IX Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2017

Nowadays the process of globalization, which has become the trend of world development for the last centuries, enters all spheres of social life, affecting various aspects of life. Undoubtedly it has a considerable influence on the world situation in the field of human rights.

This problem has become particularly noticeable after the Second World War, when the pace of globalization has increased. A lot of legal acts, treaties, conventions aimed to protect fundamental human rights and freedoms, were adopted on the international level.

One of the main legal acts is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights¹. It was adopted and proclaimed by the third General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December, 1948 in Paris. It was aimed at ensuring universal and effective recognition and implementation of the proclaiming human rights.

The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, better known as the European Convention on Human Rights², was opened for signature in Rome on 4 November 1950 and came into force in 1953³. This international treaty is to ensure the collective realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. It also establishes the methods for their protection.

However, as the contemporary society continues to face violation of human rights round the world, it is always in quest of the legal protection of social relations and the improvement of legislation. Thus, one of the international legal innovations is the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union⁴ adopted on December 12, 2007. This document enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights and serves as an important landmark even for countries outside the European Union. It contains a series of new provisions in the field of protection of human rights by comparison with the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Additional Protocols.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union extends the list of basic human rights and freedoms. Among the civil rights along with the right to life, prohibition of torture, the right to liberty and security established in the Convention and the Charter appears the inviolability, respect and protection of human dignity (Article 1), the right to physical and mental integrity of the person (Article 3), the right to the protection of personal data (Article 8), freedom of the arts and sciences (Article 13), respect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity (Article 22).

Political and information rights along with the traditional rights such as the right to free elections, already established by the Convention, are supplemented with the right to good administration (Article 41), the right of access to documents (Article 42), right of petition (Article 44).

The block of socio-economic rights of the Charter along with the right to education, the protection of property, the right to marry, established by the Convention, includes the equality between women and men in all aspects, including employment, work and pay (Article 23), a primary consideration of the child's best interests in all actions relating to children (Article 24), the right of parents to ensure the education and teaching of their children in conformity with their religious, philosophical and pedagogical convictions (Article 14), freedom to choose an occupation (Article 15), the legal, economic and social protection of the family ( Article 33), health care (Article 35), consumer protection (Article 38).

New rights of citizens appeared in the field of justice. The right to a fair trial, established in the Convention, is supplemented with the right to an effective remedy (Article 47), principles of legality and proportionality of criminal offences and penalties (Article 49).

Among the innovations there is the Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which states that ‘Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes and on the basis of the consent of the person concerned or some other legitimate basis laid down by law. Everyone has the right of access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to have it rectified». Moreover, the same article of the Charter has a provision that ‘compliance with these rules shall be subject to control by an independent authority’⁵.

The provisions on the rights of the child are very important. Article 24 establishes ‘In all actions relating to children, whether taken by public authorities or private institutions, the child’s best interests must be a primary consideration’⁶. Also, this article proclaims the right of the child to protection and care necessary for their well-being.

The question of the protection of young people in the workplace is also relevant. Young people want to depend less on their parents and have own earnings. However, statistics show that 18- to 24-year-olds are more likely to have a serious accident at work than older adults⁷. Thus, according to Article 32 ‘Young people admitted to work must have working conditions appropriate to their age and be protected against economic exploitation and any work likely to harm their safety, health or physical, mental, moral or social development or to interfere with their education’⁸. This provision is a very important, because it provides protection of young people, which in the future will be promising employees for the benefit of society.

Among the important objects that need protection is health. According to the Chartered Institute of Environmental health ‘Health protection is the branch of public health concerned with policies and practice to improve the prevention and control of infectious diseases and other environmental threats to the health of the population’⁹. Article 35 of the Charter states that ‘Everyone has the right of access to preventive health care and the right to benefit from medical treatment under the conditions established by national laws and practices’¹⁰. This provision ensures a high level of protection of human health in the policy implementation and activities.

We would like to draw your Attention to Article 36. It confers the right to access to services of general economic interest - ‘services of general economic interest (SGEI) are economic activities that public authorities identify as being of particular importance to citizens and that would not be supplied (or would be supplied under different conditions) if there were no public intervention. Examples are transport networks, postal services and social services.¹¹’ This right is caused by scientific and technological progress and the development of social functions. It is applied to telecommunications, transport and energy, without which the humanity cannot exist.

Finally it should be notes that the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union are necessary for the protection of human rights in the context of globalization. Articles of the Charter reflect the need for new rights, which correspond to the trends of modern society, ensure means of legal defense. To our mind this way of the protection of human rights is the most effective, as because detailed settlement of all aspects of public relations allows avoiding discrimination and keeping human values.

1 See: See: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. http://www.jus.uio.no/lm/un.universal.declaration.of.human.rights.1948/portrait.a4.pdf

2 See: European Convention of Human Rights. http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf

3 See: The European Convention. http://www.echr.coe.int/pages/home.aspx?p=basictexts

4 See: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/charter-of-fundamental-rights-of-the-european-union-2007-c_303-01_en.pdf

5 See: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/charter-of-fundamental-rights-of-the-european-union-2007-c_303-01_en.pdf

6 See: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/charter-of-fundamental-rights-of-the-european-union-2007-c_303-01_en.pdf

7 See: Young people and safety and health at work. https://osha.europa.eu/en/themes/young-workers

8 See: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/charter-of-fundamental-rights-of-the-european-union-2007-c_303-01_en.pdf

9 See: Health protection. http://www.cieh.org/policy/health_protection.html

10 See: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/charter-of-fundamental-rights-of-the-european-union-2007-c_303-01_en.pdf

11 See: Services of general economic interest (public services). http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/overview/public_services_en.html

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