Criminal law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 3

Criminal law - Essay Example In one hand we have the punishment of the aggressor and in the other we have the guarantee of the victim’s protection, care, assistance and compensation.2 To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the protection of fundamental rights in the light of changes in society, social progress and scientific and technological developments by making those rights more visible in a Charter. The dignity of the human person is not only a fundamental right in itself but constitutes the real basis of fundamental rights. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrined this principle in its preamble: Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. It results that none of the rights laid down in this Charter may be used to harm the dignity of another person, and that the dignity of the human person is part of the substance of the rights laid down in this Charter. The right to life is nowadays universally acknowledged as a basic or fundamental human right. It is basic or fundamental because "the enjoyment of the r ight to life is a necessary condition of the enjoyment of all other human rights."3 As indicated by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in its Advisory Opinion on Restrictions to the Death Penalty (1983), the human right to life encompasses a "substantive principle" whereby every human being has an inalienable right to have his life respected, and a "procedural principle" whereby no human being shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life4 Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it represents a right which the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international worldwide charter of rights, proclaiming universal and fundamental freedoms, which transcend national, religious, cultural and ideological