Constitutional rights, freedoms and duties of citizens of Ukraine

Human rights are possibilities of a person, which were determined by legal documents, which are needful for her or his existence and development.

Freedom of a person is a subjective right of a person, which presents methods (forms) and limits of her or his possible behavior.

A duty is proper behavior of a person, which was determined by the law (legal document).

There are such types of fundamental human rights of a person and citizens:

1) personal (civil rights or civic rights);

2) political rights;

3) social rights;

4) economic rights;

5) cultural rights.

The Constitution guarantees to each person:

• inalienable right to life;
• the right to freedom, personal inviolability and security of residence;
• privacy of mail, telephone conversations, telegraph and other communication;
• non-interference in personal and family life;
• freedom of movement, free choice of the place of residence, the right to free departure from the territory of Ukraine, except for restrictions imposed by the law;
• the right to freedom of thought and speech;
• the right to own, use and dispose of their property and results of their intellectual and creative activity;
• the right to entrepreneurial activity, which is not prohibited by the law;
• the right to labor;
• the right the right to a standard of living sufficient for himself or herself and his or her family that includes adequate nutrition, clothing and housing;
• the right to an environment that is safe for life and health, and to compensation for damages inflicted through the violation of this right;
• the right to education, etc.

Civil rights and freedoms of person and citizen provide inadmissibility of encroachment by bodies of state power, public organizations, officials to life, health, freedom, honour and dignity of a person and inadmissibility of illegal deprivation of life (article 25 - right on citizenship; article 27 - right to life; article 28 - right to respect of dignity; article 29 - right to freedom and personal inviolability; article 35 - freedom of consciousness and etc.).

Political rights and freedoms of citizens of Ukraine are possibilities of citizens, which were determined in legal documents, which provide the real possibility to affect on the public and political life of the country (article 63 - right to freedom of associations; article 39 - right to participation in assembly (assemblages), mass meeting and etc.).

Economic rights are possibilities of a person to take part in production of material and other things. These rights belong to every citizen. They determine the location of a person in the economic and social life (article 41 - right to property; article 42 - right to entrepreneurial activity; article 47 - right to dwelling and etc.).

Social rights are possibilities of a person to use rights in the field of material production, labour activity, education, health, rest (article 43 - right to work; article 44 - right to the strike; article 45 - right to rest; article 46 - right to social defence; article 49 - right to health protection, medicare and medical insurance and etc.).

Cultural rights are human rights in a cultural sphere (spiritual, ideological) (article 54 - right to the results of the intellectual, creative activity, freedom of literary, scientific and technical creation).

Citizens have equal constitutional rights and freedoms and are equal before the law. There shall be no privileges or restrictions base on race, skin color, political, religious and other beliefs, sex, ethnical and social origin, property status, place of residence, linguistic or other characteristics.

Women and men have equal possibilities in public political and cultural activity, in gaining of education, in labour and reward for it.

Human and civil rights and freedoms are protected by the court. Everyone has the right to appeal for the protection of his or her rights to the Authorized Human Rights Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

According to Article 58, laws and other normative and legal acts have no retroactive force, except for cases, when they mitigate or exclude responsibility of a person. Nobody can be responsible for actions, which were not recognized as violations by the law at the time when they were undertaken.

Article 62 specifies the principle of the presumption of innocence. It means that a person is not guilty and cannot be subjected of criminal responsibility until his or her guilt is proven according to the legal procedure and established by the convicting sentence (verdict) of a court.

There are such duties of citizens of Ukraine:

- to defend the native land, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, honouring of state symbols (article 65);

- not to cause damage to nature, cultural heritage; to compensate the damages (article 66);

- to pay taxes and levies according to the procedure and in amounts established by the law (article 67);

- to observe the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine, and not to encroach on the rights and freedoms, honor and dignity of other persons (article 68).

Citizens carry military service according to the Law of Ukraine "On Military Duty and Military Service". Men in age from 18 to 25 years carry military service. According to the Law of Ukraine "On Alternative (Non-Military) Service" there is alternative (non-military) service in Ukraine.

The Constitution points out that ignorance of the law does not relieve from legal responsibility.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11