1. The concept and content of fundamental human rights.

2. Grounds for restricting human rights.

Respect for human and civil rights and freedoms is one of the basic principles of a State governed by the rule of law.

The adoption of the current Constitution of the Russian Federation and a number of laws in the development of its provisions contributed to the exercise by Russian citizens of their rights and freedoms and meets the interests of further progress of our state along the path of reforms.

1

Human rights are one of the main branches of modern international law. It is formed by the principles and norms that have established basic and derived human rights and thereby defined the standards of democracy in the international and national systems. Basic human rights should be understood as rights contained in international legal instruments on human rights and the Constitution of the State, while derivative rights are enshrined in sectoral legislation.

There are many views and theories on the issue of human rights. Let's focus on two main approaches to its solution. The first assumes that human rights are given by nature, he has them

from birth. They are integral, and the task of the State is to protect them, not to allow their violation. This approach is typical for democratic societies and States.

According to the second approach, human rights are guaranteed by society and the State. This approach prevails in totalitarian societies and States, where the idea of rights is seen as an arena of ideological confrontation.

Rights exist regardless of whether they are fixed somewhere or not. They flow directly from the natural order of things, from life itself, and are basically "natural", "innate", that is, absolute, unchangeable. This is the concept of natural human rights, which is reflected in the Constitution of the Russian Federation: "Fundamental human rights and freedoms are inalienable and belong to everyone from birth." This implies the following constitutional provision: "Recognition, observance and protection of human and civil rights and freedoms is the duty of the state" (Article 2). Accordingly, "no laws should be issued that abrogate or detract from human and civil rights and freedoms" (Article 55, Part 2).

Currently, the UN is the center of cooperation between States in the protection of human rights. The preamble to the UN Charter states that UN members are determined to " affirm faith in fundamental human rights..."

The UN Charter imposes on States the responsibility to promote and promote respect for human rights, as well as the responsibility to ensure respect for human rights. Any international treaty that detracts from human rights will be invalid if it contradicts the Charter as it contradicts the obligations of a UN Member State.

As a follow-up to the principle enshrined in the Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, defining the list and content of fundamental human rights. It refers to the basic rights of the individual - the right to life, to equality of all people, to freedom and personal inviolability, the right to protect one's home, honor and reputation, and the right to equal protection of the law. Civil and political rights are proclaimed here. A number of articles of the Declaration have received international recognition of socio-economic rights. To emphasize the importance of the Declaration, the date of its adoption is December 10 The UN has declared Human Rights Day.

In 1966, the UN adopted two international covenants - on civil and political rights and on economic, social and cultural rights. Russia is a party to both pacts. Unlike the Declaration, they are binding, as they are clothed in a contractual form, and represent the first comprehensive regulation of fundamental human rights.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights contains many provisions that were previously proclaimed in the Universal Declaration. At the same time, it established a number of fundamentally new provisions: on the prohibition of propaganda of war, on freedom of association, including the right to participate and form trade unions, on equality before the law, on the right to protect ethnic, religious and national minorities, and on marriage and family relations. A significant part of the articles of the Covenant deals with the creation of a special body - the Human Rights Committee. It reviews the reports of States on the measures they have taken to implement the provisions of the Covenant and develops general recommendations.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights establishes the right to work and the obligation of States to take measures to ensure this right. The Covenant proclaims human rights to social security, to education, to the participation and formation of trade unions, to the protection of the family, to a certain standard of living, to medical care, to participation in cultural life, etc. The provisions of the Covenant are fundamental and promote the exercise of political and civil rights.

Both Covenants emphasize that in order to ensure the full implementation of their provisions, States parties undertake to take the necessary measures, including legislative measures.

In addition to these Covenants, the international community has adopted a significant number of conventions dealing with certain categories of human rights. Among them are the 1966 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of Genocide. Special attention is paid to the rights of the most vulnerable categories of the population, in particular the rights of women and children. Numerous conventions and recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO) form a separate complex.

A significant number of human rights conventions are concluded at the regional level: within the framework of the Organization of African Unity( OAU), the Organization of American States (OAS), the Council of Europe and the CIS.

Russia's accession to the Council of Europe on February 28, 1996 (it became the 39th member of this organization) led to Russia's accession to the Charter of the Council of Europe and the ratification of a number of basic European conventions on human rights, primarily the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of November 4, 1950. After the accession of the Russian Federation on February 23, 1995 to the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe of September 2, 1949 and a number of protocols thereto, all legal decisions contained in these acts, in accordance with Article 15 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, constitute the norms of Russian law. The European Convention sets out the basic principles relating to human rights, and now all the norms of domestic law must be brought into line with them. Thus, the adoption of the current Constitution of the Russian Federation and a number of laws to develop its provisions abolished the main restrictions on travel abroad, expanded the rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of everyone to express their opinion, introduced a jury trial, abolished certain types of criminal penalties, reduced the scope of application of the death penalty, and strengthened guarantees for protection of accused persons and suspects in criminal proceedings. We emphasize that the Constitution of the Russian Federation (many of its provisions textually repeat the corresponding articles of the 1950 European Convention) meets the interests of further promotion of legal reforms in Russia.

Monitoring their observance is of no small importance in the realization of human rights and freedoms,

The system of international monitoring of respect for human rights is a completely new phenomenon and is in its infancy. There are three main forms of control: consideration of periodic reports of the State; procedure for consideration of disputes concerning the interpretation and implementation of specific agreements;

consideration of individual petitions.

Monitoring is carried out by the UN, in particular the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, as well as specialized bodies: the Commission on Human Rights and the Commission on Women's Rights. In 1993, the General Assembly established the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights, which reports annually to the UN on the state of human rights in individual countries and in the world as a whole. UN specialized agencies, such as UNESCO, pay considerable attention to human rights. The ILO's control mechanism is the most well-established.

Among regional controls, the most developed is the Council of Europe system. Russian citizens were able to file complaints to the European Commission and the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg about violations of their rights.

The Council of Europe's human rights protection mechanism is as follows. Any person (or group of citizens) must go through all the judicial instances of the Russian Federation (up to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation) with a claim for violation of their rights and/or freedoms. If, in the opinion of the plaintiff, justice is not restored by our courts, then he will have the right to apply directly to the European Court of Justice, which is called upon to consider citizens ' applications for illegal actions of state authorities. If the Court satisfies the citizen's complaint, the state, whose bodies have carried out illegal actions, is obliged to comply with the Court's decision.

2

All human and civil rights and freedoms (see diagram) are subject to equal legal protection under the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

But the development of civil society inevitably creates situations that require the state to restrict civil rights and freedoms. The question is who, on what grounds, for what time, and within what limits can or should do this.

Restrictions on fundamental rights are exceptions to the constitutional status of a person and citizen permitted by the Constitution and established by federal law, i.e. they do not relate to individual cases or specific problems, but to general actions of people, for example, restrictions on public events in emergency situations, freedom of movement, etc. 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). For example, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms provides that in times of war or any other state of emergency threatening the existence of a nation, any of the High Contracting Parties may take measures derogating from its obligations under this Convention only to the extent that this is due to the extreme circumstances, provided that such measures do not contradict its other obligations under international law.

Absolute, i.e. rights that cannot be restricted under any circumstances, are: the right to life, dignity, the right not to be subjected to torture, violence, other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to inviolability of private life, personal and family secrets, protection of one's honor and good name, the right not to be subjected to torture, violence, or other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment. the right to freedom of conscience and religion, the right to freely use one's abilities and property for entrepreneurial and other economic activities not prohibited by law, the right to housing, and procedural rights in criminal proceedings. The norms of public law prohibit restrictions on gender, race, nationality, language, origin, property and official position, place of residence, attitude to religion, beliefs, membership in public associations, etc.

Following Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Constitution of the Russian Federation introduced the institution of restriction of rights and freedoms in the presence of certain grounds: "The rights and freedoms of a person and citizen may be restricted by federal law only to the extent necessary in order to protect the foundations of the constitutional system, morals, health, rights and legitimate interests of ensuring national defense and state security". The listed grounds for restricting rights and freedoms are clearly provided for unpredictable circumstances that may require strengthening the protection of some rights at the expense of restricting other human rights. The Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, in each case of adopting a law on restriction of rights and freedoms, will have to take a specific and balanced approach to determining the measure and necessity of restricting each constitutional right, giving the restrictive norms of the law a permanent or temporary character.

Thus, the constitutional rule of restriction of fundamental rights and freedoms, expressed by the words "only to the extent necessary", means the proportionality of restrictions to constitutionally significant goals.

Cooperation between States in the field of international legal regulation aimed at ensuring fundamental human rights and freedoms has now achieved significant success. And our country has created a whole system of legal acts that protect human rights. The challenge today is to get them implemented as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Constitutional rights and freedoms of Russian citizens

Personal (civil) rights and freedoms:

* right to life;

* the right to protection and protection of personal dignity, honor and good name;

* the right to liberty and security of person;

* the right to secrecy of correspondence, telephone conversations, postal, telegraph and other communications;

* the right to privacy, personal and family secrets;

* the right to inviolability of the home;

* the right to freely determine and indicate one's national identity;

* the right to use their native language, to freely choose the language of communication, education, training and creativity;

* the right to freedom of movement, choice of place of stay and residence within Russia;

* freedom of conscience and religion;

* freedom of thought and speech, unhindered expression of opinions and beliefs;

* the right to citizenship

Political rights and freedoms:

* the right to participate in the management of State affairs, both directly and through their representatives;

* the right to vote and be elected, to participate in a referendum;

* the right to freely seek, receive, produce and disseminate information in any legal way;

* the right to associate, including the formation of trade unions;

* the right to hold meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets peacefully and without weapons;

* the right to individual and collective appeals to State and local authorities;

* the right to participate in the administration of justice;

* right to alternative civil service;

* the right to equal access to public service

Socio-economic and cultural rights and freedoms:

* the right to private property;

* freedom of entrepreneurial activity;

* right to housing;

* the right to health protection and medical assistance;

* right to rest;

* freedom of work;

* the right to a favorable environment;

* the right to education;

* caring for children and their upbringing;

* the right to social security;

* freedom of all kinds of creativity, teaching;

* the right to participate in cultural life

Lieutenant Colonel of Justice Vyacheslav BATYR, Associate Professor of the Department of Military Law of the Military University

Permanent link to this publication: