Any discussion of human rights in post-colonial countries of Asia conducted from the perspective of Western civilization faces many obstacles, particularly related to existing differences, or even cultural barriers and different traditions. Postcolonial states, despite the remaining remnants of the colonial era-visible in their legal systems, that still contain normative acts adopted before obtaining sovereignty – very firmly resist to the adoption of the universal catalog of human rights set out in the UN Covenants, as well as the use of standards in their observance that are compatible with those made within the United Nations. Both – the so-called ideology of Asian values, as well as the concept of the ASEAN community is not conducive to the creation of international binding legal framework and does not allow (or even leading in the future) to create a universal system of human rights protection. On the contrary – it leads to the deepening ideological differences or even philosophical, in the further development of democracy among Western countries and Asia. From the perspective of European constitutional law, it may be interesting to see the arguments of post-colonial Asia judges on the issue of the division of power in the context of judicial activism and the protection of constitutional values. The purpose of this publication is to present the views of Singapore’s judiciary in connection with the reforms introduced in 2013 that abolish the mandatory death penalty for certain crimes together with the possibility of replacing it by a court decision with life imprisonment and flogging.

The paper is dealing with the constitutional and historical importance of Act I. of 1946. In 1946 Hungary has changed its form of government. The passage of Act I of 1946 has defined Hungary’s form of government as a republic. In addition to the creation of a republic, the legislation provided powers for the president of the Hungarian Republic. Moreover, the Preamble of Act I. of 1946 was the first document in the Hungarian constitutional history which summarized and declared the most important natural and inalienable rights of the citizens.

Self-immolators as a new social movement? An attempt to systemize phenomenon in integral and system conceptualization

In this paper an author highlight that political self-immolation has been occurring for nearly two thousand years and the main center of this phenomenon is in Asia. Unification of attitudes and globalization are factors that in a flash spread information around the world. This means that about self-immolation everyone, potentially, know in a minute after it occur. Against common knowledge self-immolation are done because of socio-political reasons, deeply altruistic and not because of psychological reasons or unadjustedness of self-immolators as proposed by representatives of nondemocratic regimes. Self-immolation phenomenon is worth of permanent observation by political scientists as they may lead to political changes of great importance as it was in Tunisia (2010). Those who have power and authority by breaking human rights are responsible for self-immolation acts.

Bardzo często, kiedy w dyskursie publicznym analizie poddaje się poziom i skalę bezpieczeństwa człowieka, na plan pierwszy wysuwa się „bezpieczeństwo zdrowotne” tegoż. Wynika to przede wszystkim z faktu, że na wszelkiego rodzaju rozwój (zarówno w skali globalnej, kontynentalnej, państwowej, regionalnej czy jednostkowej) diametralny wpływ ma właśnie zdrowie człowieka. Niestety wpływ na nie ma nierzadko szereg czynników niezależnych od niego samego. Warunków, zarówno jego zagwarantowania, jak i niedostatku szukać należy w przyczynach politycznych, ekonomicznych, społecznych, kulturowych, demograficznych, czy też stanu środowiska naturalnego. Jakość i poziom zdrowia człowieka, zarówno w kontekście społecznym, jak i publicznym, uzależnione będą w takim samym stopniu od postępujących stale procesów globalizacyjnych, które przenikają dzisiaj do każdej płaszczyzny życia jednostki, jak i od sytuacji państwa, w którym dana jednostka funkcjonuje.
W poniższym artykule autorka podejmuje próbę analizy zależności pomiędzy skalą dysfunkcyjności państwa a poziomem bezpieczeństwa zdrowotnego jego obywateli. W jej opinii, słabość administracji państwowej, korupcja, nepotyzm, ubóstwo, analfabetyzm, bezrobocie etc., tak charakterystyczne dla państw „dysfunkcyjnych – wrażliwych”, to główne przyczyny problemów „bezpieczeństwa zdrowotnego”. Obszar badań stanowić będzie kontynent afrykański, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem Afryki Subsaharyjskiej, ponieważ skupia on w swoim regionie najwięcej państw dysfunkcyjnych w skali globu.

Ritual slaughter as the right of national minorities in Poland

The article in question comprises an analysis of legal regulations which are in effect in Poland and that refer to a possibility of using the practice of ritual slaughter. The considerations start with comparative and historical comments. Subsequently, it is presented how the Constitution interprets freedom of conscience and religion on grounds of constitutional laws that are guaranteed to national minorities paying attention to the fact that freedom of religion may be subject to restrictions when one takes the principle of proportionality into account. What is finally submitted is the reasoning of the Constitutional Tribunal expressed in the judgement of 10 December 2014, which considers the practice of ritual slaughter in Poland as acceptable and in accordance with the Constitution. The considerations finish with indicating numerous controversies connected with the following judgement.

Human and citizen rights as moral and political indicator of German Federal Republic legal system

The end of Nazism lawlessness, proved – beyond reasonable doubt – that values which are sustainable and unbreakable exists. These values are getting older – as everything in this world, but does not become outdated. As a starting point shall be taken joint and individual experiences from National-Socialists period, which cannot be forgotten, especially from perspective of historical context: the state and society were impact by ideological experiment. The experiment had a common meaning – individuals disregard and cult of masses. Never individualism did not mean so few. And never the freedom of individual was so deficit commodity. When thinking deeper on this subject, it is – without any doubts, possible to assumed, that these past experiences had strong and thorough influence on authors of German constitution from 1949. It shall be emphasized that the opening word of the German Basic Law is: „The human dignity is irrebuttable”. From the point of legal system, it is striking, because in typical (and – commonly used in other democratic systems) opening constitutional provisions, we can read, to whom the power in the state is dedicated, or what is the legal form of state.

Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as a fundamental instrument of the European law – does this statement still remain valid?

Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is often referred as a fundamental instrument of the European law. The following study, through a detailed description of the circumstances of creation of the Convention, its normative content, enforcement mechanism and the current context in which it is in force, seeks to demonstrate whether the above statement remains valid in the current political and legal reality. It is true that in the Convention sovereign states accepted for the first time legal obligations to secure the classical human rights and freedoms and – what is particularly relevant – to allow all individuals to bring applications against the state, leading to a specially founded international judicial body finding them in breach. This was a crucial, revolutionary step in the evolution of the international law that, for centuries, had been based on such deeply entrenched foundations as the ideas that the settlement of the freedoms and rights of individuals was within the domestic jurisdiction of states and that individuals were not subjects of rights in this law. The Convention has thus generated the effective enforcement mechanism in the world, which contribution to the setting of standards for the protection of human rights and freedoms is unrivalled. However, it cannot be lost from one’s sight that currently the presence of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in the European legal space and the weakness of the Council of Europe, under of which auspices the European Convention on Human Rights was adopted, manifesting itself in the fact that it associates a large number of countries with quite diverse political and legal culture and the standards of democracy, make the practical importance of the Convention be the subject of constant verification.

Protection of human rights in selected postcolonial Asian countries –  current problems

Any discussion of human rights in post-colonial countries in Asia conducted from the perspective of Western civilization faces many obstacles, particularly related to the existing cultural differences, or even barriers and different traditions. Postcolonial states, despite the remaining remnants of the colonial era – visible example in their legal system, which still contains normative acts adopted before obtaining sovereignty – very firmly based universal adoption of the catalog of human rights as defined in the UN covenants, as well as the application of the standards in their compliance, which would be in line with those elaborated within the framework of the UN. The adopted ideology of so-called „Asian values” leads to a re-widening ideological differences, or even philosophical, in the further development of democracy between Western countries and Asia. At the same time, this gives rise to extract new direction of research, which is to analyze the development of human rights in post-colonial countries of Asia and the West, the study of unknown problems that will come up in relation to the existence of the doctrine of „Asian values”. The aim of this publication is to present current issues related to the debate on human rights, which recently appeared in Singapore and India.

Consitutional status Ombudsman institution in Latvia

The institution of Ombudsman originated in Scandinavia. The spread of the institution – which is now a solution typical of democratic countries – took place at the end of the twentieth century. At that time the institution has been widely welcome in the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. In Latvia, it is not a constitutional body. Latvian Ombudsman acts on the basis of the Act of 2006, its predecessor was the National Bureau of Human Rights. Latvian legislator in a manner appropriate to democratic standards specify the position of Ombudsman of the political system and created him an opportunity to actually carry out the tasks assigned to it. Unfortunately, the practical effects of the activities of the Ombudsman leave much to be desired.

The institution of oath (affirmation)  and the protection of freedom of conscience and religion

Legal obligation to take the oath may interfere with the fundamental rights of the individual, especially with freedom of conscience and religion. In the particular states there are various ways to remove these type of collision, for example, the ability to take affirmation in place of the oath-taking or the extraordinary admissibility of the oath’s text modification. The given options are anchored in the statute law provisions or in the judicial practice. Not always, however, the indicated solutions are fully responsive to possible conscientious objections. In the author’s view, instead of derogation of the title institution from legal orders, oaths’ texts should attain the “appropriate” form – ie. oath wording refers to a relatively universal values –and a certain degree of flexibility in the interpretation of the law is needed. The obligation to take the oath and obligation to respect fundamental rights may be seen as the optimization requirements, and the most proper way to remove conflicts between them in a particular case is to use the method of proportional weighing in accordance with the Robert Alexy’s theory of legal principles.

The legal basis of the right to health care in Poland

The topic of the article is the analysis of legal basis governing the right to health in the Polish Republic. Polish health care system, which, in practice, implementing the right to health is characterized by far-reaching instability, but its basic foundations remain the same. Statutory regulations of 1989 are subject to constant change, and the solutions implemented constitutionality was challenged by the Constitutional Court. Also, the- re is currently no comprehensive vision of the health system, and all the changes were made so far is partial. Lack of comprehensive reforms, as well as the disorder in some areas of the health system by adopting the law uniformly regulating specific issues cau- sing adverse situations for beneficiaries and does not contribute to the stabilization of the legal system in this sector.

Legal protection of national anthem – characteristic and main functions

The present paper is an analysis of the legal regulations on national anthem in Polish Constitutional Legal system. The author claims that national anthem is a part of intangible national heritage and as a consequence individual can realize his cultural right thanks to the participation in anthem’s heritage. Paper presents constitutional regulation in relation to legal resolutions in different Member States. Art. 28 of Polish Constitution positioned in 1 st Chapter has very special meaning for the right to participate in national heritage’s fulfillment that was characterized in last part of the article.

Application of human rights law in reality of an armed conflict 

For many years international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights law (HR) used to be separated branches of law applied in different situations and circumstances. Depending on the state of international relations human rights law as “law of peace” or international humanitarian law as “law of war” (ius in bellum) had to be chosen. On the other hand human rights were a domain of a classical state’s constitutional law whilst IHL was a subject of interstate treaties. Even despite shared common values such as human dignity or humanitarianism, paths of both legal systems have not crossed with each other at least until the end of sixties or seven- ties of the twentieth century. Changes which have occurred during last 30 years in international relations as well as appearance of new forms of armed conflicts forced scholars as well as international judicial bodies to consider a shift in previous standard and narrow way of legal interpretation. The author of the article presents different historical roots of both legal branches of law as well as contemporary challenges related with their frequent penetration in circumstances of modern armed conflicts such as in Balkans, Turkey, Russia or Iraq.

Activity of the Venice Commission to improve democratic standards in the legislation of Montenegro in 2011–2014

This paper is an attempt to show the activity of the Venice Commission regarding Montenegro in 2011–2014. The Commission for Democracy through Law focuses its activity primarily on constitutional law, analyzing not only draft amendments to fundamental law, but also all amendments to the constitution and other legal acts related to the fundamental system order. The actions of the Commission described in the text refer to Montenegro, which is a parliamentary democracy, the political system of which is governed by the 2007 Constitution. The state is applying for membership in the European Union, which began accession negotiations in June 2012. However, there are still many issues in terms of compatibility to European standards, which require significant attention to reach the desired state, in line with the standards functioning in the West of Europe.
The first part of the text is an introduction to the subject of the Venice Commission’s activities. The second part deals with the Commission’s activities in matters of legal aid and its mission to improve democratic standards and the protection of human rights. The third part of the text is an attempt to present the influence of the Venice Commission, through its opinions and recommendations, on the legislative process of Montenegro. It focused on the Commission’s activities and its possible impact on improving the observance of democratic standards in Montenegro. The final thought is in turn an attempt to draw conclusions from the analyzed material.

European Convention on Human Rights and Charter of Fundamental  Rights of European Union – compatibility or confrontation

European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms enjoys good opinion of the constitutional act orders European legal space of human rights. The pearl in the Convention crown is European Court of Human Rights, which case-law creates European standards of human rights in contemporary way. Being obligatory, Lisbon Treaty and Charter of Fundamental Rights of European Union change the previous situation. Instrumentarium of the human rights protection in Europe has been enriched. However a number of questions about the relation between Convention and Charter arise and the relation between European Court of Human Rights and Court of Justice of European Union as well as the case-law of both European courts. Are the relations going to be complementary or use confrontation?

Interwencja humanitarna jako działania podmiotów międzynarodowych wobec państw to akt, wobec którego idea suwerenności państw i wymogi powszechnie obowiązujących praw człowieka wchodzą w niejednoznaczne relacje. W artykule przedstawiono analizę idei suwerenności w kontekście interwencji humanitarnej i praw człowieka jako jej moralnego uzasadnienia. Okazuje się, że analiza tych relacji przynosi możliwość przedefiniowania pojęcia suwerenności i praw człowieka. Ukazane zostaje ponowne określenie ról tych idei, które mogą być przeprowadzone w oparciu o analizy tych związków.

The fundamental human right to dignity is the cornerstone of European legal culture. The right has been provided for in international, European, and national legal instruments. Its role as a benchmark reference for all other human rights has developed into a self-standing and self-executing right, especially under the new EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. This evolution from the traditional role of the right to dignity is analysed in case study based on a real case before the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic in 2015. The analysis brings forward a reflection about the need to respect the concept of dignity and how it actually is observed in the European context.

The question of human rights from an Asian perspective

The concept of human rights from the very beginning was involved in political struggle and up to now is manipulated by governments, politicians and various groupings for their purposes. Being deeply rooted in the Christian intellectual tradition its universal implementation faces various difficulties in the countries that belong to other traditions, in particular Confucian and Buddhist. Among the principal problems in the Asia-Pacific region the author points out a collectivist notion of an individual and different interpretation of “freedom”, as well as absence of the legal tradition and the emphasis on obligations rather than on rights. Therefore, in the Asia-Pacific region two elements, crucial to “human rights”, are lacking: an autonomous individual as a subject and the recognition of innate rights. Moreover, the Confucian political tradition elaborated a different concept and structure of state. Under historical tradition and circumstances political aspirations of the people were very low and the movement for human rights could not be born. It was initiated only recently under the Western impact. The author analyses potential scenarios of the future evolution and indicates that the economic development and social transformations in course will increase autonomy of an individual and strengthen legal order, as well as stimulate further democratization initiated in the region merely at the end of the 1980s. However, in order to introduce the concept of human rights to social and political practice a profound transformation of East Asian civilization is required.

Institution of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Turkmenistan – normative dimension and practice

The article presents the institution of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Turkmenistan, also officially referred to as the Ombudsman of Turkmenistan. The institution of Ombudsman was established in the Constitution of Turkmenistan in a new editing of 14 September 2016, and detailed regulations were included in the Law of 23 November 2016 “On Ombudsman”. Statutory regulations concerning the Ombudsman generally meet the standards of similar acts being in force in democratic countries. However, in the reality of the authoritarian system of Turkmenistan, where fundamental human rights are violated, the new institution is not able to perform the functions for which it was established. The evidence is the Ombudsman’s first report for 2017, which clearly lacks cases relating to human rights of the first generation. As a matter of fact, until democratic changes take place in Turkmenistan, as well as change in the policy of the state authorities in their approach to the protection of individual rights and freedoms, the institution of the Ombudsman will remain a facade institution.

Works of art often refer to privacy or the freedom of conscience and religion. The goal of the study is to contribute to the discussion on resolving conflict situations arising from the way of reception of art and to point out circumstances worth taking into consideration while choosing measures intended to prevent conflicts or at least minimize the effects of conflict situations that have already occurred. That is why it appears indispensable to consider difficulties in defining art-related concepts basing on social science, and to present artistic creation as a form of expression, as well as to analyze the determinants of the freedom of artistic creation as a law-protected interest in the political-legal system in the situation of conflict with other human rights.