Human Rights and the Ship Campaigns
The Women on Waves ship campaigns are grounded on a series of human rights that have been universally recognized by States and have been established under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The legal case of Women on Waves against Portugal at the European Court of Human Rights proved that the campaign is rightful and any intervention constitutes a breach of human rights, especially of the right to freedom of expression.
The human rights that ensure that the ship campaigns can happen legally and without interference are the following:
- Article 13. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
- Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
- Article 20. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
In case any legal action is nonetheless taken against the action, the rule of Law and fundamental guarantees needs to be ensured. These comprise:
- Article 8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
- Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile
- Article 10.Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
- Article 11. (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
You can access here the complete Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
You can access here the European Court of Human Rights ruling in the case of Women on Waves vs. Portugal.
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