Human Rights and an Open Society

Human rights and an open society

Freedom, democracy, human rights, an open society are the top words in a modern world. We are reading these terms in newspapers, listening in TV broadcasts but do we see what is hidden behind of them in our life?

According to Amnesty International definition human rights are "basic rights and freedoms that all people are entitled to regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, race, religion, language, or other status" [1]. So it's obvious that human rights are closely connected to freedom and equality. Freedom and equality can be included to the definition of democracy. And the last one results in an open society. Logically to suppose that all together they must serve as base of any governmental law, principals of stable order and welfare human being. Of course there are many definitions of democracy, views on human rights concept. But nowadays we can stress something universal that comes from these terms and find a practical implementation of what they mean in a real life.

First of all let's highlight that talks about human rights and an open society refer us to a global perspective. Perhaps we should point out the Universal Declaration of Human Rights trying to evaluate the number of rights that must be respected by everyone [2]. Thirty articles about right to life, liberty, security and equality as well as about exclusion of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment became not only guarantees protected by international law but also the object of fight for millions people around the world.

Today we admit real democracies like Sweden where citizens can be sure that their rights are protected. On official level there are a number of laws that brightly illustrate the significance of democratic basis of the society. The Constitution set out the human rights as well as the system of government according to which the country is ruled by people. The main law consists from four parts: the Instrument of Government, the Act of Succession, the Fundamental Law of Freedom of Expression, the Freedom of the Press Act. The last one was adopted in 1766 and became the oldest law in this sphere in the world [3]. While it's common to hear about the United States Declaration of Independence as the main step in democracy developing we can't reject the Swedish role in the establishment of principals of justice order. Freedom of information is a human right. Humans must have the right of access to official documents. Roots of this concept date back to 18th century when Sweden adopted the Press Act. Apart from this law, it's worth to mention the development of trade unions and the recognizing of free church in the late of 1800s. Doubtless, it became a positive step towards modern Swedish democratic system. Expressing the opinions, conducting regular meeting people had a chance to practice the negotiation process and the advantages of collective decisions that satisfy the majority of population. More than 100 years ago the party movement started in Sweden as well. With time men and women got equal right to vote in parliamentary elections. Of course, there were always difficulties on the way to current situation. But highlighted points lead us to understanding of Swedish open society grounds.

Furthermore, facts about organization of Swedish local government system, for instance, are able for analyzing in practice. Local governments are opened for communication. Politicians answer every e-mail and organize meeting with groups at the Tower Halls. After the visit to administration body of Vetlanda it is possible to make some conclusions regarding its activity. No hierarchical relations between municipalities, counties and regions promote effective functioning of self-governing authorities. This convinces us that democracy is not the myth. It is reality. There are local budgets that are not controlled by the central government, there are local newspapers where journalists are writing whatever they consider right to inform the population about urgent news, there are woman who lead those local councils. And it works.

When you touch successful examples so deeply in practice you always postpone it to your own country. For example, I am doing it regarding Russia. Well I can't agree that my country of origin is nondemocratic at all. But I can't ignore the fact of publishing in the world press some articles about repressing regimes which exist in Russian Federation and in former Soviet Union countries. Russia is also in the list of nondemocratic countries according to report of Freedom House, 2010 [4]. On the one hand there are obvious grounds to evaluate the current situation in this way. It is still difficult to talk about officially recognized freedom of speech. Our newspapers are controlled by governments as well as TV channels. Citizens of Russia sometimes have no access not only to global news but also