4.1 STATES

States bear the primary responsibility for implementing human rights. States are obliged to respect, protect and observe human rights. Article 3 of the Universal Declaration provides examples of what this entails. The article states that: "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person". States are thus responsible for:

respecting the individual's right to life by not killing them itself
protecting the individual's right to life against others who threaten it
observing the individual's right to life by ensuring they are kept alive

Once a human rights convention has been ratified a state must amend the country's legislation to comply with the convention and ensure that they concur. The authorities are responsible for ensuring everybody who acts on the state's behalf (police officers, hospital staff, school authorities, child welfare services, the prison service, etc) receives information about the laws and regulations so that they know what they must do to observe people's human rights. The authorities can also set up state institutions that work for human rights and focus on areas of particular importance. Examples of these include: the children's ombudsman, the gender equality ombudsman, the Centre Against Ethnic Discrimination and the Centre for Human Rights. States also have a duty to inform their population about their rights. It is therefore important that all children and young people learn about human rights at school. If human rights are violated, the state must ensure there are ways of putting things right and compensating victims of such violations.