International Human Rights Law 2024/2025 PDF

INTERNATIONAL LAW: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW FALL 2024/2025 WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS? Definition ◦ A right which is believed to belong to every person (Oxford English Dictionary). EVOLUTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Rights of Man ◦ The idea that an individual possesses certain rights through his or he...

INTERNATIONAL LAW: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW FALL 2024/2025 WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS? Definition ◦ A right which is believed to belong to every person (Oxford English Dictionary). EVOLUTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Rights of Man ◦ The idea that an individual possesses certain rights through his or her own state, has its origins in the era of the Enlightenment in the 18th century and in early Western constitutional thought. (Thomas Paine, & John Stuart Mill) ◦ In the 19th century, many states adopted national constitutions containing fundamental rights protection. ◦ In general, though, the rights granted were tied to citizenship or a similar nexus to the state, and were often based on theories of ‘social contract’, and could therefore not be relied on by all human beings. Universal Human Rights ◦ The modern conception of human rights is different because it is based on an understanding that certain rights are inherent in all individuals and therefore of universal application. PURPOSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS LAW The bulk of present-day human rights law operates to oblige a state to refrain from causing ‘harm’ to its own nationals or other persons within its jurisdiction. Indeed, as a main rule, international human rights law is only binding on states. International human rights law seeks to encourage and create uniformity, or at least minimum standards, for the treatment of all persons regardless of nationality. CATEGORIES OF HUMAN RIGHTS It is commonly acknowledged that not all human rights are of equal importance, rather some are far more integral than others. As such, practitioners and students of international law tend to speak of different categories of human rights: 1. ‘First generation’ rights comprise those civil and political rights that are now at the core of most human rights treaty regimes—most of these are ‘negative rights’ in that they seek to offer protection from the excesses of the state. 2. ‘Second generation’ human rights generally relate to matters of social and economic significance, such as the right to work, the right to social security, the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to education. 3. ‘Third generation’ rights may include very general concepts such as rights of development, the right to a protected environment, and a wide-ranging right of self- determination. SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW International human rights law is not found in any one singular place, but rather is spread across a few key locations. The most prominent of these include: 1. UN Charter 1945 2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)1948 3. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 1966 4. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) 1966 The UN has also adopted numerous universal conventions addressing a particular human rights issue such as the: 1. ‘International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination’ (CERD) 1965 2. ‘Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment’ (CAT) 1984 3. ‘International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance’ (ICPPED) 2006 SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW Other UN conventions seek to protect certain categories of individuals deemed vulnerable. Such conventions include the: 1. ‘Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women’ (CEDAW) 1979 2. ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’ (CRC) 1989 3. ‘International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families’ (ICRMW) 1990 4. ‘Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ (CRPD) 2007 UN CHARTER 1945 Prior to the United Nations Charter, individuals were not, in general, a major concern of international law. There were some exceptions to the rule, such as the rules relating to the protection of soldiers and civilians during times of war (humanitarian law). This stance was radically altered by the experience of the Second World War and the protection of human rights has been one of the primary purposes of the United Nations ever since. The preamble to the Charter, in its second paragraph, reaffirms a ‘faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women, and of nations large and small’. Likewise, in Article 55, the United Nations is committed to promoting, ‘universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion’. UN CHARTER 1945 Under Article 56, all members of the UN pledge themselves to take ‘joint and separate action in co-operation with the Organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55’. Therefore Article 56 effectively places a legal obligation to take steps for the protection of human rights. Furthermore in 1946, under the sponsorships of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the UN Commission on Human Rights was created to enhance respect and set standards for human rights conduct of the members of the UN in relation to the Charter-based commitments. However, owing to accusations of being too politicized and ineffective, it was replaced by the UN Human Rights Council in 2006. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 1948 In 1948, at its third session, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 217A, which ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There was no opposition to this resolution, although eight states did abstain, primarily because of the then uncertain standing of human rights in international law and the effect that such obligations could have on state sovereignty and cultural practices. (Eight states; Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the Soviet Union, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia.) The Declaration contains a list of ‘first’ and ‘second’ generation rights, and provides in Article 2 that ‘everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration without distinction of any kind’. INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS 1966 The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was adopted in 1966 and entered into force in 1976. A party to the Covenant undertakes ‘to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind’. Unlike the Declaration, this Covenant is a legally binding treaty and the state-parties are legally bound to give effect to its provisions. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE ◦ On becoming a party to the ICCPR, a state is automatically bound by Article 40 to submit periodic reports (every five years) to a Human Rights Committee established under the Covenant. ◦ This Committee is made up of eighteen individuals elected from among the contracting parties, but they do not formally represent their states. ◦ Reports submitted to the Committee should indicate the measures undertaken to implement the terms of the Covenant. ASSESSMENT OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW By far the greatest impact of human rights law has been to erode the absolute control which a state once exercised over its nationals, and it is one of the most significant achievements in international law that a state may now be internationally responsible for acts done in its own territory against its own citizens. However, in general, effective protection for specific individuals in respect of personal violations of their human rights is the exception rather than the rule and this apparent defect in the enforcement of human rights obligations has prompted many commentators to lament the ‘ineffectiveness’ of human rights law and to criticize states for not being prepared to accept compulsory enforcement machinery. Nevertheless, the existence of genuine legal obligations means that we can describe a state’s conduct as ‘unlawful’ or ‘illegal’ and this is a most powerful form of criticism. CULTURAL RELATIVISM Another alleged shortcoming of international human rights law relates to flexibility on matters of ‘cultural relativism’, which prevents a ‘truly’ holistic universal system from manifesting. HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION IN EUROPE Arguably the most sophisticated and advanced of all regional human rights laws can be found in the continent of Europe. In 1949, the Council of Europe was founded to strengthen intergovernmental and inter- parliamentary cooperation in a destroyed post-Second World War Europe. One of the Council’s greatest achievements was its adoption in 1950 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that remains the cornerstone of human rights protection in Europe. Agreement to the ECHR is now a precondition for membership of the Council of Europe. HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION IN EUROPE The European Court of Human Rights (ECTHR) enforces compliance with the ECHR and it deals with both interstate complaints and individual complaints. States are generally reluctant to bring legal cases against each other and interstate cases are therefore relatively rare. The key to the success of the ECHR is the procedure for individual complaints whereby the ECTHR is able to receive applications from any person, non-governmental organization or group of individuals claiming to be victims of a violation of the Convention. The Court can only deal with an application if the applicant has exhausted all domestic remedies and the complaint was launched within six months of the date of the final decision or act that is the subject of the complaint. HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION IN EUROPE If the Court finds that the Convention has been violated, it will conclude accordingly and consider satisfaction. In most cases, satisfaction will consist of monetary compensation but other measures may also be relevant. The Court’s judgements and decisions are final and binding on the respondent states. The states are free to determine how they will comply with a judgement but the Committee of Ministers in the Council of Europe monitors the proper implementation of the Court’s judgements. DEBATE QUESTION “No portion of the sea should be under the sovereignty of a state.” GROUP G GROUP E FOR AGAINST 1. Rashid Ali Rashid Aljarwan Alshamsi 1. Shouq Salah Abdalla Alrayes Al-ali 2. Abdulla Sultan Omran Alomran Alshamsi 2. Hind Suhail Musabeh Binmufleh Alketbi 3. Salem Hamad Mohammed Saif Alkhateri 3. Mariam Abdelrahim Nasir Nasralla Alzarooni 4. Salem Marwan Hassan Abdulla Aldaboos 4. Shamma Rashid Khamis Hamad Alsuwaidi 5. Badreya Salah Abdulrahman M. Warshow