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Human Rights
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ENGLISCH
REPORT (5.YEAR)
28.
NOVEMBER 1996
MAG. E.
SCHALUDEK-PALETSCHEK
1 What are Human Rights?
To begin with, a quotation from the American Declaration of
Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights,
that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
1.1 Legal, Moral and Human rights
A right entitles us to have or to do certain things. Rights can be
divided into three main groups: the legal, moral and human rights.
1.1.1 Legal Rights
Legal Rights are rights laid down in laws. For that reason, legal rights
are the most solid of all rights, because they can be defended in a national
court of law. Most, but not all, legal rights are written down. The basic legal
law in some countries is a written constitution or bill of rights (like Germany
or the United States of America). In these documents the countries have written
down what citizens are allowed to do. British law works the other way round
(like everything). There is nothing like a basic law guaranteeing people’s
rights. In Britain people have the right to do everything, unless a law is
forbidding it.
1.1.2 Moral Rights
In contrast to legal rights, moral rights are not facts, but are based
on general principles of fairness and justice. A moral right may or may not be
supported by the law of the land. Some of the moral rights are claimed by people
in particular situations. They are not rights that can be claimed by all peoples
in all situations. What the law lays down can sometimes conflict with what
people see as their moral rights.
Human Rights
Human rights apply to all people at all times in all situations, so they
are universal moral rights. By definition, human rights are not earned, bought
or inherent. Human rights are possessed by everybody in the world because they
are human. People are equally entitled to them regardless of their gender, race,
colour, language, national origin, age class or religious creed.
Some human rights are more important than others. The right to life is
the most basic of all, without it all other rights are in danger. Freedom of
speech or the right to rest and leisure, for instance, count for very little if
our right to life is not guaranteed. So the less important rights of one person
must end where the basic rights of another person begin.
1.1.3.1 Liberty-oriented and Security-Oriented Rights
Liberty-oriented rights (or civil and political rights)
are rights concerned with giving individuals freedom of action and choice. They
tend to limit the scope of government, because they advance the rights of every
individual.
Security-oriented rights (or economic, social and cultural
rights) seek to protect people’s physical, material, social and economic
well-being. The achievement of security-oriented rights requires governmental
intervention and leads to greater interference in the lives of individuals. But
the handicap is that it is very difficult to convert them into legal
rights.
Through this contrast between liberty-oriented and security-oriented
rights, it is very difficult to find a useful middle course.
2 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Many of the major problems we face today require international
co-operation, so we need international commissions, conferences and
organisations to solve these problems.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one of these international
operations. Spurred on the bloodshed and horror of the Second World War, the
nations planned the details of an international organisation, the United
Nations, which would work for a better and more peaceful future. A United
Nations Charter, defining the purposes, principles, methods and structures of
the new organisation, was signed by fifty nations in 1945.
Because of the inhumanity in the Second World War, the international
protection of human rights was seen as one essential precondition of world
peace. In 1946, the United Commission on Human Rights was founded to prepare an
"international bill of rights".
The Commission worked out the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
which was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December
1948, as "a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all
nations".
Before 1948, a person was subjected to the laws of the nation. If those
laws violated her or his rights, there was no internationally accepted
organisation to help these people. With the Declaration of the Human Rights, the
rights of a person are established regardless of what the law of the nation
says. So it overrules the national laws.
2.1 International Covenants on Human Rights
On 16 December 1966, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were adopted by the UN General
Assembly. The Universal Declaration and the two Covenants make up the
International Bill of Rights.
The two Covenants differ from the Universal Declaration in a number of
ways. They introduce a new right, the right of all peoples and nations to
"self-determination". They also set up machinery for the international
supervision of human rights, the Human Rights Committee.
Since 1966, more than 60 nations ratified the Bill of
Rights.
2.2 Helsinki Conference
The Helsinki Conference was held in 1975, on Security and Co-operation
in Europe between countries of the West and the Eastern bloc. During this
conference, the Western countries wanted the former Soviet Union and its Eastern
European allies to agree to reunite families and to permit freer contact between
people living on either side of the Iron Curtain. They also demanded that the
Eastern bloc countries sign a human rights pact.
History of Human Rights in Austria
In 1848, the first establishment of the basic rights was written down.
The basic law from the 21 of December, 1867 about the general rights of the
citizens contains the main part of the basic rights and is still valid. This
declaration was improved through the following acts:
- law about protecting the house law
- treaty of Saint Germain (1918)
- treaty of Vienna (1955)
- European treaty about the protection of human
rights and basic freedoms
(1958)
4 Human Rights in Danger
Everybody knows about the violation against the human rights in the not
„non-civilised“ countriesm, like South Africa with their apartheid
political system and Latin America, where people are tortured every day. Also in
Europe we must see that human rights are in danger. Since 1990, there has been a
bloody war in Yugoslavia, where the human rights were abused. Western
organisations and nations were not able to stop that war for years. The Western
European countries have no clean human-rights record. They did not want to have
the refugees in their countries, so they sent them back their home countries
where they are persecuted. Also some minorities are not treated equally in the
Western countries (like the gypsies in most European countries).
Another force against human rights developed in the last few years, the
economical interests. Western firms only work for more profit, without regard
for human needs and rights.
5 Human Rights Organisations
5.1 Amnesty International
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Amnesty was founded in 1961 by Peter Benenson, a Catholic lawyer who had
English and Russian parents. Benenson hit upon the idea of working for the
release of people imprisoned for their beliefs by means of letter-writing
campaigns.
At the end of 1961, Amnesty International groups had been established in
twelve countries (ten Western European countries, Australia and the USA).
Benenson had also designed the symbol of the organisation, the candle in barbed
wire.
Today, Amnesty has over 250,000 members in about 140 countries. The
International Secretariat, in London, numbers 150 employees, nearly half of them
involved in researching the details in human rights violations. Amnesty groups
are strongest and most active in Western Europe.
Amnesty’s aims and techniques have changed since its foundation.
Its fundamental concern is to achieve the immediate release of political
prisoners.
It also works to ensure that political prisoners are given a fair and
prompt trail.
Its third aim is to seek the abolition of the death penalty and the
elimination of the use of torture.
This organisation works so effectively because of the highly respected
quality of Amnesty’s research, which means that any decision to help
imprisoned people is based on a carefully compiled system of facts. Another
asset is the great volunteer support - without these volunteers postal campaigns
are impossible.
Amnesty’s policy of limiting itself to defending just a few basic
rights enables it to be an efficient and effective group.
Critics of Amnesty often say that the organisation only works for people
in the capitalist countries of the "rich north". This brings us to further
criticism that its strength is in fact a weakness in that it overlooks
violations of some human rights. Amnesty responds by saying that the defence of
some basic rights helps the protection of other rights. If people’s voices
are not stilled by imprisonment, it will be easier to achieve food, clothing and
other basic needs for all.
5.2 The Anti-Slavery Society
It is the world`s oldest human rights organisation. Founded in 1839, the
Anti-Slavery Society works to end all forms of slavery and it also tries to
protect the rights of those who are in social, geographical or political
isolation. Recent activities includes a campaign against the exploitation of
tribal peoples by the Philippine government. Homelands had been invaded and
industrial plans started, without consultation or
agreement.
5.3 Helsinki Watch
Helsinki Watch pays attention to human rights in the thirty-five
countries in Eastern and Western Europe and North America which signed the
Helsinki agreement on security and co-operation. It publishes violations of
human rights, supports international protests against offending governments and
organises meetings.
Glossary
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abolition
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Abschaffung, Aufhebung
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allies
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Alliierten
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barbed wire
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Stacheldraht
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conscience
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Gewissen
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constitution
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Verfassung
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covenant
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Vertrag
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creed
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Glaubensbekenntnis
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death penalty
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Todesstrafe
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decision
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Entscheidung, Entschluß
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exploitation
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Ausbeutung
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former
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ehemalig, früher
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inalienable
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unveräußerlich, unverkäuflich
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inherent
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angeboren
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pursuit
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Verfolgung
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refugee
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Flüchtling
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scope
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Spielraum, hier: Macht
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spur
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Ansporn
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to claim
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fordern, beanspruchen
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to demand
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fordern, verlangen
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to endow
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ausstatten
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to entitle
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berechtigen
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to establish
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festsetzen, errichten, gründen
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to imprison
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inhaftieren
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to persecute
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verfolgen
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to reunite
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wiedervereinigen
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to subject
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unterwerfen, abhängen
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to violate
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verletzen, brechen
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trail
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hier: Strafprozeß
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valid
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gültig
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