Human Rights and International Law

Whereas it was once the case that rights were almost always associated with the domestic legal and political systems, in the last half century a complex network of international law and practice has grown up around the idea that individuals possess rights simply by virtue of being human, of sharing a common humanity. The watershed for the development of a international human rights regime was the exercise undertaken by the international community following the unimaginable atrocities of the Second World War, particularly the Holocaust.

Out of the ashes of the League of Nations, the United Nations was born and became the first significant attempt by the international community to codify rules to protect human rights. The United Nations Charter, signed in 1945, signified that the rights of human beings were a matter of international concern, since a stated purpose of the United Nations was 'to achieve international cooperation ... in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion'. Moreover, it required the United Nations to promote 'universal respect for and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all ...' and provided that Member States should 'pledge themselves to take joint and separate action' to achieve these aims.

At first glance, the UN Charter seems to offer little by way of human rights. The Charter's language is vague, as it fails to define 'human rights and fundamental freedoms'. The scope of the words 'promote' (Article 55) and 'pledge' (Article 56) is unclear, and there has been disagreements as to whether these Articles impose legal obligations on States. Despite these defects, the UN Charter is significant because it recognises, formally, that human rights have an international dimension and are no longer solely a matter falling within the exclusive jurisdiction of a State. Furthermore, it granted the United Nations the legal authority to embark upon a codification of human rights which led to the drafting of what was the world's first international human rights document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This document is the basic international pronouncement of the inalienable and inviolable rights of all members of the human family. The Declaration was proclaimed in a resolution of the General Assembly on 10 December 1948 as the "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations" in respect for human rights. It lists numerous rights - civil, political, economic, social and cultural - to which people everywhere are entitled. The Declaration contains, in addition to its preamble, thirty articles that outline people’s universal rights. Some of the rights championed by the Declaration are:

The new council will comprise members who are elected by secret ballot by an absolute majority of the General Assembly. There will be periodic reviews of membership, and any state accused of systematic human rights violations could be suspended.

Geneva Convention (I- IV) - link

Protocol Additional to the Geneva Convention - link

International Law
International law is best understood as a core international institution, a set of norms, rules and practices created by states and other actors to facilitate diverse social goals, from order and coexistence to justice and human development.

In modern international society, states have created levels of institutions. They are deep constitutional institutions, such as the principle of sovereignty, which define the terms of legitimate statehood. Without the institution of sovereignty the world of independent states, and the international politics it engenders, would simply not exist. States have also created fundamental institutions, like international law and multilateralism, which provide the basic rules and practices that shape how states solve cooperation and coordination problems. The foremost institution governing international law is the United Nations.

According to its Charter, the UN aims:

to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,…to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,…to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom. 

In addition to maintaining peace and security, other important objectives include developing friendly relations among countries based on respect for the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples; achieving worldwide cooperation to solve international economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems; respecting and promoting human rights; and serving as a centre where countries can coordinate their actions and activities toward these various ends.

The United Nations has played a major role in defining, codifying, and expanding the realm of international law. The International Law Commission, established by the General Assembly in 1947, is the primary institution responsible for these activities. The Legal Committee of the General Assembly receives the commission's reports and debates its recommendations; it may then either convene an international conference to draw up formal conventions based on the draft or merely recommend the draft to states. The International Court of Justice reinforces legal norms through its judgments. The commission and the committee have influenced international law in several important domains, including the laws of war, the law of the sea, human rights, and international terrorism. 

The work of the UN on developing and codifying laws of war was built on the previous accomplishments of the Hague Conventions (1899–1907), the League of Nations, and the Kellog-Briand Pact (1928). The organization's first concern after World War II was the punishment of suspected Nazi war criminals. The General Assembly directed the International Law Commission to formulate the principles of international law recognized at the Nuremberg trials, in which German war criminals were prosecuted, and to prepare a draft code of offenses against the peace and security of mankind. In 1950 the commission submitted its formulation of the Nürnberg principles, which covered crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. In the following year the commission presented to the General Assembly its draft articles, which enumerated crimes against international law, including any act or threat of aggression, annexation of territory, and genocide. Although the General Assembly did not adopt these reports, the commission's work in formulating the Nürnberg principles influenced the 
The UN also took up the problem of defining aggression, a task attempted unsuccessfully by the League of Nations. Both the International Law Commission and the General Assembly undertook prolonged efforts that eventually resulted in agreement in 1974. The definition of aggression, which passed without dissent, included launching military attacks, sending armed mercenaries against another state, and allowing one's territory to be used for perpetrating an act of aggression against another state. In 1987 the General Assembly adopted a series of resolutions to strengthen legal norms in favour of the peaceful resolution of disputes and against the use of force.


The UN has made considerable progress in developing and codifying the law of the sea as well. The International Law Commission took up the law of the sea as one of its earliest concerns, and in 1958 and 1960, respectively, the General Assembly convened the First and the Second United Nations Conferences on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The initial conference approved conventions on the continental shelf, fishing, the high seas, and territorial waters and contiguous zones, all of which were ratified by the mid-1960s. During the 1970s it came to be accepted that the deep seabed is the “common heritage of mankind” and should be administered by an international authority. In 1973 the General Assembly called UNCLOS III to discuss the conflicting positions on this issue as well as on issues relating to navigation, pollution, and the breadth of territorial waters. The resulting Law of the Sea Treaty (1982) has been ratified by some 140 countries. The original treaty was not signed by the United States, which objected to the treaty's restrictions on seabed mining. The United States signed a revised treaty after a compromise was reached in 1994, though the agreement has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Senate.

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