Human Rights and Current Discriminatory Manifestations (on the Example of Age Discrimination in the Social and Communicative Sphere)

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of counteracting human rights violations due to age discrimination in the social and communicative sphere to identify problematic aspects of this discrimination;to study current changes in connection with the pandemic threat and generalize a set of legal guarantees to prevent and counteract inappropriate legal policy in this area. The research is based on a humanistic approach, which determines the individual value criterion of the research methodology and is manifested through the ideology of anthropocentrism;a complementary approach to scientific research and a balanced combination of national and international state-building and law-making principles. A synergistic approach made it possible to analyze the legal anti-discrimination policy in the light of pandemic threats. A comparative legal method was used, which made it possible to summarize the legal requirements of various states, including most countries of the European Union, the United Arab Emirates, Great Britain, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Colombia, on measures to counteract the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistical and information reports of the European Union countries, monitoring of the Equality Representatives of individual countries (Serbia, Lithuania), analytical data, government decisions and practical cases were used. The method of combining theory and practice made it possible to propose a set of measures to overcome age discrimination in modern conditions of nationhood development.

International trading system: Up the down staircase?

The future of the international trading system under modern challenges is uncertain. The surge of protectionism, the re-balancing of power between nations, and a recent pandemic along with expanding digitalization demonstrate the necessity of rethinking global trade governance. The paper aims to reveal the key challenges of modern international trading system and provide possible ways to address them. Participants in the debate indicated that protectionism inevitably remains in modern trade policy, although liberalization and multilateral trade talks could provide incentives for more fair trade. The global interconnectivity in the framework of global value chains requires a new trade agenda. It is clear that states, especially in modern circumstances, primarily defend their national interests. However, strategically all WTO members will benefit from the development of multilateral cooperation. The responsibility of national policy makers and companies, especially those most powerful, is to maintain sustainable economic development. COVID-19 made more evident the core problems of the development of the international trading system. It has also provoked "pandemic-specific" protectionism, which should be taken into account in future developments of global governance. Digital technologies will certainly re-shape the modern structure of international trade, regardless of whether it happens in a revolutionary or evolutionary manner. The globalization leads to the digital divide among nations and the necessity to adjust the national policies. The World Trade Organization is not obliged to cope with all these issues, but its members are.