Emerging Governments

Civil Liberties

• Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights.

• Some examples are the right to life, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech, the right to a trial, to own property, freedom from slavery, freedom of assembly, and the right to marry and have a family.

Beginning of Civil Liberties

• The formal concept of civil liberties dates back to the English legal charter the Magna Carta 1215.

United States• The United States Constitution, especially its

Bill of Rights, protects civil liberties. Human rights within the United States are often called civil rights, which are those rights, privileges and immunities held by all Americans.

Canada• The Constitution of Canada includes the

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees many of the same rights as the U.S. constitution, with the exceptions of protection against establishment of religion. However, the Charter does protect freedom of religion. The Charter also does not mention protection for property.

United Kingdom• While the United Kingdom has no written

constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights covers both human rights and civil liberties. The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporates the great majority of Convention rights directly into UK law.

China• The Constitution of People's Republic of China

(which applies only to mainland China, not to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), claims to protect many civil liberties.

• Russia• The Constitution of Russian Federation

guarantees the same rights and civil liberties as the U.S. except to bear arms (freedom of speech, freedom of religion, due process, to a fair trial, privacy, freedom to vote, etc.)

Human Rights

• Human rights are "rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled.

• Many of the basic ideas that started the movement developed after the Second World War, which led to its adoption by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.

• The true beginning of human rights was the enlightenment idea of natural rights developed by figures such as John Locke.

Africa• The African Union (AU) is a union made up of

53 African states. Established in 2001, the AU's purpose is to help secure Africa's democracy, human rights, and a sustainable economy, especially by bringing an end to intra-African conflict and creating an effective common market.

• The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) is a part of the African Union that promotes and protects human rights and collective rights throughout the African continent. The Commission has three broad areas of responsibility:– Promoting human and peoples' rights – Protecting human and peoples' rights – Interpreting the

African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights

• The Organization of American States (OAS) is an international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States. Its members are the 35 independent states of the Americas. Its priorities now include the following:– Strengthening democracy – Working for peace – Protecting human rights – Combating corruption – The rights of Indigenous Peoples – Promoting sustainable development

• The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR) meets in regular and special sessions several times a year to examine allegations of human rights violations in the hemisphere.

• The Council of Europe, founded in 1949, is the oldest organization working for European integration. It is an international organization. The Council of Europe is responsible for – the European Convention on Human Rights– the European Court of Human Rights– the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages– the European Social Charter.

• The European Convention on Human Rights has defined and guaranteed human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe since 1950 . In order to prevent torture and inhuman or degrading treatment the Committee for the Prevention of Torture was established.

• The European Court of Human Rights is the only international court with jurisdiction to deal with cases brought by individuals (rather than states).

Separation of Powers

• The separation of powers, is a model for the governance of a state. Under this model, the state is divided into branches, each with separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility so that no one branch has more power than the other branches.

• Belgium is currently a federated state that has imposed the separation of powers on different governmental levels. – Legislative: 2 part parliament (the Chamber of

Representatives and a Senate) – Executive: The Council of Ministers (the ministers

are appointed by the King) – Judicial: The courts

• Costa Rica established the three supreme powers:– Legislature– Executive– Judicial

• Costa Rica also created two other branches that have equal power. – The first is the Supreme Elections Tribunal which

controls elections – The second is the office of the Comptroller General

(audit branch) which controls all budgets

• The government of France is divided up into 3 branches.– Executive: This includes the elected president as

well as the prime minister and cabinet. – Legislature: A 2 part legislature that includes the

Senate and the National Assembly– Judiciary: This includes the judicial and

administrative orders as well as a constitutional court.

• Hong Kong has three branches of government as set in the Basic Law:– Government - executive – Legislative Council - legislature – Judiciary (Court of Final Appeal and other courts

and tribunals) - judiciary

IndiaThe democratic system in India also offers a

clear separation of powers into 3 branches:– Parliament = Legislative– Cabinet Secretariat = Executive– Supreme Court = Judicial

United States• The Unites States has established three

branches of government:– Executive: The Presidential branch– Legislative: 2 part legislature that includes the

Senate and the House of Representatives– Judicial: The Court system