The city tour on the schedule did not quite happen as plan, despite every single girl on the trip having brought (or bought) an umbrella for the dreary rain that covered the city this morning. Just as well. That's why schedules have loopholes for possible event switching, which is why our lecture on Human Rights Protection Mechanisms in Europe happened today.
The lecturer, a main component behind the whole Estonian program, and a social science professor at the University of Tartu, Dr. Mart Susi, gave us a good layout of what in Europe makes sure that human rights issues are settled. This brought about the "Council of Europe" which we hadn't heard much about in all previous lectures. The main difference with the Council of Europe, it seems, is that almost all countries are included from the European continent, including the much maligned Turkey. Under this council, there is the Court of Human Rights based in Strasbourg, France. They base their decisions off the European Convention which is made up of 14 Protocols to protect human rights. The foundation of this court is not to reward an exorbant compensation, but to make sure justice has been served.
Some basic points about the Council's stand were covered. For one thing, the death penalty is NOT allowed. If a country who wants to submit the death penalty wants a subject to be transported back, the Council of Europe will not allow the country to have the subject. The subjects of abortion and euthanasia are still under debate. The court of HRs also covers subjects about anonymous witness to unreasonable arrest. But the interesting point about the court's decisions is they don't quite have to be followed by Council of Europe countries, because the court doesn't really have the power to force them onto other governments. At times, one wonders how much power they actually have besides suggestion.
After the lecture we went to the metal products manufacturer, Ruukki, a Finnish based company in Parnu. The company supplies products across the Baltic States from building frames to roofing supplies. Speaking of the roofs, we saw those being created by series of metal disks and conveyor belts and it was, for lack of a better word, cool.
The rest of the day was spent wandering aimlessly to the beach by a more abstract route. Detours though parks, yards, crooked streets and plaza stretches, which gave many nice images for the mind to debate. And by images, I mean digital photos complete with odd expressions and poses. The beach continues to a nice setting and we tried the most strange seesaw I've ever encountered. My arms weren't quite strong enough for the thing. It was like a mix of jungle gum and a fulcrum.
Yep, that's about as scary as it sounds.
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