The Constitutional Protection of Human Rights

All the world knows such documents as the American Declaration of Independence 1776, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen 1789 and, of more lasting importance, the series of Amendments to the United States Constitution adopted in 1791 as the American Bill of Rights.

The constitutional settlement in the United States and the attached Bill of Rights provided a model for the protection of human rights. For many years this US model stood almost alone, but now the overwhelming majority of world states have a written constitution providing checks and balances against the abuse of authority and enshrining in one form or another fundamental rights and liberties of individuals. There is no one model. In some states the fundamental rights and liberties are protected within the Constitution itself.

It has to be remembered that the effectiveness of the protection of human rights is dependent only in part on the rights and liberties set out in relevant law. There are many instances of states whose constitutions contain an impressive series of human rights provisions which are not observed in practice. In such cases, outside pressure by international organizations, both private and public, and the existence of binding international treaty obligations are of particular importance.

II. Answer the following questions.

1. What documents protecting human rights do you know?

2. What is the Bill of Rights?

3. What did the Bill of Rights provide in the USA?

4. What does a written constitution provide?

5. Are there any other constitutional models in the world?

6. What are the ways of influencing the states where human rights are not observed in practice?

III. Translate the text.

IV. Grammar tasks.

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