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Human rights, the principles of liberty and democracy

Rights belong to all of us, there’re no doubts. However, they cannot be restricted due to some issues such as race, sex, language, religion, political beliefs, national or social origin.

The first document confirming the existence of the natural rights of human being was the Declaration of the Rights of Human and Citizen from 1789. But actually for the protection of human rights had allowed two documents created later. The first was the United Nations Charter from 1945 and the second the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enacted in 1948.  The second document included basic rights and among them: freedom, equality, the right to work, having citizenship, social protection, right to education, starting a family.

The conception of human rights is based on the premise that each person appertains to certain rights. These rights derive from the dignity. They can also be characterized in some ways. First of all, they are:
• inalienable – which means that you cannot waived them,
• inviolable – which cannot be regulated by government and exist independently of it,
• natural – you were born with them,
• indivisible – are mutually dependent and integral whole,
• universal – appertain to everyone and are present all over the world.

Each country and all people of the world should respect each of the components of human rights equally. To let justice exist, and thus – also world peace, those rights must be respected. Country, as an institution serving citizens, should protect those rights and react appropriately when they are violated. But not only state should take care of human rights. Primarily, people should do it. As we all know, definitely too long human rights appertain to persons who have some privileges due to belonging to the proper class. For many years people have been deprived of their rights only because of the color of their skin or because of their gender. We all know that everyone should be equal towards the law. The task for everyone is to prevent and struggle with discrimination, which we can still meet even we live in XXI century.

It is very important that European Union and other countries, which want to be its members and those with whom it has concluded an agreement on trade and cooperation, must respect human rights. European Union sees as one of its objectives, the defense of rights - civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. In addition, it also defends indivisible and universal nature of these rights.

All human rights are related to the principle of freedom. It means lack of enslavement such as prisons, slavery or no suppressions on the part of the authorities or supervisors. Freedom is one of the most important aspects of our lives and can manifest in all areas. However, we must remember, , that as free people we should also be aware of the responsibility. Freedom is understood in two categories. We have so-called "freedom from" – which means no coercion and "freedom to" – which means the ability to make choices. The most common forms of freedom is: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise.

If we remember about freedom, we shouldn’t forget about democracy and the rules associated with it. The basic principle of democracy is sovereignty. It is about the fact that the right to decide and resolve the most important issues belongs to people (nation). Nation is also a source of power due to the fact that it elects the parliament and the president. Another important element of democracy is the principle of pluralism. It consists of the possibility of the existence of political parties, regardless of the state authorities , which may compete with each other in order to gain the biggest endorsement. Another rule is the tripartite division of power into legislative, executive and judicial. The rule of law says that the law should define the relations between the government and individuals, and because of that the equality of citizens will be guaranteed. Constitutionalism has very important role – so political system based on the Constitution and the rule of law – governing according to law. Due to the fact that the populations of many countries are numerous – according to the principle of representation, people elect their representatives.

All the principles and rights which were shown in this article are very important in our life – as in community life and in the lives of individuals. While respecting all these rules we shouldn’t forget about estimantion we all should bestow.

Category: English | Added by: Ciprian (14.02.2014)
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