Правозащитная деятельность ООН

INTERNATIONAL SLAVONIC UNIVERSITY

(KHARKOV)

DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS AND BUSINESS

HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION AND PROTECTION. UNO ACTIVITY .

Essay of the second year student

Darya Ivanova

Tutor - N. Dolinina

KHARKOV

1996

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. UNO ACTIVITY IN HUMAN RIGHTS SPHERE

3. THE INTERNATIONAL GEAR OF PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

4. HUMAN RIGHTS IN UKRAINE

5. POLITICAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IN UKRAINE

6. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS

7. FREEDOM OF VOICE

8. CONCLUSIONS

9. RESUME

INTRODUCTION

In the period after acceptance of the Declaration of State

Independence in Ukraine was considerably made more active state

and political activity in the sphere of human rights. A

parlamentary committee on human rights is created, there is

accepted a number of acts, aimed at strenghtening of legal

status of citizens, legal base of protection of human rights and

freedom is updated as a whole.

A set of nation-wide, regional and local right-defence

organizations were registered, international contacts with

interstate and non-government organizations are adjusting. These

organizations have devoted their activity to the protection of

the person in today's difficult, rigid and even severe world.

Many international pacts, agreements and conventions on human

rights and freedoms were signed. There was considerably improved

the integration of Ukraine in the international right-defence

gear, real steps to increase the warranties of fulfillment of

international obligations in human rights sphere were made.

Much more forums are conducted with the dominant idea of

protection of Ukrainian citizen's and foreigner's (which are on

the territory of Ukraine) rights and freedoms.

New magazines on human rights are established, lectures are

read, special and optonal cources on human rights are organized,

educational programs are distributed. Much attention is paid to

the educational aspect of the problem. National and

international conferences and symposiums, "round tables" and

readings on urgent problems of development of institute of human

rights and protection of political, social and economic rights,

freedoms and legal interests of the person are carried out.

In other words "the requirement of all-round maintenance of

human rights and freedoms" has become not simply a line of

preamble of the Declaration of State Independence of Ukraine but

the program of state and political activity of citizens of

Ukraine and foreigners, which permanently or temporary stay in

our country.

But it will be an error to overestimate the first shifts in the

right-defence sphere. Despite all the achievements in this

sphere the situation of the person in Ukraine remains hard and

unprotected. There are a lot of reasons and there is a great

number of explanations of this fact.

It is possible to refer to the absence of a legal state with

precisely distributed functions of legislative, executive and

judicial powers. Frankly speaking, these branches are imperfect

because of the political traditions in all the contries of the

former USSR . For example, the judicial power continues to act

with the main idea of punishment, instead of protection of

rights and freedoms of citizens.

Frequently jealous relations between right-defence organizations

make public right defence movement weak. It is not so influental

and effective as should be.

The habit to make acts in the field of human rights

propagandistic by character has overload them by political,

moral or simply ideological admonitions. As it frequently

happens it is heavy to separate from them really legal

statements, it sometimes makes impossible protection of rights,

honour and interests of the person.

As a rule there remains inconsistency of national legal acts with

international pacts and conventions on human rights. The principle

of priority of international norms in the matters of human rights

is recognized by the law, but is not applied or it is applying

very seldom in practice.

We have a selective approach to recognition of international

obligations in the sphere of protection of rights, that is not

allowed in practice of other states. Just due to such approach

we did not ratify, have not joined, have not accepted or not

approved a significant number of important international pacts,

agreements, conventions.

The plenty of ratified by Ukraine international pacts does not act

concerning our state because we have used the stipulated in them

gear of realization in a very specific way. In the international

contractual activity of Ukraine the negative tendency to sign

international pacts on human rights without output of domestic

gear of their realization was expanded.

The practice not to publish the text of ratified documents and

conventions in the sphere of human rights or to publish by a

small edition or with a 5-10 year delay has become rather

widespread.

It is possible to consider natural the inconsistency of the

Ukrainian legislation with international obligations of state.

Practically only in the last years the authority of international

pacts on human rights has become admitted by our officials.

Some integral rights of the person are absolutly unknown to our

state or are admitted only on the paper.

It is necessary to achieve the real, guaranteed maintenance of

such integral rights and freedoms as: right to life, right to

freedom of opinions and the free manifestation of them, right to

ideological (with exception of the ideological movements,

forbidden by modern international legislation), religious,

cultural freedom, right to participation in political life and

management, right to freedom of print, to reception and

distribution of information, right to strike, right to healthy

environment, right to an acceptable living standard, necessary

for health support, well-being, honour, right to access

depending on abilities and professional training to any posts in

state bodies, establishments, organizations, right to protect

rights and freedoms according to the legislation, right to

property indemnification of moral damage, caused by illegal

actions of state bodies, by officials and other persons, right

to leave the country and to return to it, right to appeal to the

court in the case of illegal arrest, detention, refuse in the

opening or closing of a criminal case, right of citizens to free

movement and to choose a place of residing in the country, right

to property indemnification in case of illegal detention,

arrest, conviction, illegal dismissal from a post, illegal

location in mental establishments, etc.

The named rights are usual for the world practice. We have to

lead the legislation of Ukraine to conformity with international

standards in the sphere of human rights but this step will not

give necessary results without solution of a problem how to

increase literacy of the population in the sphere of

international standards. The lack of information in this sphere

influences the decrease of legal culture.

UNO ACTIVITY IN HUMAN RIGHTS SPHERE

After the Second World war under the influence of the facts of mutual

abuse of human rights the general recognition was received by

the concept of necessity of the international cooperation in

this sphere. In item 3 of article 1 of The UNO Constitution it was

proclaimed that one of the UNO tasks is realization of joint

activity of the state members. This activity is directed to

the human rights be respected and adhered by all,

irrespective of race, sex, language and religion.

According to this item Ukraine as one of the UNO founders has

taken the obligations to act independently or together with other

states in order to achieve a world wide respect of human rights

and their realization. In the Declaration of State Independence