Human Right to Democracy – Legal and Ethical Issues

This paper was provoked by the theoretical and practical attempts to be combined two of the major concepts of the contemporary world –democracy and human rights. The contemporary comprehension of human rights includes an indisputable claim for their universality. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) enshrines a set of rules that apply to all human beings irrespective of their belonging to a particular race, culture, country or geographical position. The significance of that claim to universal applicability of the rights which are acknowledge as human puts another major issue. The concept of human rights in its modern form emerged recently in human history. Specific definitions of human rightsare enacted at the different international and local legal acts. The preamble of the UDHR, adopted in 1948, which has no binding legal effect, states that, "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world ".Freedom, justice and peace are values which all members of the international community share. Such a statement could hardly be used in respect of each individual human right, especially when such right is not enshrined in a legal document with binding effect.