so-called International Bill of Rights?

7) What is the difference between a declaration and a covenant?

8) What is the importance of the two International Covenants adopted in 1966?

9) What is the basic issue of human rights law?

5.2. Universal declaration of human rights

5.2.1 Study these words before reading the text.

to subscribe – подписываться, присоединяться

to aspire – стремиться, домогаться

pillar – зд. основа

to adopt – принимать

adoption – принятие

vulnerable – уязвимый, незащищенный

to be entitled to sth (to do sth) – иметь право на что-либо

article – статья

to state – заявлять, утверждать, формулировать

to set forth – выдвигать

to recognize – признавать

recognition – признание

5.2.2 Read and translate the text.

One of the greatest achievements of the United Nations is the creation of a universal and internationally protected code of human rights, to which all nations can subscribe and to which all people can aspire. Three years after the United Nations began its work the General Assembly put into place the first pillar of twentieth-century human rights law: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was intended as a “common standard of achievement for all peoples”. It was adopted on 10 December 1948, the day which is considered internationally as Human Rights Day.

Since the adoption of the UDHR, human rights have received an unprecedented level of global attention and support. Women, children, disabled persons, minorities, migrant workers and other vulnerable groups now have rights that protect them from discriminatory practices that had long been common in many societies. The Declaration spells out basic civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights that all human beings in every country should enjoy. Many provisions of the Universal Declaration are generally considered customary international law because they are widely accepted for measuring the conduct of States. Many newly independent countries have included its provisions in their basic laws or constitutions.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Universal Declaration state that “all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights” and are entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration “without distinction of any kind such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”.

Articles 3 to 21 set forth the civil and political rights to which all human beings are entitled, including:

– The right to life, liberty and security;

– Freedom from slavery and servitude;

– Freedom from torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment;

– The right to recognition as a person before the law; the right to judicial remedy; freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile; the right to a fair trial and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal; the right to be presumed innocent and proved guilty;

– Freedom from arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence; freedom from attacks upon honor and reputation; the right to protection of the law against such attacks;

– Freedom of movement; the right to seek asylum; the right to a nationality;

– The right to marry and to found a family; the right to own property;

– Freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of opinion and expression;

– The right to peaceful assembly and association;

– The right to take part in government and to equal access to public service.

Articles 22 to 27 set forth the economic, social and cultural rights to which all human beings are entitled, including:

– The right to social security;

– The right to work; the right to equal pay for equal work; the right to form and join trade unions;

– The right to rest and leisure;

– The right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being;

– The right to education;

– The right to participate in the cultural life of the community.

The concluding Articles, 28 to 30, recognize that everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the human rights set forth in the Declaration may be fully realized; that these rights may only be limited for the sole purpose of receiving recognition and respect of the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society; and that each person has duties to the community in which she or he lives.