Recognition as a Person before the Law

6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

PLAIN LANGUAGE VERSION:
You should be legally protected in the same way everywhere, and like everyone else.

Illustrated version

NOTES:
Your human rights should be protected by the laws written and passed in your country. In any particular country, while citizens may have different kinds of benefits than non-citizens, the legal system must recognise everyone, including a non-citizen, as a ‘person before the law’.

DEFINITIONS:
a person before the law is someone who is recognised to be subject to the protection offered by the legal system and the responsibilities required by it. For example, a person before the law has the right to make agreements or contracts which courts will enforce and start proceedings before courts in cases where his or her rights have been violated.

Research and list the institutions and bodies that create laws to which you are subject. Begin with the most immediate ones, such as school committees or school boards and work your way up to municipal and state/provincial bodies until you get to the national level. What about beyond the national level? Are there other bodies of law and institutions that try and provide legal protection at a regional or international level?

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