Students Speak of Human Rights

On the eve of the Students Day I was impatient to talk with these Students about human rights. There were just a couple of people in the audience of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of PetrSU. Apparently, the consequences of swine flu. Students did not “attract much attention”, so the discussion of the film "For Our and Your Freedom" on the activities of the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Soviet defenders was sluggish. For some reason most of the students were interested by the issue of how much money "Youth Human Rights Group (YHRG)” has. I had to disappoint them – YHRG’s money always made even a cat laugh, and in the past few years the financial situation got even worse.

An impromptu opinion poll on the conditions of twofold anonymity helped me to find out if students know their rights. Students know that they have rights and in which laws they are fixed (Thank God!). However, "by virtue of authoritarianism in our state the Constitution is fictitious", "most of the citizens' “securities" are "decorative" in nature, most of the so-called "rights" can not be realized in life, free choice of profession is limited by sponsorship, freedom of speech is limited by censorship, personal security – by the real activities of law enforcement agencies"; rights exist only formally – only on paper. Because of the compelling social injustice, these rights can not be realized. Community is divided into the rich and the poor. The poor (lower class) are supposed to be satisfied with free healthcare, education, etc., and the rich (upper class) are treated in good private clinics abroad, study in prestigious Western and Russian schools and universities. Everyone has the right to vote, but the elections are so dirty and falsified, that the voters do not play a big role, and the outcome of the election is chosen by authorities. What’s the conclusion? Those are right who has money and power! And in the near future this is unlikely to change." And what, my friends, are we supposed to do with all this? Will no one be inspired with the example of Mahatma Gandhi? Are we to bear the corrupted authorities and unjust system silently?

Students also know something about the mechanisms of protecting their rights. "Appealing to human rights organizations, prosecutors, media, courts, violence, appealing to the defendants of human rights and the International Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg"; "You can protect your by yourself". Half of the students even suggested to apply to the Hague court. :) «The major mechanism of protecting your rights is the court. However, the judicial system in Russia is corrupted as well as the legislative, executive and law enforcement agencies. But there is the God’s court. :) In general, the people are informed.

Have you ever had to protect your rights? "Yes"; “Thank God, no”; "I do not create situations in which my rights are being outraged"; "Yes I had, in shops"; simply "Yes I had"; "in our country violation of human rights begins in maternity hospitals and escorts a human to the end of his days. Do you think I never had to protect them? The question is whether a Russian citizen manages to do it...”.
Respect for our rights depends on each one of us. It’s difficult to do this for each individually, but by combining our efforts on the basis of common values we’ll be able to attain respect for our rights. This is what civil society is – the opposition to power gone too far with their interests. It depends on us in what state we’ll live. That’s why the presence of justice, critical thinking, citizenship, initiative, tolerance and moral health of each one of us, as well as dialogism and the alternation of power – this is what will make our rights will become real.

Maxim Efimov
Chairman of the Karelian department of the “Youth Human Rights Group”.
(Translated by Maria Mironovich)