A verb for when some rights are not violated?

Their civil rights are violated. That is not true, their civil rights are fairly _____ .

They said that, contrary to what your media tells people, in this country human rights are not violated but ______ .

The verbs I have in mind are to satisfy and to secure. Is any of them idiomatic ? Or any other suggestion? I am looking for a verb to mean not violated when we talk about rights such as human rights, employee's rights, etc.

But don't think of 'rights' only in a strictly legal sense. It can more broadly be taken in the sense of 'entitlement'. For example, consider the following sentence:

It is true that the audience has right to be told the truth by the news channel. But I am quite sure that this media has _______ (=not violated) such right on the audience part.

Solution 1:

Consider respected.

According to The Free Dictionary, definition #2:

b. To avoid violating

Consequently, your example sentences will be:

Their civil rights are violated. That is not true, their civil rights are fairly respected.

They said that, contrary to what your media tells people, in this country human rights are not violated but respected.

Solution 2:

You may be looking for uphold:

(2) maintain (a custom or practice).

Collins Dictionary gives the following example:

If you uphold something such as a law, a principle, or a decision, you support and maintain it.

Your sentences would be:

Their civil rights are violated. That is not true, their civil rights are fairly upheld.

They said that, contrary to what your media tells people, in this country human rights are not violated but upheld.

Solution 3:

Idiomatically, 'protected' is by far the most common collocation.

From Google (including the quotation marks),

• "civil rights are protected" 272,000 results
• "civil rights are respected" 87 results
• "civil rights are upheld" 78 results
• "civil rights are honored" 43 results
• "civil rights are ensured" 31 results

Solution 4:

intact - It seemed to me that it was used with rights reasonably often, and a web search seems to support that (examples below). Definitions:

(BrEng) untouched or unimpaired; left complete or perfect

(AmEng) with nothing missing or injured; kept or left whole; sound; entire; unimpaired

Collins

untouched especially by anything that harms or diminishes

Merriam-Webster

In your sentences:

Their civil rights are violated. That is not true, their civil rights are fairly intact.

They said that, contrary to what your media tells people, in this country human rights are not violated but intact.

Some examples from the web:

"Five more senseless deaths, but Second Amendment rights are intact" - link

"If parental rights are intact, it must be determined..." - link

"...and do whatever we can to make sure refugee rights are intact in Canada." - link

Solution 5:

I would recommend 'observed'.

From Lexico:

3. Fulfil or comply with (a social, legal, ethical, or religious obligation)

From Merriam-Webster:

1 : to conform one's action or practice to (something, such as a law, rite, or condition) : comply with
// failed to observe the law and as a consequence had to pay a fine