The international protection of human rights is carried out by special structures: the UN Human Rights Committee, the European Court at the Council of Europe.
The European Convention for the Protection of Fundamental Freedoms and Human Rights, the Charter on Human Rights, and the Final Act on Cooperation and Security in Europe are the main sources of international law that regulate the protection of human interests.
Relevance of Rights Protection
The international defense of human rights and freedoms is associated with the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes. He was convinced that humanity in a primitive natural state was in a state of war of all against all. Only after the emergence of the state did there appear a chance for a normal life, the protection of the rights of ordinary citizens.
The Englishman believed that in relations between different states, war is inevitable, since there are no controlling and restraining structures over states.
The international system for protecting human rights became especially relevant in the 20th century, during which two brutal world wars took place, in which many world powers took part. It was during this period that the most criminal and inhuman treatment of civilians and prisoners of war was observed.
League of Nations Education
After the First World War, in 1920, the foundations of the international protection of human rights were born. The created League of Nations was the first organization at the international level that set as its goal the preservation of peace and the improvement of the quality of life on our planet. The inconsistency of the actions of the countries that became its participants did not allow the League of Nations to develop a full-fledged system of collective security. This organization ceased to exist in 1946, and a new interstate structure, the United Nations, appeared in its place.
UN activities
Its main task was to develop measures aimed at protecting the interests of citizens around the world. The UN appeared as a response to crimes against people that were committed by Nazi Germany, as well as its allies during the Second World War. A UN Charter on Human Rights was formed, often referred to as the International Bill of Human Rights.
Charter Documents
The regulatory framework are:
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
- several covenants on the economic, political, social rights of citizens.
As a supplement, dozens of declarations and treaties have been prepared under which the international protection of human rights is carried out in a peaceful period. Documents related to genocide, racial discrimination, the rights of persons with disabilities, refugee status.
After the adoption of the first document indicated in the list, a period began in which the international legal protection of human rights and freedoms ceased to be an internal affair of a separate state.
Relevance
The Universal Declaration enshrined the basic rights of all the inhabitants of our planet, regardless of ethnicity, race, language, faith, gender.
It contains the international protection of human rights:
- for a full life;
- personal freedom;
- complete immunity;
- universal equality.
It says about the inadmissibility of slavery, torture, humiliation of human dignity. Wherever a citizen is, international protection of human rights and freedoms should be available to him.
Part of the provisions of the Constitution of our country almost completely duplicates the material of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
International agreement
The International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights regulates the formation of a person who is free from want and fear. This can only be achieved under the conditions that everyone will have the opportunity to enjoy the rights to work, rest, fair remuneration, a decent standard of living, social security, and freedom from hunger.
The international protection of human rights under the terms of this pact also implies the provision of opportunities for citizens to actively participate in cultural life.
In addition to the above rights, the international covenant also mentions other possibilities:
- prohibition of imprisonment of a citizen in case of failure to fulfill contractual obligations;
- equality before the law and the court;
- the right to inviolability of family and personal life;
- the ability to protect the family, the rights of the child;
- the right to express a position in the political life of a particular state;
- equal opportunities for all ethnic minorities.
First protocol
This document allows citizens of those countries that have signed this agreement to protect their political and civil rights. It is on the basis of this document that the international European protection of human rights is carried out.
Our country assumed obligations under the agreement under consideration in 1991. It should be noted that the decisions of the Committee are not considered binding; its powers include a recommendation to the state to restore violated rights. This Committee also has the right to attract world public opinion to such activities.
Second Optional Protocol
It is an addition to the Covenant on Political and Civil Rights, proposed the abolition of the death penalty. The international protection of human and civil rights in the framework of the European community is carried out by the Council of Europe, as well as a special document that regulates human rights activities - the Jewish Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms. The document was adopted in 1950.
European Convention
The international legal protection of human rights within the framework of this document is related to the provision of:
- the right to life;
- the prohibition of inhuman treatment and torture;
- the right to liberty, security of person;
- prohibition of slavery;
- the right to sentence under the law;
- prohibition of discrimination;
- the right to respect for family and personal life;
- independence of conscience, religion:
- the possibility of expressing one’s own position;
- the right to use effective remedies.
Several additional protocols are attached to this Convention at once. One of them is focused on the protection of property, freedom of election.
This document prohibits imprisonment if a citizen has debt obligations. The Sixth Protocol abolishes the death penalty.
Our country acceded to the Convention only in 1998. Now, every Russian who believes that he has been unjustly punished can use international mechanisms for protecting human rights.
The specifics of the European Court of Human Rights
This body accepts complaints from citizens in the following situations:
- human rights violations that occurred after Russia signed the relevant treaties are accepted for consideration;
- The complaint is accepted in the event that 6 months have not passed from the period of violation and the issuance of a court decision;
- the essence of the appeal should be stated clearly, supported by evidence;
- It is forbidden to simultaneously file a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee and the European Court.
If the decision is made in favor of the victim, then the European Court will award compensation to the person for violated rights.
The decisions of this court are final, they are not subject to appeal, are binding on participating countries, including Russia.
The OSCE
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is committed to protecting the rights of citizens. It was created in 1975. It was then that the Act of the meeting on cooperation and security in Europe was signed . In addition to recognizing the sovereign equality of all countries, the inviolability of state borders, the non-use of force, the Act proclaims the need to protect the freedoms and rights of citizens, including freedom of conscience, thought, belief, religion.
After the adoption of this document, a human rights organized movement in the form of “Helsinki groups” appeared in the Soviet Union, which required the authorities to fully comply with international law.
Human rights defenders were subjected to exile, arrest, and repression, but it was their activity that led the authorities to change their position regarding the protection of human rights.
International Criminal Court
It has been operating since 2002 in The Hague. The competence of this body includes:
- crimes related to genocide - the intentional extermination of an entire national, ethnic, religious, racial group or part thereof;
- actions against humanity - systematic or large-scale persecution that are directed against civilians;
- war crimes - violation of the customs and laws of warfare.
The creation of a criminal court made it possible to condemn senior officials, heads of state, members of governments, which are impossible to attract under domestic law.
The forerunners of the International Criminal Court include tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, the trial in Tokyo, the Nuremberg Tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
At such processes, state-level criminals carried a well-deserved punishment, but the norms of humanitarian international law still applied to them.
The mechanisms used to hold war criminals accountable in the modern world are aimed at imposing fair punishment for all citizens, regardless of their public office.
Importance of International Documents
Human rights are considered a global problem of our time and a priority area of cooperation between different states.
After the end of World War II, the countries realized that in case of violation of the rights of civilians, violation of their honor and dignity, the world could be in another bloody conflict. Winning countries together with other states organized the UN.
The progressive world community sought to determine the minimum of freedoms and rights that a safe existence can provide to any person in any state.
The development and adoption of specific international legal documents, the execution of which is mandatory for all countries that voluntarily recognized their moral, political, legal force, acted as a means to assert freedoms and rights.
For the first time in the history of the existence of human civilization, fundamental freedoms and human rights were created and recommended for use in all states. They are considered throughout the civilized world as standards, standards for creating their own national documents, for example, sections of constitutions on the rights of citizens.
The concepts of “freedom” and “law” in this document are not identical, despite their semantic affinity.
Human right is called the legalized, provided by the state, the ability to do something.
Freedom of the person implies the absence of constraint, restrictions in behavior, activity.
The creators of the Declaration, which proclaimed a universal human minimum of freedoms and rights, relied on their understanding of the level of development of civilization. Note that the declaration is not considered a legal binding document, it is recommendatory in nature to the states and peoples of the world.
Despite this, this document is of great practical importance. On the basis of the Declaration, legally binding treaties of an international character concerning the rights of a citizen were developed and adopted.
Conclusion
The specificity of international treaties relating to fundamental human rights and freedoms consists in their active and fruitful action using national domestic law. It is important to implement them in specific legal acts of the country: laws, codes, decrees.
The international protection of human rights in peacetime is a set of legal norms that define and enforce in a treaty regime norms on human rights and freedoms. It is also planned to think over international mechanisms for monitoring their compliance, protecting violations of freedoms and rights of an individual citizen.
In our country, considerable attention is paid to the observance of human rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. In case of violation, Russians have the right to defend their interests in international courts.