Human Rights Guarantees in Criminal Proceedings

Abstract

The infallible evolution of human society attracted the emergence of the ideas of freedom and equality, a fact that caused a revolution in the thinking of citizens. Thus, starting in 1215, when the document Magna Carta Libertatum was promulgated, some natural rights of the individual, especially those regarding the legal protection of a person, began to be recorded "as the letter of the law" in documents with a legal value essential. As a result, the "Social Contract" of Jean Jacques Rousseau, the "Fourth Amendment" of the USA Constitution and later, the constitutions adopted between the 18th and the 19th centuries appear on  political scene . All these transformations determined the transition of these rights of the individual, from natural rights, to inherent rights, protected by the legal frameworks in force at that time, aspects that were carried out only on the internal level of each individual state. Externally, the existence of victims resulting from the wars fought and the interest that the Great Powers gave to their own citizens who lived their daily lives outside their borders, determined the creation of legal norms regarding the protection of humanitarian rights. Thus, the Geneva Convention, from 1864, the Hague Convention, from 1898, the one from 1907, and later, the Geneva Convention from 1929, were concluded. The protection of minorities was addressed after the First World War, while the World War II marked history with gross violations of some essential  human abilities, through the committed war crimes against humanity.  This fact was later marked by the creation of a strong regulatory system regarding the international protection of human rights, with reference to the UN Charter and the Human Rights Universal Declaration. All these transformations produced on the external political level determined Romania to resort to some internal changes, on the legislative level. One of these changes is marked by the adoption in 2009 of the New Penal Code, which entered into force in 2014.