The Violation of Civil and Political Rights

In this paper I will discuss the question reffering to the State’s role in violations of civil and political rights. How does the State relate to the violation of civil and political rights? This is a very important and modern problem nowdays. Civil and political rights are very important. Almost everyone needs and wants to be a part of the human society. It is possible only with civil and political rights. The State is the main body which is responsible for the promotion and protection of civil and political rights.The promotion of civil and political rights guarantees the public order.Without the public order a community or section of a community find themselves exposed to organize and commit murders, rapes, other acts involving violation of those fundamental rights necessary for safety of the individual and the country.The State must do everything in order to promote and protect all human rights and not only civil and political rights. However, there are many cases of violations of human rights, especially civil and political, by the State. The State has all necessary power and mechanisms for protection of civil and political rights, but the State often uses its power and violates these rights.

The State can violate civil and political rights by doing something it shouldn’t do.For example, torture can be used by the State for punishing political opponents who do not share the ideology of the ruling group. There is an implicit tension in the relationship between states and rights: states are simultaneously a threat to human rights and their principal protector . It is now universally accepted that states are responsible for human rights conditions within their borders [1] . The State is the main protector and guarantor of such civil and political rights , as the right to life, liberty and personal security, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, the right to vote and be elected etc.However, the State commits violations of civil and political rights.And the State can do it for different reasons. Rulers can believe that such violations are necessary in order to maintain power, undermine or destroy the opposition. Or they may think that some types of violations are necessary in order to keep the public order . The reasons for such violations can be poverty, lack of knowledge of rights, the low level of democracy ,conditions in which the persons who have commited violations can remaine unpunished. Many states are weak, plagued with corruption, and unable to effectively police their territories . Weak states create conditions ripe for human rights abuse because they cannot restrain powerful citizens and lose control over their own employees. In such countries , where the judges, police ,public servants are paid poorly, there are often a lot of cases of violations of civil and political rights and the State is unable to control its own agents. A state that does not provide an efficient judiciary or police force will be unable to protect the rights of it’s citizens. Governments must do everything in order to prevent human rights violations commited by law inforcment officials. Governments and State agencies shall ensure that all law enforcement officials are selected by proper screening procedures, have appropriate moral, psychological and physical qualities for the effective exercise of their functions [2] . State capacity has a positive impact on human rights conditions. Stronger states perform better on measures of human rights protection because they are more effective at policing abusive private actors and controlling the actions of their own agents. But the violations are commited both by state’s agents and by the state itself. Nowdays, the governments use their police, army and other apparatus against their own citizens cousing violations of the right to political participation, the right to freedom of expression, the right to freedom of torture, the right to freedom from arbitarary detention etc.

A very important document in this field is the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights. Each State party undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present covenant, without any distinction [3] . The Covenant proclaims the rights to life, the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion , the right to hold opinions without interference ,the right to take part in the public affairs, the right to vote and be elected [4] . The Repubilc of Armenia has adopted this covenant and as a stat party Armenia must do everything to promote and protect civil and political rights of its citizens. Human rights in Armena are legally protected by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. The Constitution proclaims that Armenia is a democratic country. [5] In my opinion in democratic countries violations of civil and political rights must not take place. However, as the practice showes , there are many cases of violations commited by the State and by its agents . The significantly flawed February 2008 presidental election and violent break-up of ensuring protests that resulted in 10 deaths continued to fuel a political crisis that remaind largely unresolved during the year 2009 and resulted human rights abuses [6] . There are also many cases of deaths of soldiers in the army , who died in non-combat conditions. Such crimes are commited by the soldiers, by army officers. In my opinion the main reason for these crimes is that they think that they can hide the real facts of crime and will not be punished. The State must ensure fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial court, where the guilty person will get his punishment. In such way many crimes can be prevented , because everyone will know that the crime commited by him will not remain unpunished. There are also many applications against The Republic of Armenia in the European Court of Human Rights by the armenian nationals in which the applicants claimed that they had been victims of violations of such rights as the right to have a fair trial, the right to have his conviction or sentence be reviewed by a higher tribunal , the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association etc. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference, the right to freedom of expression [7] . The law provides these rights, however there have been violations. Several media outlets condemned the attack by police officers against the journalists, who were supporters of the opposition political party. Many cases of violations take place ,because of the lack of knowledge. Everyone can protect his/her rights by being informed about these rights. The Republic of Armenia is a democratic and developing country. And I hope that the time will come, when the State will reach to the high level of democracy and the State will be able to provide the realization of all human rights and the protection of these rights by its impartial state bodies.