Human rights.

Human rights are fundamental rights of all human beings such as the right to life, the right to freedom of thought, the right to work, etc, which are generally protected by law. These rights exist in morality and in law at the national and international levels. They are legal guarantees against actions, which interfere with fundamental freedoms and human dignity. Human Rights are international moral and legal norms which protect all people everywhere from severe political, legal and social abuses.

Some of the important characteristics of the human rights are: they are internationally guaranteed; they are legally protected; they focus on the dignity of human beings; they protect individuals and groups; they oblige states and state actors; they cannot be wave; they are equal and interdependent; they are universal and so on.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly in 1948. According to the Declaration of Human Rights women, children, disabled persons, minorities, migrant works and other vulnerable groups possess rights that protect them from discrimination of any kinds.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets out a list of specific human rights that countries should respect and protect. These rights may be grouped into 6 or more families: security rights, liberty rights, political rights, due process rights, equality rights, welfare rights.

The Universal Declaration has inspired the United Nations to conclude more than 80 conventions and declarations. The most important are the two International Covenants – one on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the other – on Civil and Political Rights with two Optional Protocols. A large majority of the world’s countries are parties to the Covenants.

The United Nations cooperates with governments, responds to human rights abuses and takes actions to prevent violations. The United Nations established mechanism with which to promote and protect these rights, first of all, the UN Commission on Human Rights.

Besides, the UN, there are other organizations, which also promote and protect human rights, for example Amnesty International. Amnesty International which is the largest of many organizations in the world, to put pressure on governments to observe human rights.

But despite efforts of all these organizations, millions of people in the world still don’t fully enjoy human rights.

There are several most common human rights violations. One of them is torture. The use of torture violates international human rights law no matter what crime a prisoner has committed.

A very large area of human rights violations is concerned with refugees. Many million of people have left their countries because of human rights violations and they need international guarantees.

Another hotly debated issue of human rights violations is capital punishment, which deprives human beings of the most inherent right – the right to life. Several international organizations have made the abolition of the death penalty a requirement of membership. As a result, Europe is a continent free of death penalty, with the sole exception of Belarus.

Human rights are regulated by international law. But the problem of enforcing and promoting human rights still exists in the world.