Language rights in the Russian Federation: commùne bònum or bonorum privata? Language v. Constitution

The article presents the approaches to protecting an individual’s linguistic rights that appear in the literature on the subject and then the method of its implementation in the Russian Federation’s legislation. The conducted research allowed us to identify two ways of qualifying an individual’s linguistic rights as human rights. The first is based on understanding them as one of the rights of national minorities, and the second as a category of personal rights. The approaches interpenetrate each other because the native language of an individual is, on the one hand, an expression of national identity and, on the other, a personal good through which he expresses himself. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the state not only does not guarantee language rights but even that they may be violated. The constitution-maker created the conditions for reconciling this category of rights against international obligations.

Constitutional right of an individual to the protection of freedom and human rights and shaping individual safety – interdisciplinary approach to the problem

The obligations of the state towards people and citizens are included in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, those concerning security in Art. 5. However, this document does not clearly define the essence of this concept. The aim of the article is to show the need to include it in the basic law. The analysis of legal acts, literature in the field of security, state and law, and own research shows that society needs an unambiguous definition of terms. Of course, it was emphasized that the clarification of the definition of security in the Polish Constitution is not a simple challenge, as it cannot be formulated in absolute terms. However, an attempt can be made to analyze the subjective and objective approach to the problem. The need to look at individual security through the prism of development and the use of individual opportunities in the light of the common good protected by law has been demonstrated.

Some remarks on the judgment of the Swiss Federal Tribunal of 8 September 2020 (Caster Semenya case)

This article deals with an important for the world of sport ruling of the Swiss Federal Tribunal of 2020 (in the case of the athlete Caster Semenya) decided against the background of the legal aspects of gender differences and sports competition. It presents an overview of the problem and its resolution, as well as possible further implications of the case, related to the standards of human rights protection existing under the European Convention on Human Rights. The author presents the principles of the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment, respect for private and family life and the prohibition of discrimination and makes a legal assessment of the judgment in the case from their perspective. The analysis results in conclusions concerning legal aspects of gender differences and sports competition. These conclusions have a universal dimension and apply to the broadly defined sub-discipline of law, which is the sports law.

The purpose of the article is to draw attention to the functioning of constitutional guarantees of human rights and freedoms contained in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The author addresses the issue of human rights protection, including the development of institutions guaranteeing their protection in the context of the authoritarian model of governance in Venezuela. The paper is a theoretical attempt to present the problem of the functioning of human rights institutions in Venezuela at the constitutional level after the seizure of power by President Nicolas Maduro. It also attempts to determine to what extent the Chavista camp suspended constitutional guarantees of protection of human rights and freedoms in Venezuela. At the same time, the article describes how the petrification of the system of power by Nicolas Maduro affects the state of human rights protection in the country.

On March 24, 2021, the First Senate of The German Federal Constitutional Court issued that part of the Federal Climate Change Act of December 12, 2019 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 2513) must be deemed contrary to Basic Law. The fundamental reason underlying his conclusion was the failure of the federal legislator and the Federal Government to take suitable and prospectively sufficient measures to decrease greenhouse gasses (predominantly CO2) emissions. The Tribunal interpreted Art. 20a of the Basic Law, in conformity with the principle of intergenerational equity. By anchoring his reasoning in that concept, the Tribunal turned into an unclear and controversial path. It may serve to enhance radical political changes. However, on the other hand, it may also undermine the green change.

This paper analyzes how the approach of the European Union to the protection of fundamental rights evolved. It focuses on primary legislation, which ranks highest in the hierarchy of EU sources of law. For this purpose, the author examines the Founding Treaties, the Reform Treaties, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The paper focuses on modifying the Treaties due to the complexity of the subject matter. The considerations discussed in this paper set the ground for the outline of the formation of a multi-level system of human rights protection in the European Union, as well as for the presentation of the current state of the law, which undoubtedly constitutes an important contribution to the regulation of the issue discussed.

The issue of vetting has for many years stirred up much emotion in Poland and is closely related to the process of decommunization. In the history of the Third Republic of Poland, lustration was the cause of serious political crises, an example of which was the dismissal of the government of Jan Olszewski. A breakthrough event was adopting the lustration law in 1997, which laid the groundwork for a reliable approach to lustration in Poland. Despite the passage of years and amendments to the regulations, it still seems necessary to amend the law to comply with constitutional rights, such as the right to due process, the right to be heard, the right to defense, and the presumption of innocence. The article indicates the problems related to vetting and reports changes on the example of vetting by Kazimierz Kujda.

The article attempts to confront the individual’s constitutional right to informational autonomy and the powers of the Police in the framework of which the service may collect and process personal data. Bearing in mind the paramount role of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and its special importance for the sphere of rights and freedoms, the key regulations devoted to the right to privacy and the possibility of limiting informational autonomy were referred to. Treating the constitutional content as fundamental in the relationship between the individual and the state authorities, they were referred to the powers of the Police based on which the service may legally interfere in the information sphere of the individual. It was also stressed that the multiplicity of powers and the expansion of their catalog make it necessary to pay more attention to applying the proportionality mechanism.

The term ‘human rights’ is used to describe the rights of every person, regardless of their nationality or social position. In the doctrine, the term is also understood differently as the material, social and cultural premises of human independence. Both the concept and the content of the principle of sustainable development are the subject of a broad debate involving representatives of different scientific disciplines, publicists, and politicians representing different options. The authors of the article analyze the principle of sustainable development in the context of human rights. From the text of Art. 5 of the Constitution, it can be deduced that the principle of sustainable development in this layer is a human and civil right, broader than the law, relating to living in an uncontaminated environment. The core of the concept of sustainable development, which is not sufficiently emphasized due to its “appropriation” by ecologists and its complexity unduly perceived by lawyers, is that it formulates rights for future generations. The perception of these rights by the creators of the Polish Constitution, both in its preamble and in its Article 5, should be considered momentous and anticipating its creation.

Cyberspace seems to be ubiquitous. It coexists with the real world and it constitutes its coded zero-one reflection. However, it deprives us of privacy, our constitutional right. Even more, the modern technology allows our fingerprint to be traced forever. Problems with maintaining online privacy in the face of the phenomenon of identity theft for criminal purposes, or the use of our data for property purposes in the broadly understood internet marketing.

The article aims to discuss the European standards concerning the freedom of association of armed forces personnel. Relevant norms in this regard result from human rights treaty law but also from soft-law elaborated within the Council of Europe. The authors juxtapose the existing standards with the scope of the freedom of association provided in Polish Constitution of 1997 and relevant domestic law. They ask whether the armed forces personnel need to form and join trade unions to secure their rights or perhaps the existing forms of exercising the freedom of association are satisfactory? The authors conclude that the current legal solutions in Poland meet the European and constitutional standards, and allow the Polish Armed Forces to observe neutrality regarding political matters. Nevertheless, the prohibition to form and join trade unions in Polish armed forces is of statutory rather than constitutional origin.

Constitutional Reform in Kyrgyzstan. Challenges and Threats to Democracy and the Rule of Law

The collapse of the USSR in 1991 led to the emergence of five independent states in Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. Four of them established an authoritarian form of government, while Kyrgyzstan became the only democratic state in the region. This may change after the referendum on constitutional reform, which is scheduled for 2021. The amendments to the Constitution provide for the extension of the president’s powers, which, according to many Kyrgyz researchers, may lead to the transformation of Kyrgyzstan into an authoritarian state. This article presents the results of the analysis of the draft amendment to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic initiated by the new president of the country, Sadyr Japarov.

Policy of Poland Towards Development of the International Refugee Protection System in Light of the Polish Constitutional Framework

The article aims at exploring the relationship between constitutional framework regulating conduct of Polish public authorities on the international fora and the observed actions of these authorities with regards to international endeavour to enhance the functioning of the international refugee protection system. The dogmatic approach has been applied in order to examine scope and content of relevant norms pertaining to the problem in question. Moreover, findings of political science were utilized to establish some of the motives as well as consequences of the said actions of the government and to confront them with relevant constitutional norms. Position of Polish national authorities towards development of international refugee protection system has been appraised in light of the Constitution. The Author expresses a conviction that, in light of the said position, the values expressly affirmed by the Constitution are not accounted for in a satisfactory degree.

The Idea of Human Dignity as a Justification of the Right to the Environment

The problem of environmental protection is perhaps the most important challenge facing man today. On the legal level, this issue is expressed, inter alia, in the discussion on recognition of the right to the environment. This problem is widely discussed and poses a challenge both in the field of international and constitutional law. The work presents the key regulations of both international environmental law and the constitutions of various countries. This allowed for the recognition of the role and significance of the concept of the dignity of the individual, which, underpinning the international system of human rights protection, also plays an important role in environmental regulations. The thesis was formulated that, despite many doubts, the dignity of the individual stands for the idea that combines environmental protection issues with the concept of human rights.

International Women’s Day - a relic of socialism or a symbol of the struggle for gender equality?

March 8 as International Women’s Day is the consequence of the work of labor movements in North America and Europe. The holiday, established in 1910 during the 8th Congress of the Second International in Copenhagen, was to promote the idea of women’s rights and build support for universal suffrage of women. The first celebration of the International Women’s Day was held on 19 March 1911 in Western Europe to commemorate the 1848 March Revolution. In Russia, and then the USSR, it was decided to organize it on the anniversary of women’s participation in the demonstration in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) on 8 March (23 February - according to the Julian calendar) 1917. In the interwar period in Poland (on the initiative of the PPS) Women’s Day was celebrated on 19 June, commemorating the abolition of slavery in the United States. In 1972, the UN General Assembly, on the wave of efforts to change its policy towards women, proclaimed 1975 the International Women’s Year. Until 1977 - when the UN General Assembly recognized 8 March as the International Day of Women’s Rights and International Peace, which could be celebrated on a day chosen according to the tradition of a given country - this holiday was mainly celebrated in socialist countries.

Neuralink - Coercion or Possibility? State’s Attitude to “Improvements” on the Example of Neural Implants

The development of technology such as neural chips prompts reflection on the state’s attitude to such and similar improvements, taking into account the legal possibilities of influencing citizens. The basis for considerations is the taxonomy of G.Cohen’s improvements and the standards of limiting rights and freedoms expressed in the ECtHR and the Polish Constitution. The aim of the article is to answer the following research question: do constitutional norms allow for the obligatory use of neural chips by citizens? The analysis was carried out both for the general public and selected social groups.The effect of the analysis has an impact on the future perception of the relationship between the state and the individual in connection with social changes resulting from the development of technology. The key to the presented and future considerations related to the place of improvement in the legal system is its impact on positional or absolute goods.

The Constitutional Moral and Material Rights of Creators of Science de lege lata and de lege ferenda. Structural Issues in the Context of a Universal System of Protecting Human Rights

This paper focuses on analysing the relationship between intellectual property law and human rights in point of view protecting the moral and material interests of the creators of intangible goods. The paper aims to determine whether the catalogue of human rights includes the subjective right of the creators of intangible goods to protect their personal and material rights to the fruits of their intellectual work and reconstruct the content of this right. The considerations are carried out from the background of the Polish and universal system of protecting human rights and the legal requirement to provide adequate protection to the creators of Science. The paper concludes that the catalogue of human rights includes the subjective right of the creators of intangible goods to protect their moral and material interests and reconstruct the content of that right.

Ochrona grup wymagających szczególnego traktowania w orzecznictwie Sądu Konstytucyjnego Litwy

Orzecznictwo Litewskiego Sądu Konstytucyjnego miało istotny wpływ na wzmocnienie demokracji, praworządności i stabilności porządku konstytucyjnego na Litwie. Fundamentem każdego demokratycznego państwa, gdzie jest ważna praworządność, jest poszanowanie praw człowieka. Ponadto często podkreśla się, że sytuacja najsłabszych członków społeczeństwa odzwierciedla rzeczywisty poziom postępu i demokracji w danym państwie. Dlatego artykuł ten ma na celu ukazanie, w jaki sposób Sąd Konstytucyjny na Litwie przyczynił się do wzmocnienia ochrony osoby należącej do grupy osób wymagających szczególnego traktowania.

It is clear that the prohibition of discrimination and the principle of equality are one of the most important principles of human rights. Today, since the number of discrimination issues has increased in the usual flow of life, the matter of how far the valid law can protect individual, who constitutes the core of the society from discrimination is controversial. In Turkish Constitution, there is no independent article which orders the prohibition of discrimination. Cases which relate to the discrimination are considered with the principle of equality in Article 10. The scope of the present paper is to show how the prohibition of discrimination is embodied in Turkish Constitutional Court’s approach and its historical background. Secondarily, the Turkish Constitutional Court’s approach regarding these issues are emphasized and to what extent the decisions given by the Turkish Constitutional Court are similar to the decisions given by ECHR are argued. Comparative and historical method will be used in this paper.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a determinant of the operation of state institutions whose activity was focused on ensuring state’s capacity to exercise its functions and at the same time on efforts to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. These challenges were the same for all European (and non-European) countries, albeit the methods of limiting the transmission of the virus and of minimising its negative consequences varied depending on the strategy adopted. The paper focuses on an analysis of its impact on how parliamentary elections in Serbia are organized and held. The author intentionally omits circumstances that accompany regional (to the parliament of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina) and local elections held in parallel.