Support of the foreign language profile of law tuition

at the Faculty of Law in Olomouc

CZ.1.07/2.2.00/15.0288

Human Rights I.

Jan Kratochvíl

• jan.kratochvil@gmail.com

• 4 sessions: 11.3., 8.4., 22.4., 6.5.

• Essay – maximum 5,000 words– Deadline 26 June (1 September)

What are human rights?

• The aim of HR is to protect life and dignity of human beings

• the same moral worth of every individual• Represent minimal standards necessary for

respecting inherent dignity of every individual • Interest theory of rights

– „A person has a right if and only if an interest of his is a sufficient ground for holding another to be subject to a duty“. (Joseph Raz)

• Based on common experience• Empowerment for individuals• Universal system of values

What are human rights?

• universal set of normative standards• human rights start with breakfast

– BUT NOT cheving-gum approach (Tomaševski)

• “All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated.“ (1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action

• 1998 UN motto: „All human rights for all“• „the promotion and protection of all human

rights is a legitimate concern of the international community“

Origins of Human Rights• The golden rule• Domestic level• Virginia Declaration of Rights (George Mason, 1776)

– That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

• Declaration of the Rights of Man - 1789– 1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded

only upon the general good.– 4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the

exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.

Human Rights in International Law

• humanitarian law – victims of war (1864)• prohibition of slavery (slave trade in 1815)• ILO (1919) – improving the conditions of

workers• minority protection - non-discrimination,

freedom of religion– minority committee at the LofN accepting

petitions– PCIJ – advisory opinion, Minority schools in

Albania

HR after WW II

• F.D.Roosevelt (6 January 1941, Congress): „In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.“ speech, religion, freedom from want and fear

• UN Charter: „WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED … to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small“

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

• drafting committee: Eleanor Roosevelt (USA), Rene Cassin (Fr), Charles Malik (Lebanon), Peng-chun Chang (China), John Humphrey (UK)

• PREAMBLE: „Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,“

• 10 December 1948: International Human Rights Day

Categories of Human Rights

• Civil, political, economic, social and cultural

• Procedural rights, basic freedoms, prohibition of discrimination, etc.

• Generation of rights?

Main features of HR

• Absolute rights v. qualified rights- right to privacy v. freedom of expression- The case of princess of Monaco (von Hannover v Germany, ECHR, 2004)- Limitations must be based on law, have a legitimate aim and be proportionate

• Individual rights and collective rights• Can we waive our rights?

- Laskey, Jaggard and Brown v UK (ECHR, 1997)

HR obligations

• obligations on everybody? • in IL legally rights vis-à-vis the state• States must respect, protect and fulfill HR

respect fulfill protect

individual individual individualOsman v UK (ECHR, 1998)

• positive and negative obligations

Hirst v UK (ECtHR, 2005)

• Should prisoners have a right to vote?• „ARTICLE P1-3

The High Contracting Parties undertake to hold free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature.“

http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=7548

(at 2:35)