Human Rights

Human rights are moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human
behaviour, and are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal and international law.
Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No
one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.

Freedom from torture: Throughout history, torture has been used as a method of political
re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion. Since the mid-20th century, torture is
prohibited under international law and the domestic laws of most countries.

Freedom from slavery: Freedom from slavery is internationally recognised as a human

right. Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: No one shall be held in
slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their form.

Right to a fair trial: Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an
independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of
any criminal charge against him.

Freedom of speech: Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship.
The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of
seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas.

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion: Everyone has the right to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief,
and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest
his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Freedom of movement: Freedom of movement asserts that a citizen of a state in which that
citizen is present has the liberty to travel, reside in, and/or work in any part of the state where
one pleases within the limits of respect for the liberty and rights of others, and to leave that
state and return at any time.
Human rights are commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights "to which a
person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being", and which are
"inherent in all human beings"regardless of their nation, location, language, religion, ethnic
origin or any other status. They are applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of
being universal,and they are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone.They are
regarded as requiring empathy and the rule of law and imposing an obligation on persons to
respect the human rights of others,and it is generally considered that they should not be taken
away except as a result of due process based on specific circumstances; for example, human
rights may include freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture and execution.
Criticism: The claims made by human rights to universality have led to criticism.
Philosophers who have criticised the concept of human rights include Jeremy Bentham,
Edmund Burke, Friedrich Nietzsche and Karl Marx.Canadian political philosophy professor
Charles Blattberg argues that discussion of human rights, being abstract, demotivates people
from upholding the values that rights are meant to affirm.
Many of the basic ideas that animated the human rights movement developed in the
aftermath of the Second World War and the events of the Holocaust,culminating in the
adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris by the United Nations
General Assembly in 1948. Ancient peoples did not have the same modern-day conception of
universal human rights.The true forerunner of human rights discourse was the concept of
natural rights which appeared as part of the medieval natural law tradition that became
prominent during the European Enlightenment with such philosophers as John Locke, Francis
Hutcheson and Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui, and which featured prominently in the political
discourse of the American Revolution and the French Revolution.From this foundation, the
modern human rights arguments emerged over the latter half of the 20th century,possibly as a
reaction to slavery, torture, genocide and war crimes,as a realisation of inherent human
vulnerability and as being a precondition for the possibility of a just society.

International humanitarian law

The Geneva Conventions came into being between 1864 and 1949 as a result of efforts by
Henry Dunant, the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The conventions
safeguard the human rights of individuals involved in armed conflict, and build on the Hague
Conventions of 1899 and 1907, the international community's first attempt to formalise the
laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of secular international law. The conventions
were revised as a result of World War II and readopted by the international community in
1949.
 European Union
The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are
located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2 (1,728,099 sq mi), and an
estimated population of over 510 million. The EU has developed an internal single market
through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. EU policies aim to ensure
the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital within the internal market,enact
legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade,agriculture,
fisheries, and regional development.Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been
abolished. A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is
composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency.

The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the
European Economic Community (EEC), established, respectively, by the 1951 Treaty of Paris
and 1957 Treaty of Rome. The original members of what came to be known as the European
Communities, were the Inner Six; Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and
West Germany. The Communities and its successors have grown in size by the accession of
new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member
state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the United Kingdom enacted the result of
a membership referendum in June 2016 and is currently negotiating its withdrawal. The
Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European
citizenship.The latest major amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU, the Treaty of
Lisbon, came into force in 2009.

Member state of the European Union

Through successive enlargements, the European Union has grown from the six founding states
(Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) to the current 28.
Countries accede to the union by becoming party to the founding treaties, thereby subjecting
themselves to the privileges and obligations of EU membership. This entails a partial
delegation of sovereignty to the institutions in return for representation within those
institutions, a practice often referred to as "pooling of sovereignty".

To become a member, a country must meet the Copenhagen criteria, defined at the 1993
meeting of the European Council in Copenhagen. These require a stable democracy that
respects human rights and the rule of law; a functioning market economy; and the acceptance
of the obligations of membership, including EU law. Evaluation of a country's fulfilment of the
criteria is the responsibility of the European Council.No member state has yet left the Union,
although Greenland (an autonomous province of Denmark) withdrew in 1985. The Lisbon
Treaty now contains a clause under Article 50, providing for a member to leave the EU.
 Moldova European Integration

Relations between Moldova and the European Union (EU) are currently shaped via the
European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), an EU foreign policy instrument dealing with
countries bordering its member states.

Moldova has strong ties to EU member state Romania. Indeed, during the interbellum the two
countries were united. They share a common language, traditions and culture. The Moldovan
flag is a modified version of the Romanian equivalent, with the Moldovan arms superimposed
in its centre. Despite Moldovan nationalist tendencies and a sizable Russophone minority, the
Romanians, whilst having no ongoing claim to Moldovan territory per se see Moldovans as
culturally and ethnically Romanian. The former period of union enables Romanian passports
and concurrent EU citizenship to be routinely granted to Moldovans on the basis of descent. A
proportion of Moldovans currently identify as Romanian. (see below)

The Republic of Moldova actively pursues EU membership.The level of poverty in Moldova

(the country is the poorest of potential EU members) is a stumbling block to accession. The
Transnistrian dispute, concerning a self-proclaimed breakaway republic backed by the Russian
Federation government, is also an obstacle.

Nevertheless, the EU is developing an increasingly close relationship with Moldova, going

beyond cooperation, to gradual economic integration and a deepening of political
cooperation.The EU has opened an office in Chiinu (the Moldovan capital), and appointed
on 23 March 2005, a special representative, Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged, to Moldova to focus
on the resolution of the crisis in Transnistria. The European Commission opened up a new
office in Moldova on 6 October 2005 headed by Cesare de Montis. The major strategic priority
of Moldova now is membership in European institutions.