Human rights and the European organisations

The European continent suffered much during World War II. To improve peacekeeping and cooperation with one another after the war, leaders of the region founded three organizations: the Council of Europe1, the European Union2, and later, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)3. Originally, they were founded with different purposes: The Council of Europe promotes the rule of law, human rights, and democracy. The EU promotes trade4 and economic stability. OSCE keeps peace and security in Europe. Today, they deal with many similar issues, but as for human rights, the Council of Europe is still the one that works most in that area. In 1950, the European Convention on Human Rights was adopted. It was inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights5 was established in 1953. It is located in Strasbourg, France, and makes decisions for all states that are member states of the Council of Europe. Both individual people and states can submit a statement about a violation of human rights. The Court only accepts applications when the person has tried everything possible in his or her own state. The Court looks into the application to decide if the European Convention on Human Rights has been violated or not. Usually, 9 judges6 reach a decision together. Some examples of cases where a Lithuanian citizen applied to the European Court of Human Rights: A lady complained that Lithuania did not work fast enough to solve the case7 of domestic violence from her husband. As a result, the case was closed and the husband was not punished. Many other people have applied for similar reasons. A prisoner complained that his letters were being censored8. Another person complained that he had been arrested without reason and was not allowed to explain anything. A couple complained that a policeman used a gun against them for no reason. Another woman also complained about the humiliating actions of the police. Some of the cases were closed, in some of them Lithuania had to take some action, for example, pay a sum of money to the person. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ True or false? 1. Nowadays, the Council of Europe, the EU, and the OSCE solve many similar problems. 2. The Council of Europe is the only organisation in Europe that works on human rights. 3. Applications to the European Court of Human Rights can only be submitted by a country. 4. You can apply if you have already done everything in your country. 5. The Court decides if the situation is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 6. Some cases against Lithuania were because of the reason of courts working inefficiently9. 7. In all the cases against Lithuania, the person who applied had to pay a sum of money.
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Europos taryba Europos sjunga 3 Europos saugumo ir bendradarbiavimo organizacija 4 Prekyba 5 Europos mogaus teisi teismas 6 Teisjai 7 Byla 8 Cenzruojami 9 Neefektyviai

International institutions that protect human rights

There are a number of international organisations and institutions that work in the area of protecting human rights. Some are organisations that were established for this specific purpose, for example, Amnesty International. It is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in more than 150 countries. What AI mostly does is research the situation of human rights around the world and campaign10 to end human rights violations. The vision of AI is that every person on the planet could enjoy all the rights mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. AI is independent of any government11, policial ideology, economic interest or religion. Human rights is also one of the most important working areas of the United Nations. One of the main institutions of the UN responsible for the area of human rights is the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Council is responsible for strengthening the protection of human rights around the world and for looking into situations of human rights violations and making recommendations on them. The Council meets at the UN Office at Geneva. It is made up of 47 United Nations Member States which are elected 12 bythe UN General Assembly. The Council: Assesses13 the human rights situations in all United Nations Member States. Accepts complaints on human rights violations. Also the, UN has the High Commissioner for Human Rights who is the main human rights official of the UN. The office of the High Commissioner helps governments by giving expert advice in the area of human rights protection. The main issues various UN institutions are currently working on include: Campaign to end violence14 against women Violence against children Children involved in armed conflict15 Human trafficking (buying and selling humans) The International Human Rights Day is celebrated on 10 December every year.

True or false? 1. Amnesty International works all around the world. 2. Amnesty International do not analyse the human rights situation themselves. 3. Amnesty International base their work mostly on the European Convention on Human Rights. 4. Amnesty International is a political organisation. 5. The UN Human Rights Council includes representatives of all United Nations Member States. 6. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights makes recommendations to countries on human rights issues. 7. The UN seeks to stop children from becoming soldiers.

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Protestuoti (Politin) valdia, vyriausyb 12 Irinkti 1313 Vertinti 14 Smurtas 15 Ginkluoti konfliktai

Lithuania and human rights

The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania (1992) was drafted in accordance with16 the main documents of the United Nations and the Council of Europe. Therefore, our Constitution meets the main international requirements for human rights. In 1995, Lithuania ratified the European Convention on Human Rights. This Convention was very important in creating the law of independent Lithuania. There are several institutions in Lithuania which work in the area of human rights. For example, the Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights was established in 1994. It focuses on human rights education and has organised a lot of projects and activities in this field. The main values of the LCHR are recognizing the equality17 of persons and non-discrimination. The main goals of the LCHR are: To spread18 knowledge about international and European Union human rights standards, to promote19 tolerance and respect to diversity20; To help more people understand the problems of vulnerable21 groups and minorities22; To observe human rights standards in Lithuania, to give suggestions and consultations to the government. Some of the projects that LCHR has done or is doing right now include: Tackling xenophobia23 in this project,university students of Law and Public administration24 will discuss human rights issues and will participate in a competition. A human rights film festival Ad Hoc: Inconvenient Films; A web project on tolerance and non-discrimination (www.manoteises.lt). Another organisation, the Human Rights Monitoring Institute25 is an independent organisation which seeks to create an open and democratic society by making protection of human rights and freedoms stronger. They monitor the human rights situation in Lithuania, organize discussions, seminars, and conferences. The main areas the institute focuses on are fight against discrimination, protection of vulnerable groups, the right to privacy, the right to fair trial26. The main human rights problems observed by the United Nations in 2012 were discrimination against minorities, regulation of hate speech27, freedom of expression and assembly28, pre-trial detention29. True or false? 1. The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania violates the main international human rights documents. 2. The European Convention on Human Rights has been signed by Lithuania 3. The Lithuanian Centre of Human Rights has been working for less than a decade. 4. The LCHR organizes activities to teach people about human rights. 5. The Human Rights Monitoring Institute organizes human rights education activities. 6. The UN are preoccupied about how Lithuania protects the right to express ones opinion.

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Atsivelgiant Lygyb 18 Skleisti 19 Skatinti 20 vairov 21 Paeidiamos 22 Maumos 23 Prie nepakantum kitatauiams 24 Teis ir vieasis administravimas 25 mogaus teisi stebjimo institutas 26 Teisingas teismas 27 Neapykantos kurstymas 28 odio ir susirinkim laisv 29 Sulaikymas iki teismo

1. What are human rights? 2. Why do we need human rights? 3. What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? 4. When, by whom, and why was the UDHR adopted? 5. Read this example and say which rights mentioned in the UDHR are being violated. Explain your answer. Child Labor Many children around the world are forced to work and provide for their family instead of going to school. These ideal of an innocent childhood clashes against the necessity of a poor family to earn money and feed all of its members. While such an experience can be positive for children, such as helping out on the family farm, or small chores around the house,there is a darker side. The practice of selling children into slavery to pay off a family debt still is popular, and an ongoing problem. Children work under terrible conditions. Typically they are never able to repay off the debt, and must work for the remainder of their lives without the right to leave. 6. What institutions in Lithuania protect human rights? How do they do it? 7. What international institutions protect human rights? How do they do it? 8. What human rights problems does Lithuania have?
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1. Everyone is free and we should all be treated in the same way. 2. Everyone is equal despite differences in skin colour, sex, religion, language for example. 3. Everyone has the right to life and to live in freedom and safety. 4. No one has the right to treat you as a slave nor should you make anyone your slave. 5. No one has the right to hurt you or to torture you. 6. Everyone has the right to be treated equally by the law. 7. The law is the same for everyone, it should be applied in the same way to all. 8. Everyone has the right to ask for legal help when their rights are not respected. 9. No one has the right to imprison you unjustly or expel you from your own country. 10. Everyone has the right to a fair and public trial. 11. Everyone should be considered innocent until guilt is proved. 12. Every one has the right to ask for help if someone tries to harm you, but no-one can enter your home, open your letters or bother you or your family without a good reason. 13. Everyone has the right to travel as they wish. 14. Everyone has the right to go to another country and ask for protection if they are being persecuted or are in danger of being persecuted. 15. Everyone has the right to belong to a country. No one has the right to prevent you from belonging to another country if you wish to. 16. Everyone has the right to marry and have a family. 17. Everyone has the right to own property and possessions. 18. Everyone has the right to practise and observe all aspects of their own religion and change their religion if they want to. 19. Everyone has the right to say what they think and to give and receive information. 20. Everyone has the right to take part in meetings and to join associations in a peaceful way. 21. Everyone has the right to help choose and take part in the government of their country. 22. Everyone has the right to social security and to opportunities to develop their skills. 23. Everyone has the right to work for a fair wage in a safe environment and to join a trade union. 24. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure. 25. Everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living and medical help if they are ill. 26. Everyone has the right to go to school. 27. Everyone has the right to share in their community's cultural life. 28. Everyone must respect the 'social order' that is necessary for all these rights to be available. 29. Everyone must respect the rights of others, the community and public property. 30. No one has the right to take away any of the rights in this declaration.