INTERNATIONAL

HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

Rea Nica Gerona

Ma. Andrenette Dyan G. Ballos
BSTM 2A
 Categorization of Human Rights
Human Rights are generally divided into 3 main
categories:
• Civil and political rights;
• Economic , social and cultural rights; and
• Group or peoples’ rights.
They are often confusingly expressed in terms of
“generations” of human rights: the first, the second,
and the third generation respectively.
 Civil and Political Rights
Civil and Political rights ( freedom of expression,
freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom from torture,
freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, right to a
fair trial, etc.) derive from the natural rights
philosophy of John Locke, Rousseau and others.
They protect against encroachments of government.
These rights have traditionally been given priority by
Western States.
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

(Right to work, right to education, right to access to

health care) attained recognition to the twentieth
century with the advent of socialism
They argued that achievement of economic and social
rights was a pre-condition to other rights.
 Group or peoples’ rights
Emerged as recently as the 1970s and are supported by
developing countries

The focus is on collective as opposed to individual

rights.

The right to development and right to self-

determination are two main examples.
 Universalism and Cultural Relativism

The proponents of Universalism claim that

international human rights like rights to equal
protection by law, physical security, freedom of
speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association
are and must be the same everywhere
Advocates of “cultural relativism” claim that most (or
some) rights depend on cultural context, the term
‘culture’ being used in a broad way to include political
and religious ideologies and institutional structures.
Human rights instruments are on the universal side of
the debate. The landmark instrument is the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
The two covenants (ICCPR, ICESCR) also speak in
universal terms: ‘everyone’ has the right to liberty, ‘all
persons’ are entitled to equal protection, etc.
To the relativists, these instruments are the indicators
of the so-called ‘cultural imperialism’ of the West.
During the cold war, such debates were mainly
between the communist and the western.
The west charged the communist world with violating
many basic rights of a civil and a political character.
The Communist world charged the west with
violations of the more important economic and social
rights.
Islamic Perspective of Human rights
 Islam has its own values and standards of human rights,
founded on ‘Shari’ah’, the Divine Law, the essence of
which is absolute submission to the Will of God
Almighty.
Reformists and Traditionals
 Ijtihad: Whether the door for ijtihad has been closed or not.
 Traditionalists: must strictly follow the classical
interpretations.
 Reformists: should not interpret the original sources
literally but consider the rationale behind the revelation in
question.
 The Evolution of International
Human Rights Law
The concept of the international protection of human
rights is revolutionary in nature given the fact that the
traditional doctrine of international law had no place
for it at all. The turning point for this change of the
paradigm is the Charter of the United Nations, which
is usually referred to as the starting point for any study
of the protection of human rights.
Human Rights clauses of the Charter
 Preamble: reaffirmed their “faith in fundamental human rights, in the
dignity and worth of human person, in the equal rights of men and
women”.
 Article 1: the achievement of international cooperation “in promoting
and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental
freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or
religion”.
 Also Arts. 55 and 56 (All members pledge themselves to take joint and
separate action).
 The better view, however, is that the use of the word “pledge’ in Article
56 implies a legal obligation, although the obligation is weak in view of
the fact that there is no enumeration in the Charter of the fundamental
human rights which are to be observed by States.
 The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
The General Assembly adopted of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948.
Two main categories of human rights, namely: civil and
political rights [Articles 3 to 21] and economic, social
and cultural rights [Articles 22 to 27].
Many laymen imagine that States are under a legal
obligation to respect the rights listed in the UDHR. It is
not so. 
It is simply a list of human rights which member states
‘pledge’ themselves to promote under Articles 55 and 56
of the Charter.
 Obligation of State Parties
Art. 2(1): “to respect and to ensure to all individuals…
the rights recognized in the present Covenant.”
 Art. 2(2): “to undertake the necessary steps to adopt
such legislation or other measures as may be necessary
to give effect to the rights recognised in the Covenant
Art. 2(3): “to ensure that any person whose rights are
violated has an effective remedy, notwithstanding that
the violation has been committed by persons acting in
an official capacity.”
 Art. 4 : Emergency Threatening the
Existence of the state
1 . In time of public emergency which threatens the life of
the nation and the existence of which is officially
proclaimed, the States Parties to the present Covenant may
take measures derogating from their obligations under the
present Covenant to the extent strictly required by the
exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are
not inconsistent with their other obligations under
international law and do not involve discrimination solely
on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or
social origin.
2. No derogation from articles 6, 7, 8 (paragraphs I and 2),
11, 15, 16 and 18 may be made under this provision.
 Human Rights Committee (HRC)
Art. 28
The Human Rights Committee has 18 members.
 It has three main monitoring mechanisms:
(1) Compulsory reporting procedure whereby all State
parties are obliged to present reports (initial and
period) indicating compliance with the ICCPR;
(2) Optional inter-State complaints procedure; and
(3) Individual complaints procedure.
 Optional inter-state complaints Procedure
Art. 41
A contracting party may, on condition of reciprocity,
accept the right of the other contracting parties to
bring a claim to the HRC alleging a violation of the
Covenant by it.
Negotiations between the two parties must have been
completed without success.
If satisfied that local remedies have been exhausted,
the Committee shall make available its good offices.
The Committee must, within twelve months, submit a
report, which is not legally binding.
 Complaints by victims of human rights
violation
First Optional Protocol,1996
The most significant monitoring mechanism is the
individual complaints procedure under the First
Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, 1966. There were 107
Parties to it.
The victims of human rights violations, if they have
exhausted all available domestic remedies, may submit
a written communication to the Committee for
consideration.
There is also a Second Optional Protocol which deals
with ‘abolition of death penalty’.
 International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural rights 1966 (ICESCR)
 The ICESCR provides for the right of self-determination
for all peoples, the right to work, the right to form trade
unions and to strike, the right to social security, the right to
an adequate standard of living, the right to health, the right
to education and the enjoyment of certain cultural rights.
 Art. 2 (1): “each State Party undertakes to take steps… to
the maximum of its available resources, with a view to
achieving progressively the full realization of the rights
recognized in the present Covenant by all appropriate
means, including particularly the adoption of legislative
measures.”
 ICCPR AND ICESCR: compare and
contrast
(1) Obligation of state parties:
(a) The obligation under ICESCR is very general and
limited to ‘taking steps’ with a view to ‘achieving
progressively the full realization of the rights’
whereas ICCPR imposes a more stringent obligation
on States ‘to respect and to ensure’.
(b) The obligation under ICESCR is also limited To the
maximum of its available resources.
(2) Favourable condition for developing countries: A
significant feature of the ICESCR is that developing
countries, with due regard to human rights and their
national economy, may determine to what extent they
would guarantee the economic rights recognized in
the Covenant to non-nationals. [Art. 2(3)]
(3) Individual complaints procedure: There is an
Optional Protocol to the ICCPR establishing
individual complaint procedure while there is no such
procedure in ICESCR.
THANK YOU!!