International law

International law is the body of legal rules that apply between sovereign states and such other entities as have been granted international personality. Like precepts of international morality, the rules of international law are of a normative character; that is, they prescribe standards of conduct. They distinguish themselves, however, from moral rules by being, at least potentially, designed for authoritative interpretation by an independent judicial authority and by being capable of enforcement by the application of external sanctions.

International law should be distinguished from quasi-international law, which is the law governing relations similar to those covered by international law but outside the pale of international law because at least one of the parties lacks international personality. International law means public international law as distinct from private international law or the conflict of laws, which deals with the differences between the municipal laws of different countries.

While international law applies only between entities that can claim international personality, municipal law is the internal law of states that regulates the conduct of idividuals and other legal entities within their jurisdiction. International law forms a contrast to municipal law. Historically, although several systems of international law have existed since antiquity, contemporary international law has its origins in Medieval Europe. Arguably, the most notable historic development was the signing of the Peace of Westphalia 1648 which established an embryonic sovereign state system in Europe. Prior to this agreement, the creation of a sovereign state system had been retarded by the transnational authority of the Pope in spiritual matters and the control of the Holy Roman Emperor in political concerns. In the signature of the Peace of Westphalia the Emperor acknowledged restrictions on his dominion in favour of the territorial autonomy of the various nation states which had previously composed the Empire, whilst simultaneously the treaty recognised the limits of the authority of the Pope.

International society since then has remained a pluralistic structure of sovereign states. Sovereignty in the relations between states is synonymous with independence. This independence allows states to regulate the internal constitutions of their territories and to enter into international relations with other sovereign states.

Exc.1 Give Russian equivalents for the following general types of punishment. Put them in descending order of severity.

• Capital punishment

• Community service

• Disciplinary training in a detention center

• Fixed penalty fine

• Life imprisonment

• Probation

• Short-term imprisonment

Exc.2 Give Russian equivalents to the words given in bold type.

THE COURT OF JUSTICE

The Court of Justice has been one of the most important champions of European integration but has pursued this cause largely out of the public eye. While media and political attention have focused on the Commission of the Council of Ministers the Court has quietly gone about its business, working far away from the political fray in its Luxembourg headquarters.

Its job is to rule on interpretations of the treaties and EU laws, and to ensure that national and European laws and international agreements being considered by the EU meet the terms and the spirit of the treaties. It can rule on the constitutionality of all EU law, gives rulings to national courts in cases where there are questions about the meaning of EU law, and rules in disputes involving EU institutions, member states individuals and corporations. The Court's role has been vital to the development of the EU: without a body of law capable of uniform interpretation and application, the E U would have no authority and its decisions and policies would be arbitrary and largely meaningless.

THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Article 38 provides that the European Court of Human Rights shall consist of a number ofjudges equal to that of the Members of the Council of Europe. No two judges may be nationals of the same state.

Under Article 39 the members of the court shall be elected by the Consultative Assembly by a majority of the votes cast from a list of persons nominated by the members of the Council of Europe. The candidates shall be of high moral character and must either possess the qualifications required for appointment to high judicial office or be jurists of recognized competence. Members of the court are elected for nine years.

Article 43 provides that for the consideration of each case brought before it the court shall consist of a chamber composed of seven judges. There shall sit as an ex officio member of the chamber, the judge who is a national of any state party concerned, or, if there is none, a person of its choice who shall sit in the capacity of judge.

Only the High Contracting Parties and the Commission have the right to bring a case before the court. An individual applicant cannot initiate proceedings or plead his case. Under Article 45 the jurisdiction of the court shall extend to all cases concerning the interpretation and application of the present convention which the High Contracting Parties or the Commission shall refer to it, providing that the High Contracting Parties have declared that they recognize as compulsory the jurisdiction of the court in all matters concerning the interpretation and application of the present convention.

Text 2

HUMAN RIGHTS

Everybody knows that many of the rights of citizens are considered human rights. For example, a constitutional right is one which a state guarantees to its own citizens and sometimes even to foreigners who are within its jurisdiction. Still a question comes: What are human rights? Not everyone agrees that being born a human being entitled someone to certain freedoms and certain treatment. And those who agree have different opinions as to what these rights are. A human right is one to which people all over the world are entitled, whatever their nationality and wherever they live.

Most of the law in the world is made by governments for their own people. But human rights are independent of any political divisions. They are basic minimum standards of freedom and security for all people. When governments do not meet these standards, they are criticized by their own citizens and even by foreign governments. Sometimes some countries impose economic sanction against those countries where human rights are violated. For example, many countries have limited trade to South Africa because of the policy of apartheid (апартеид).

As a rule, human rights are violated when governments violate their own constitutions, and very often their policies make citizens to escape to another countries. But legally, most countries of the world have signed international agreements concerning the treatment of individuals. The most important agreement is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by UN General Assembly in 1948. Article 1 of UDHR declares that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and Article 2 states that it does not depend upon race, color, sex, language, religion or any other difference among people.

Exc.1 Give Russian equivalents to the words given in bold type.

Civil and political rights

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:

Article 2

Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to ensure to all indi­viduals within its territory and subject to its juris­diction the rights recog­nized in the present Covenant, 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.

Article 3

The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure The equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights set forth in the present Covenant.

Article 6

1.Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall

be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.

2. In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sen­tence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law in force at the time of the commission of the crime and not contrary to the provisions of the present Covenant and to the Convention on the Pre­vention and Punishment of the Crime of Geno­cide. This penalty can only be carried out pur­suant to a final judge­ment rendered by a competent court.

Article7

No one shall be sub­jected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or de­grading treatment or punishment. In par­ticular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimen­tation.

Article 8

No one shall be held in slavery; slavery and the slave-trade in all their forms shall be prohib­ited.

No one shall be held in servitude.

Article 9

Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. Noone shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.

Article 12

Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence.

Everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own.

No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.

Article 14

All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In he determination of any criminal charge against him, or of his rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independ­ent and impartial tri­bunal established by law.

Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall have the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty ac­cording to law.

Article 17

No one shall be sub­jected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, fam­ily, home or corre­spondence, nor to un­lawful attacks on his honour and reputation.

Article 18

Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a relig­ion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

Article 19

1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opin­ions without interfer­ence.

2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.

3. Article 20

Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.

Any advocacy of national, racial or re­ligious hatred that con­stitutes incitement to discrimination, hostil­ity or violence shall be prohibited by law.

Article 21

The right of peaceful assembly shall be rec­ognized.

Article 22

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with oth­ers, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protec­tion of his interests.

Article 23

1. The family is the natu­ral and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

2. The right of men and women of marriageable age to marry and to found a family shall be recognized.

Article 24

Every child shall have, without any dis­crimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or so­cial origin, property or birth, the right to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the State.

Article 25

Every citizen shall have the right and the op­portunity, without any of the distinctions men­tioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions:

To take part in the conduct of public af­ fairs, directly or through freely chosen represen­tatives;

To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by uni­versal and equal suf­frage and shall be held by secret ballot, guar­anteeing the free ex­pression of the will of the electors;

To have access, on general terms of equal­ity, to public service in his country.

Article 26

All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guar­antee to all persons equal and effective pro­tection against discrimi­nation on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Article 27

In those States in which ethnic, religious or lin­guistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language.

Exc. 1

Translate into English following sentences:

1. Все люди равны перед законом и имеют право без всякой дискрими­нации на равную защи­ту закона.

2. Всякая пропаганда войны должна быть запрещена законом.

3. Каждый человек имеет право на свободное выражение своего мнения; это право включает свободу искать, получать и распространять всякого рода информацию и идеи, независимо от государственных границ.

4. Каждый человек имеет право беспрепятственно придер­живаться своих мнений.

5. Каждый человек имеет право на свободу мысли, совести и религии. Это право включает свободу иметь или принимать религию или убежде­ния по своему выбору каждому, кто законно находится на терри­тории какого-либо государства, принадлежит, в пределах этой территории, право на свободное передвижение и свобода вы­бора местожительства.

6. Каждый человек имеет право покидать любую страну, включая cвою собственную.

7. Никто не должен быть лишен свободы иначе, как на таких основаниях и в соответствии с такой процедурой, которые установлены законом.

Economic, social and cultural rights

Exc.1 Give Russian equivalents to the words given in bold type.

Article 6

1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right.

The steps to be taken by a State to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include tech­nical and vocational guidance and training programmes, policies and techniques to achieve steady eco­nomic, social and cul­tural development and full and productive em­ployment under condi­tions safeguarding fun­damental political and economic freedoms to the individual.

Article 7

The States Parties to the present Covenant rec­ognize the right of eve­ryone to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work which ensure, in particular:

(a) Remuneration which provides all work­ers, as a minimum, with:

(b) Fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value without

distinction of any kind, in particular women being guaranteed conditions of work not inferior to those enjoyed by men, with equal pay for equal work;

(c) A decent living for themselves and their families in accordance with the provisions of the present Covenant;

(d)Safe and healthy working conditions;

(e)Equal opportunity for everyone to be promoted in his employment to an appropriate higher level, subject to no considerations other than those of seniority and competence; Rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as remu­neration for public holidays.

Article 9

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to social security, including social insurance.

Article 11

1. The States Parties to the present Covenantrecognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improve­ment of living conditions.

2. The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international co-operation, the measures, including specific programmes.

Article 12

1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

Article 13

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to education. They agree that education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. They further agree that education shall enable all persons to participate effectively in a free soci­ety, promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups, and further the activities of the United Nations for the mainte­nance of peace.

Article 15

1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone:

To take part in cul­tural life;

To enjoy the bene­fits of scientific prog­ress and its applica­tions;

To benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any sci­entific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Exc. 2 Translate into English following sentences:

1. Участвующие в на­стоящем Пакте госу­дарства признают право каждого челове­ка на образование.

2. Участвующие в настоящем Пакте госу­дарства признают право каждого челове­ка на наивысший достижимый уровень физического и пси­хического здоровья.

3. Участвующие в настоящем Пакте госу­дарства, признавая основное право каж­дого человека на свободу от голода, долж­ны принимать необ­ходимые меры инди­видуально и в порядке международного со­трудничества, вклю­чающие проведение конкретных программ.

4. У каж­дого человека есть право на получение возможности зарабатывать себе на жизнь трудом, который он свободно вы­бирает или на который он свободно соглаша­ется, и предпринимать надлежащие шаги к обеспечению этого права.

Prohibition of slavery

Slavery Convention:

«Slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised.»

«The slave trade in­cludes all acts Involved in the capture, acquisi­tion or disposal of a person with intent to reduce him to slavery; all acts involved in the acquisition of a slave with a view to selling or exchanging him; all acts of disposal by sale or exchange of a slave acquired with a view to being sold or ex­changed, and, in gen­eral, every act of trade or transport in slaves.»

Genocide

Convention on the Pre­vention and Punishment of the Crime of Geno­cide:

«In the present Conven­tion, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, In whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

a)Killing members of the group;

b)Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

c)Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

d)Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.»

«Crimes against humanity» are defined as «murder, extermination, enslave­ment, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war, or persecutions on political, racial or religious ground.»

Prohibitions of discrimination

International Conven­tion on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: «In this Convention, the term «racial discrimina­tion» shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoy­ment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cul­tural or any other field of public life.»

Freedom from torture

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or De­grading Treatment or Punishment:

«For the purposes of this Convention, the term «torture» means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as ob­taining from him or a third person information or a confession, pun­ishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is sus­pected of having com­mitted, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any rea­son based on discrimi­nation of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquies­cence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or inci­dental to lawful sanctions.»