Политология / 6. Проблемы взаимодействия власти и общественности (отечественный и зарубежный опыт)

Shadei N.V.

National University “Yaroslav the Wise Law Academy of Ukraine”

The Problem of Human Rights Violation by Police

Human rights are the basic rights of every individual against the state or any other public authority as a member of the human family irrespective of any other consideration. Thus every individual of the society has the inherent right to be treated with dignity in all situations.

These basic human rights are fixed in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which came into existence shortly after the Second World War, reflecting the wishes of people never see such a horror again. The Declaration represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. It consists of 30 articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions and laws. Nowadays more than hundred countries have signed the Declaration.

One of the most important government agency established to ensure the human rights is the police. There is a prevailing opinion that the police protect the population and the population helps the police to prevent and solve crimes. But the real situation is far from dreams. Almost every day we can hear the information about the human rights violation by police. Most people have heard the argument that the respect for human rights is somehow opposed to the effective law enforcement. And the effective law enforcement means to capture and punish the criminal. Thus to secure his conviction, it is necessary to “bend the rules” a little. A tendency to use overwhelming force in controlling demonstrations, physical pressure to extract information from detainees, or excessive force to secure an arrest can be observed now and then. In this way of thinking, law enforcement is a war against crime, and human rights are merely obstacles thrown in the path of the police by lawyers and NGOs (non-governmental organizations).

In fact, violations of human rights by police only make the already challenging task of law enforcement more difficult. When the law enforcer becomes the lawbreaker, the result is an assault on human dignity, on the law itself and on all institutions of public authority. The effects of police human rights violations are multi-fold:

· They erode public confidence

· They hamper effective prosecutions in court

· They isolate the police from the community

· They result in the guilty avoiding sentence, and the innocent being punished

· They force police agencies to be reactive, rather than preventive in their approach to crime

· They bring agents and institutions of public authority into disrepute

· They exacerbate civil unrest

In Brazil in 2007, according to official figures, police killed at least 1,260 individuals—the highest total to date. All incidents were officially labeled “acts of resistance” and received little or no investigation.

Police commits rights violations for different reasons. Rulers may believe that such violations are necessary in order to maintain power, undermine or destroy the delinquency. They may think that some types of violations are necessary evils when faced with certain risks. For example, torture or indefinite detention can appear to be a reasonable price to pay in order to reduce the risk of terrorism. States can also violate human rights unintentionally: lawmakers can draft a legal system that unnecessarily encroaches on private freedom (e.g. the “nanny state“).One more possible reason why the rigts are violated is corruption. Corruption is a systemic problem and negatively affects the country's economy and governance. Corruption not only undermines democratic institutions, but also destroys – directly and brutally – the mechanisms designed to ensure respect for human rights and the government’s accountability for human rights violations, thus making people vulnerable to the arbitrariness of bureaucrats and law enforcement bodies and to the lack of justice in the judicial system.

When violations do occur, it is important to have the right institutional safeguards in place to ensure that they remain isolated and that police management quickly corrects deficiencies. Independent oversight bodies that are objective, transparent and effective are the first order priority in every successful police reform strategy. Accountability mechanisms, both external (public complaints procedures) and internal (disciplinary procedures) help insure police discipline and the adherence to human rights.

Creating effective disciplinary systems within the police should be a first-order priority. Effective, transparent and fair accountability mechanisms, both internal and external, will help insure police discipline and secure public trust. This is one of the most important aspects of improving police respect for human rights. A major problem in many countries has been police impunity where the police literally got away with murder, torture, rape and extortion. The public needs to know and have confidence in the complaint procedure; if a police officer did something wrong a citizen can file a complaint and be sure that it will be acted on and not dumped in a drawer never to be seen again. The police should conduct a public information campaign describing the process of how citizens can file a complaint for police misconduct.

Bibliography

1. Donnelly, Jack. Universal human rights in theory and practice (2nd ed.)./ Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003.

2. Forsythe, David P. Human Rights in International Relations. / Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.