Protecting human rights

Analyzing, montoring and speaking out against any infringements of rights; disseminating to the international community documented information on abuses of the rights of the individual or the community; pressing for the elimination of rights abuses; actively contributing to the development of international standards pertaining to the protection of rights; seizing opportunities to promote adoption of Bills of Rights; pressing for adherence by governments, including their legislative branches, to the observance of relevant international conventions, protocols and standards on human rights; sensitizing and mobilizing the mass media and the traditional communication network to defend basic rights.

Defending human rights involves defending basic forms of social integration. The policies and measures that lead to social disintegration run counter to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in particular to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which maintains, especially in its third, fourth and fifth preambular paragraphs, that it is inherent in the rights of free human beings that they "enjoy civil and political freedom and freedom from fear and want" and that this "can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his civil and political rights, as well as his economic, social and cultural rights".

Over the course of twelve sessions, from 1985 to 1997, an open-ended working group established by the UN Commission on Human Rights worked to draft a declaration on the right and the duty of individuals and organizations to protect and foster human rights and freedoms. Representatives of dozens of member states of the Commission attended the meetings of the Working Group, while representatives of non-member states attended as observers. The Commission decided in April 1997 that the efforts of the Working Group should continue in an attempt to conclude the draft declaration, in the fiftieth anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration was adopted at the 53rd session of the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998. The Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is unique in its recognition that human rights defenders have the right to focus their efforts on specific facets of human rights and to choose the non-violent methods they would use to achieve their goals. The declaration further stresses that human rights defenders should be limited only by the constraints of the law and that they deserve the encouragement of the international community.

The Treaty of the European Union II (Amsterdam 1997), contains the following provisions for human rights: (1) Article 6 (ex Article F) of the EU Treaty has been amended so as to reaffirm the principle of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; (2) a procedure is laid down for dealing with cases where a Member State has committed a breach of the principles on which the Union is based; (3) more effective action is to be taken to combat not only discrimination based on nationality but also discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation; (4) new provisions on equal treatment for men and women are inserted in the Treaty establishing the European Community; (5) individuals are afforded greater protection with regard to the processing and free movement of personal data; and (6) the Final Act was accompanied by declarations on the abolition of the death penalty, respect for the status of churches and philosophical or non-confessional organisations, and on the needs of persons with a disability.