41424 (Права человека /English/)

HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION AND PROTECTION. UNO ACTIVITY.

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 of Ukraine, July 16, 1990 a priority of common to all mankind values above class values and a priority of conventional norms of the international legislation above norms of domestic legislation were confirmed. And by this Ukraine confirms its readiness to adhere the UNO Constitution. In the Law "On the Action of International Agreements on the Territory of Ukraine", December 10, 1991 was established, that signed and properly ratified by Ukraine international agreements are an integral part of the legislation of Ukraine and are used in the order, stipulated for norms of the national legislation. In the basis of this Law there is recognition of the priority of the common for all mankind values and the general principles of the international legislation and will to supply the unviolability of human rights and freedoms and to join the system of legal relations between states on the basis of mutual respect of the state independence and democratic bases of international cooperation.

The Law "On the Right Inheritance of Ukraine", September 12, 1991 confirmed in article 6 the obligations of our state concerning international agreements, signed by Ukrainian SSR. The adduced international acts and the domestic legislation convincingly prove Ukraine's will to participate actively in UNO work directed to the protection of human rights.

On the territory of Ukraine this obligation enables each person to lean for the protection of its rights and freedoms on international standards produced by UNO, and in case of refusal of government bodies to protect these rights and freedoms to address in UNO. Unfortunately such necessity exists, as on apt expression of the chairman of a the standing Commission on Human Rights, Protection of Minorities and Refugees of Supreme Council of Ukraine Mr. Vladimir Butkevich today in our state there is a crisis of the legal system.

In this case it is necessary to consider a gear of UNO activity in the field of rights of the person and to define opportunities for protection of each person.

First of all it should be said, that UNO has defined a sense and has made a list of human rights which should be observed by all countries of the world and Ukraine in particular.

Our country, since it has become a member of UNO, actively participates in the output of main documents, which concern human rights. Ukraine ratified and has admitted compulsory 14 of 22 major international agreements on human rights, developed by UNO. At the Second World Conference on Human Rights in Viden in 1993 delegates from almost all the countries of the world have admitted, that the main international standards of human rights are today generated and the main task of UNO is to increase the efficiency of the gear of international protection of rights of the person.

Not concretizing the sense of international standards concerning human rights, which are well investigated by Ukrainian and Russian scientists (these standards are in published texts of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 10, 1948, International Pact on Economic, Political and Cultural Rights, December 16, 1966 and in some other documents), it would be necessary to note, that even the announcement of the state of emergency can not call restrictions or abuse of the great number of human rights.

According to article 4 of The International Pact on Civil and Political Rights in a case of state of the emergency when there is the heaviest threat to the human rights and freedoms there can not be abused: the right to life; prohibition of deprivation of freedom for impossibility to execute contract obligations; prohibition of providing with the force of return the criminal law; the right to recognition of the legal capacity of each person; ideological freedom, freedom of conscience and religion.

THE INTERNATIONAL GEAR OF PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Today the international gear of protection of human rights acts in frameworks of UNO.

The General Assembly of UNO according to article 13 of The UNO Constitution carries out researches and gives recommendations concerning fulfillment and respect of human rights. In order to support this UNO accepts appropriate resolutions on particular questions of protection of human rights. Though the resolutions have recommendatory character, member countries, as a rule execute these recommendations. The General Assembly also accepts and opens for ratification by countries - members conventions, which fix international standards of human rights. Economic and Social Council helps General Assembly in this activity. According to article 68 of The UNO Constitution two functional commissions were created - the Human Rights Committee with smaller Subcomission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and the Commission on Women Status. In the already mentioned Subcomission there is a representative of Ukraine professor Vladimir Butkevich.

The Human Rights Committee is chosen by the Economic and Social Council from 43 representatives of UNO member countries for 3 years. The representatives of Ukraine many times were chosen members of the Human Rights Committee considering their active work in the development of international agreements and other documents in the field of rights of the person.

The Human Rights Committee is going annually on sessions and discusses most important questions of international protection of human rights. Besides development of projects of conventions for General Assembly of UNO, it investigates the cases of malicious and mass abuse of human rights.

Only in modern conditions of development UNO and its bodies have an opportunity to depart from the ideological collisions on questions of human rights and to begin to consider aspects of interstate relations as cooperation for achievement of such great values - rights and freedoms of the person.

Now such conventional bodies act: Committee on Liquidation of Race Discrimination, created according to the International Convention on Liquidation of All Forms of Race Discrimination, December 21, 1965 (since April 7, 1969 Ukraine participates in this Convention); the Human Rights Committee, created according to International Pact on Civil and Political rights, December 16, 1966, (Ukraine participates in this Pact since November 19, 1973); Committee on Liquidation of Discrimination of Women, created according to the Convention on Liquidation of All forms of Discrimination of Women, December 18, 1979 (since September 3, 1981 Ukraine participates in this Convention), Committee Against Tortures, created according to the Convention Against Tortures and Other Severe or Humiliating Honor Kinds of Behaviour and Punishment, December 10, 1984 (since June 26, 1987 Ukraine participates in this Convention), Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, created according to the International Pact on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, December 16, 1966 (Ukraine is a member of this Pact since November 19, 1973), Committee on Chidren's Rights, created according to the Convention on Children's Rights, October 20, 1989 (Ukraine is a member of this Convention since September 27, 1989).

The named committees consist of 18 members, which should be citizens of country - members of appropriate conventions and which are people of high moral and which are competent in the field of human rights. The members of the committees are chosen by secret voting by country - members of the appropriate convention for a period of 4 years. Such procedure of creation of committees gives them an opportunity to solve difficult, complex tasks of protection of human rights in the states, which have signed appropriate international documents.