Human Rights and Constitution Making (Russian language) (PDF)

(Russian language) This new and exciting publication explores human rights in the context of constitution making. It notes the important role of participatory processes which should be designed to ensure that consultations with a wide variety of interest groups and vulnerable parts of the populations take place when a new constitution is drafted. It also focuses on what human rights and fundamental freedoms should be included in a constitution, including civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights. In addition, it addresses how the rights of women, children, the disabled, minorities and indigenous peoples can be expressed in a new constitution. Examples from over fifty different constitutions are used to illustrate how these rights can be expressed. The publication also explores different institutional safeguards for the protection of human rights, notably the role of constitutional courts. Lastly, the publication provides examples of how human rights treaty bodies and Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council have formulated recommendations concerning human rights when reviewing the constitutions of individual States. This publication will be very useful to drafters of future constitutions, as well as to all those who want to ensure that human rights are protected in a new constitution.