A comparison Study of Russia and Estonia

“Ideas about human rights have evolved over many centuries. But they achieved strong international support following the Holocaust and World War II. To protect future generations from a repeat of these horrors, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 and invited states to sign and ratify it”

Implementation of international human rights law can happen on either a local, a territorial or a global level. States that endorse human rights arrangements confer themselves to regarding those rights and guaranteeing

Human rights - they are an ongoing issue in the world today, with the constant struggle against violation. The United Nations has accepted 30 articles on human rights, which help protect millions from political, social, and legal abuses (UDHR). Even with the insistence from the world’s leaders to follow and honor these rights, violation is common and provides a serious threat to people all over the world. One example of a violation of human rights such as equality and safety in possessions is shown through the issue of Japanese American internment camps (UDHR).

In both history and present day, many human rights violations have occurred in countries residing within the UN. Despite the attempts that international influence created through the UN, many countries such as the Soviet Union conducted serious human rights violations through attempts to quell uprisings or anti-government movements. Even in the present day, countries such as North Korea and China have been committing drastic human rights violations, despite existing within the United Nations. Because of these facts, it can be concluded that international influence does not necessarily create better human

During the Communist regime in the former Soviet Union, life was very difficult. The people who lived within the countries controlled by the Soviet government experienced levels of oppression akin to slavery. They could not express themselves through any means and had to conform both body and soul to the views of the Communist Party. People could be arrested, imprisoned, shipped off to exile or executed often without trial. Some twenty million people died while Joseph Stalin led the USSR and for many years after his death it was still dangerous to dare criticize his regime, although some scholars put that number closer to forty million people who died. Now that the Soviet Union has broken up and Russia is its own country there is more freedom, but the people still live under the yoke of an oppressive leader who does not tolerate political or social challenges. The people do nothing to stand up to this government because they have all been scarred by the decades they lived under Stalin.

Throughout much of human history, certain issues have stayed unresolved for the longest time. Some are political, some are societal, and still, some are religious, but only modern day sees the conclusions to these affairs. Particularly, a human rights violation occurs when a government or other authority goes against any basic right that all humans are born with. Some of these rights include the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Furthermore, only in the modern-day is a violation such as injustice realized and dealt with appropriately.

It is well known that the United States have been seen internationally as a key actor, for better or worse, when it comes to the field of universal human rights. At the same time, recent events have shown a disassociation between the words and actions of the nation. Despite the fact that these rights are supposed to be constitutionally-protected, the United States has been criticized for repeatedly violating them not only in the past but in recent memory: criminalization of poverty and homelessness, violation of the privacy of citizens all over the world, racism, police brutality, the prison-for-profit system, mistreatment or even torture of the prisoners. These are just some examples of the most common forms of human rights violations

Despite the recognition accorded to the Human right by national constitutions, these rights were sometimes violated or eliminated by legislation or by some arbitrary means. Moreover, human rights which had their status as legal rights, were sometimes violated by States too.

Now America is the complete opposite from Russia. In America everyone knows that they have the right to speak out without having the fear of being disciplined. Bill of rights Institute states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances” (Bill of rights Institute). This is the first amendment of the bill of rights, it is their because citizens wanted a warranty of their basic freedoms. Without this protesters could be silenced, the press could not criticize government, and citizens could not inspire for social change. Then there is United States Courts stating “Congress shall make no law...abridging freedom of speech.”(US Courts). America is not making or has not made any laws that keep civilians from talking out and stating what is on their mind. Without this protesters could be silenced, the press could not criticize government, and citizens could not inspire for social change. Thankfully for the 1st amendment in the bill of rights everyone knows that they have the right to talk and express what they feel even if it is about the

laws in compliance with the cosmopolitan norms of human rights. In the example of counter-terrorism measures in the United States and United Kingdom, courts have repeatedly judged legislation intended to allow arbitrary detention unlawful. In any case, governments remain unwilling to respect well-established international human rights norms (Nash 2009, 99). As elected representatives, politicians are often unwilling to risk appearing soft on those who are perceived to threaten the state’s safety. This broad trend in contemporary politics shows that even in democratic societies there are contexts in which human rights are simply not popular (Nash 2009, 99). As one can note, it is thus impossible to separate the world into “good democratic states” that protect human rights and “bad authoritarian states” that are the biggest violators (Posner 2014, 121).

The research method that I used for this paper was the observational method, where I examined different sources to learn more about the violations of these rights. I used JSTOR to locate online resources, and used articles from different magazines, including Health and Human Rights, Middle East Report and British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. In addition, I used

The present day Russian Federation involves a democratic system, given the presence of elections, an independent judiciary, and the supremacy of law. Yet, in democracy, the crux of it involves an inevitable paradox: law limits state power, but the state must have the power to enforce the law. However, finding the balance of the ability to enforce laws, and therefore maintaining order, while not infringing on civil liberties, requires a mutual understanding, a social contract, between the rulers and the ruled. This requirement has not found its place in the Russian political arena, especially since “creating a rule-of-law-based sate out of dictatorship is not easy” (Bressler 2009). In addition, the Russian psyche views authority as a source of force and violence (Yakovlev 1996), an etymological result of a continuity beginning from imperial Russia. Although the Russian Federation, the Union Soviet Socialist Republics, the Russian Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia differ significantly, a strong state remains prevalent in the core of Russian history and politics. In short, the nature of political rule in Russia involves a never ending tug of war between the seemingly undying authoritative soulless entity known as the state and the equally undying Russian people’s hunger for liberty.

In the present day global atmosphere it is understood that human rights are a source of conflict. It is understood that the policy of non- intervention in states causes problems in retrospect to colonialism, and in addition to understanding that human rights are a source of conflict as they impede upon the rights of women and undermine a large proportion of the worlds population causing conflict between genders and in the state itself. In supplementation to this, human rights and state security come to conflict in accordance to recognizing that a government is prioritizing the state over the people and impeding on human rights and security. Human rights shine in the spotlight when it comes to causing conflict on an inclusive and

Human rights have been a factor that dominates many trades throughout the world; affecting world growth, production, trade, and more. The world has been crawling to the top, world leaders racing to govern countries with better economics, politics, and power. In the process human rights become ignored, forgotten, and abused. Some conditions have improved, while others have worsened. The human right conditions in Thailand, although ranked a partially free country, has been unchanged for the past few years, and experiences many human rights violations from prisoner torture to police brutality.

Regardless of background, where we live, what we look like, what we think or what we believe, everyone in the society has the rights to be treated fairly and with due respect. In today’s society, people have several social values and different cultural practices, that respects and live within its parameters. However, those social values and cultural practices may or may not everyone’s choices in the same society due to a number of factors. This leads to a number of concerning issues in the society. Therefore, the purpose of this case study is to present how social values and cultural practices are influenced by gender, social class, age, religion, ethnicity, communities and government in the pursuit of achieving Human Rights.