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In every country on Earth, people have their own rights. UN has made a list of rights, that every country should comply with, although in some countries, they don't. Is there a difference between the rights of the people in different european countries? If so, is there a need for change?

RIGHTS

Even though the nationalities’ rights are very similar, there are still a couple of dissimilarities and differences. How do you understand the concept of common rights?

In Europe, common rights are understood as entitlements every human is born with. It describes what is allowed of people or owed to people. Everyone has rights, but not everyone can practice them. Sometimes, the law overrules the right, and sometimes rights are not enforced by the law. This means, in most cases, you cannot be punished for not following or allowing others to practice their right.

The United Nations’ Declaration states every consenting adult has the right to marriage: “Every grown-up has the right to marry and have a family if they want to. Men and women have the same rights when they are married, and when they are separated.” However, in several countries in Europe, same-sex marriage is illegal. For example, in Italy, people can receive civil partnership, but can’t actually get married. In addition to this, gay couples can’t adopt children, even though the human right clearly states you can start a family. This is an example of where a law of a certain place overrules a universal right. Everyone has the right to get married, but not everyone can practice this right.

It might be true that many human rights are overruled by law, but some are enforced or protected. In some cases, the government of a country has laws in order to implement our rights. For example, in Denmark we have ‘Grundloven’. ‘Grundloven’ is our constitution and it protects and maintains democracy. In our constitution, there are 3 human rights: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Association, and Freedom of Assembly. The Danish government protects and supports these rights, because they are laws.

Are there any rights that you can identify as special to your country? Every country in the world has laws and rights. But these laws and rights are not the same for every single country. One of the rights that are a bit different, is the right to marry the same sex. The Netherlands was the first country in the world to allow same sex marriage. Many other countries in the EU followed along, but not all. Even though there is social security in almost every country in Europe, it differs and really depends on the country itself.

One of the countries with a lot of social securities is the Netherlands. For almost every unexpected situation you can get money from the government. There are four different laws for only losing your job/being unable to work. A special law from Italy is that, they protect linguistic minorities with special norms in 12 areas. 2,4 millions people in Italy don't speak italian, and that’s the reason there are five regions that have their own law.

Try to consider if there are any rights missing in your society, or in European society as a whole. We as Europeans, can't think about any rights that are missing. However, we do believe some rights should be more defined and maintained. One of the rights that should be better defined and respected, is the right based on freedom to express yourself in public, without being forced by the police to step back immediately. In France it's only political figures who can express themselves. People get beaten up, and the police tackle them to the ground with strength. A lot of people have been injured, when they refused to stop demonstrating. It is allowed to demonstrate in France, as long as the police don't see it as a threat to the society and the government. We think it should be limited to how the police can make demonstrators stop. Feeling and being safe is important to human beings. You should be able to feel this kind of safety while demonstrating.

Another example of lack of safety is in Spain. Spanish citizens, mainly women, are fighting against domestic violence, and the feeling of being powerless and insecure outside. This has led a lot of people to the streets to demonstrate.

We as a group, strongly believe, more humans rights should be enforced and protected by law in all countries. Society is changing drastically, and therefore our laws and rights should as well. We acknowledge laws are difficult to change and that not every single human right can be enforced in the same way. However, we do hope societies and governments will become more open-minded in the future so that everyone can enjoy and practice the same rights.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/28/where-europe-stands-on-gay-marriage-and-civil-unions/