THE ROLE OF PUBLIC MOVEMENTS FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FORMATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC REGIMES OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE IN 1989–1991

• Main Authors: Kateryna Vazhna, Alla Mishchenko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts 2020-05-01
• Series: Міжнародні відносини: теоретико-практичні аспекти
• Subjects: громадський рух на захист прав людини; держави центральної та східної європи; тоталітарний режим; країни соціалістичного табору; гельсінський рух на захист прав людини; молодіжні рухи на захист прав людини; громадські рухи на захист релігійних прав; громадські рухи на захист трудових прав
• Online Access: http://international-relations.knukim.edu.ua/article/view/203696
• ISSN: 2616-745X; 2616-7794

The  main  directions  (kinds)  of  the  public  movements  for  the  protection of human rights in Ukraine and other states of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the period of 1989–1991 are analyzed. The employment of an interdisciplinary approach  allowed  to  study  the  influence  of  these  movements  on  the  change of   the   social   consciousness   and   on   the   increase   of   patriotic   and   opposition sentiments in the society. It is indicated that such movements appeared in different spheres    of    the    society    life    and    had    dissimilar    intensity.    In    particular, in    the    article,    the    following    most    significant    directions    of    the    public movements  are  being  analyzed,  which  took  place,  in  fact,  in  all  CEE  countries including    Ukraine:    Helsinki    Human    Rights    Movement;    youth    movements aimed at fighting for democracy and the state independence as well as the protection of rights for education; public movements for protection of religious, ecological, and employment rights (labor and trade union movements). The political and legal analysis conducted demonstrates that the new public movements and public organizations in their first years of activity did not always have  the  directly  protesting  or  clearly   oppositional  character.  The  conditions imposed  by  them  concerned  rather  enhancement  of  the  rights  and  freedoms, limitation   of  the  state  intrusion  into  particular  spheres  of   life,  improvement of   the   conditions   of   the   social   and   political   development,   etc.   Nevertheless, with the flow of time, such public movements in different spheres of public life very often   gained   political   and   opposing   character.   As   a   result,   the   conclusion has been made that the indicated movements have played the key role in the realization    of    antitotalitarian    revolutions,    the    overthrow    of    totalitarianism, and building the new democratic regimens in the CEE countries. The development of the public movements for the protection of human rights in Ukraine in the period of 1989-1991 was   aimed   at   preserving   the   identity,   which   contributed   to   the formation of the liberation movement in the struggle for independence of Ukraine and its withdrawal from the USSR.