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All lecture notes of international human rights law
Got a 9 at my exam. All the lecture notes, inlcuding also the notes from the book and the most important point from the case readings
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7 September Lecture 1-1 - Human rights: History, philosophy, legalframework, sources, interpretation and typology of rights
Practical matters
International HR Documents (exam)
International HR law book
Case la compendium (exam)
WHAT ARE HR?
philosophical pov: Those norms that stem from and directly relate to the protection of the dignity of the
human person. Belong to the human person ‘inherent’, inalienable, and universal.
Legally speaking: norms recognized as such in int treaties; Diverse: there are many kinds of HR
Hersch Lauterpach
CHAPTER 1: HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY
Why worry about HR and its historical and philosophy background?
Need to secure intellectual standing/justification
Solid justification for intrusive action (against states)
BRIEF HISTORY HR ON A DOMESTIC PLANE - Where should an analysis of the history of HR begin?
Ancient cultures
Code of Hammurabi – protection of many stratus of society (poor, women, slaves..)
Religious codes (Confucianism, Buddhism, Justinian code)
Greek city states and thinking of the Stoics (Plato, Aristotle)
controversial matter = risk of be politically charged = privileging a particular world view of HR.
From the perspective of the legal measures championing the rights of the common person against the state
the staring point in history is the Magna Carta of 1215… however, rights to trial by jury and of the habeas
corpus were hardly established. it has to do with rights of barons against king of England, more than
rights of the common man. = beginning of the limitation to absolute and arbitrary power of the sovereign
English Bill of Rights 1689 end of glorious revolution – fundamental idea = the absolute power of the state
must be limited. Foundation stone for the progress on HR.
1651 Hobbes’ Leviathan. Idea that the power to govern is to some extent derived from the
consent of the governed.
1690 Locke’s Two Treatises of Government = natural liberty and equality of human beings +
seeds of the idea of modern democracy: government by consent
HR TRANSFORMED IN POSITIVE LAW. End of 18th century = defining time in the history of HR
1776 US Declaration of Independence. Most celebrated example: Virginia Declaration of Rights
government by consent + separation of powers + list of basic HR
1789French Revolution – French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Swept away any
notions of absolute monarchical power. No separation = no constitution.
https://www1.curriculum.edu.au/ddunits/downloads/pdf/dec_of_rights.pdf
o US Constitution
1791 US Bill of Rights
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,Phases of the development – INTERNATIONAL LEVEL
Abolition of slavery
Diplomatic protection (no legal obligation of the state – In international law, diplomatic protection
is a mean for a state to take diplomatic and other action against another state on behalf of its
national whose rights and interests have been injured by that state. is a discretionary right of a
state and may take any form that is not prohibited by international law. It can include consular
action, negotiations with the other state, political and economic pressure, judicial or arbitral
proceedings or other forms of peaceful dispute settlement) – increased in 19 th century.
Efforts to ameliorate consequences of war
Protection of minorities after WWI/Labor movements
First steps in the field of humanitarian law
Protection of minorities and the League of Nations
o 1st effort to provide protection to religious minorities: End of 30 years war = treaty of
Westphalia (1648), Utrecht (1713), Berlin (1878).
o New Eu order after WW1 Wilson League of Nations
HR IN THE INTERNATIONAL PLANE AFTER WW2
Crimes against humanity – Nuremberg tribunal: it realized the possibility of international
accountability and punishment for appalling crimes committed against individuals.
The UN charter HR officially become a concern for the international community
The universal declaration of HR 1946: institution of the UN Commission on HR. task to create a
HR instrument applicable to all states. (“Magna Carta for all mankind”)
PHILOSOPHY
Schools of philosophical/political thought articulating (different aspects of) the idea(s) or critiques
underlying human rights
Religious philosophy (sacredness/ dignity of human beings/ equality)
Natural law (Thomas Aquinas – Elementary principles of justice in accordance with nature confers
immutable rights upon individuals as part of the law of God)
Political liberalism/Enlightenment
o Influences from magna carta 1215; Bill of Rights 1689
o Natural rights (Locke) – life, liberty, prop. Preexist before any society.
o Inalienable rights – social contract necessary to protect individual/limit government
(Rousseau) – give away some of your rights to the state and the state will protect them for
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, you. Limit the action of the gov 4 individuals. - Examples: - 1776 US Declaration of
Independence [NESTOR] - 1789 Declaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen [NESTOR]
Positivism
o Denial of an a priori source of rights
o Authority of the state to issue laws – not natural.
Utilitarianism
o Rights are necessary to maximize everybody’s welfare (Bentham)
o Governments should maximize the total net sum of the happiness of all their subjects (f.e.
Jeremy Bentham, J.S. Mill) - Maximization/collectivization of general welfare
Marxism
o protecting those who are impoverished: workers against the burgesses
o - Strong, ‘parental’ state necessary to transform society ≠ individual
o Emphasis on collective and economic rights
Deontological Kant: categorical imperative: condition as humans that have to be treated in a
decent manner. By virtue a person’s humanity is only limited from the freedom of others. Duty for
men to behave in a particular way which is respectful 4 everybody: respect humanity of others.
Teleological: reason for the existence of certain rules and what they try to achieve - Promotion or
protection of certain virtues/goods
Mixed: autonomy, liberty, minimum material provision (Griffin); justice theory (Rawls)
HR as inherent to human dignity, somehow ‘pre-existing’ as a matter of nature - 19 TH CENTURY CRITICS TO
NATURAL RIGHTS:
Bentham only from real law come real rights. Rights are those protected by law. Natural rights is
simple nonsense.
‘Rights are the child of law; from real law come real rights, but from imaginary law, from
‘law of nature’, come imaginary rights. Natural rights is simple nonsense; natural … rights,
rhetorical nonsense, nonsense upon stilts’ Jeremy Bentham, Anarchical Fallacies, 1816
(written in 1791-1795)
Burke the French revolution seen as a monstrous fiction
Marx in reality the rights of men were the ones of the bourgeoisie
Inalienability: cannot be taken away by states. Case HRCtee: Manuel Wackenheim v. France. W. thinks
that the banning is discriminatory on him. It’s inalienable
P 7.4 The Committee considers that the State party has demonstrated, in the present case, that the
ban on dwarf tossing as practiced by the author did not constitute an abusive measure but was necessary in
order to protect public order, which brings into play considerations of human dignity that are compatible
with the objectives of the Covenant.
UNIVERSALITY OF HR: Vienna Declaration and Program of Action 1993 – “the universal nature of these
rights and freedoms is beyond question” - all HR are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated.
… however
Hr Council resolution 21/12 (2009) The Human Rights Council Requests - a workshop for an
exchange of views on how a better understanding of traditional values of humankind underpinning
international human rights norms and standards can contribute to the promotion and protection of
human rights and fundamental freedoms: appropriate representation of different civilizations and
legal systems
Res 21/3 (2012) Reaffirms that a better understanding and appreciation of traditional values
shared by all humanity and embodied in universal human rights instruments contribute to
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, promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms worldwide; Requests the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to collect information from
States Members of the United Nations and other relevant stakeholders on best practices in the
application of traditional values while promoting and protecting human rights and upholding
human dignity
Universality of HR:
o both philosophical and spatial meaning.
o Critique of cultural relativists: western bias?
o Response to the critique strong but sometimes not enough
o Practical reaction to the critique: more practical approach: distinction between the normative
content (universal) of HR and its implementation (not). There are still cultural diversities – margin
of appreciation: ECHR – states are allowed to implement national legislation
In practical terms the idea of HR had made only relatively limited headway at this stage – Mary
Wollstonecraft (Vindication of the rights of Women, 1792). + the idea of juridical protection of HR was
inexistent.
Exception 1803 US SC Marbury v Madison. However, 21the protection Bill of Rights was at federal, not
individual level (slavery – Dred Scott v Sandford 1857). It will take civil war + amendments to eliminate
slavery and only in 1954, with Brown v Board of Education the SC finally start to use Bill of Rights to attack
grossly unfair and discriminatory practices + end of ‘separate but equal’ doctrine with Plessy v Ferguson.
Other critiques/philosophies?
Feminist critique (p 65)
Post-colonial critique (p 67)
Capabilities approach - The capability approach (also referred to as the capabilities approach) is a
normative approach to human welfare that concentrates on the actual capability of persons to
achieve their well-being rather than on their mere right or freedom to do so.
Interest and law and economics?
- “[t]he more human rights there are, and thus the greater the variety of human interests that are
protected, the more that the human rights system collapses into an undifferentiated welfarism in which all
interests must be taken seriously for the sake of the public good." Eric A. Posner
Dembour: 4 current Schools of Thought
Natural School - those rights one possesses simply by being a human being. They are given and
absolute. The universality of human rights is derived from their natural character.
Deliberative School - political values that liberal societies choose to adopt. They are a societal
agreement. It requires time before HR become universal. This school stresses the limits of HR. often
Constitutional law is used as one of the prime ways to express HR.
Protest School - redressing injustice. HR deal with rightful claims made by or on behalf of the poor,
the unprivileged, and the oppressed. Suspicion on HR law: may favor the elite.
Discourse School - lack of reverence towards human rights. human rights exist only because people
talk about them. powerful language with which to express political claims. ethic based on
individualistic human rights.
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