lecture No.

3
SOURCES OF
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN
RIGHTS LAW
 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

O International treaties are contracts signed between states. They

are legally binding and impose mutual obligations on the states
that are party to any particular treaty (states parties). The main
particularity of human rights treaties is that they impose
obligations on states about the manner in which they treat all
individuals within their jurisdiction.
O Even though the sources of international law are not
hierarchical, treaties have some degree of primacy. Nowadays,
more than forty major international conventions for the
protection of human rights have been adopted. International
human rights treaties bear various titles, including ‘covenant’,
‘convention’ and ‘protocol’; but what they share are the
explicit indication of states parties to be bound by their terms.
 UNIVERSAL
CONVENTIONS FOR
THE PROTECTION OF
O Human rightsHUMAN RIGHTS
had already found expression in the Covenant of
the League of Nations, which led, inter alia, to the creation of the
International Labor Organization.

O the UN Charter clearly speaks of ‘promoting and encouraging

respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion’ (Article
1, para. 3). The idea of promulgating an ‘international bill of
rights’ was developed immediately afterwards and led to the
adoption in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR).
 THE UDHR

O adopted by a resolution of the United Nations General

Assembly (UNGA) 1948, although not a treaty, is the earliest
comprehensive human rights instrument adopted by the
international community.
 THE TWO COVENANTS
O in 1966, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) were adopted, as well as
the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, which established
an individual complaints procedure.

O Both Covenants and the Optional Protocol entered into force

in 1976. A Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, on the
abolition of the death penalty, was adopted in 1989 and
entered into force in 1991.
International Bill of Human Rights
O The ‘International Bill of Human Rights’ consists of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the ICESCR, and the ICCPR and its
two Optional Protocols. The International Bill of Rights is the basis
for numerous conventions and national constitutions.

O The ICESCR and the ICCPR are key international human rights
instruments. They have a common Preamble and Article 1, in which
the right to self-determination is defined. The ICCPR primarily
contains civil and political rights. The supervisory body is the
Human Rights Committee. The ICESCR consists of a catalogue of
economic, social and cultural rights in the same vein as the ‘social’
part of the UDHR.
CONVENTIONS ELABORATING
ON CERTAIN RIGHTS, INTER
ALIA:

O The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime

of Genocide (1948).
O The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984)
CONVENTIONS DEALING WITH CERTAIN
CATEGORIES OF PERSONS WHICH MAY
NEED SPECIAL PROTECTION, INTER ALIA

O The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951), and

the 1967 Protocol thereto.
O The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
O The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights
of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
(2000).
 CONVENTIONS SEEKING TO
ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION
O UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education
(1960) .
O The International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965).
O The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (1979) and its Optional
Protocol (2000).
 REGIONAL CONVENTIONS FOR THE PROTECTION
OF HUMAN RIGHTS

O The Council of Europe adopted the European Convention for

the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
in 1950.
O the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1987.
O The American Convention on Human Rights was adopted in
1969, under the auspices of the Organization of American
States.
O the Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture (1985), the
Convention on the Forced Disappearances of Persons (1994).
O the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
(1990).
 INTERNATIONAL CUSTOM
O Customary international law plays a crucial role in international
human rights law. The Statute of the International Court of Justice
refers to ‘general practice accepted as law’.
O In order to become international customary law, the ‘general
practice’ needs to represent a broad consensus in terms of content
and applicability, deriving from a sense that the practice is
obligatory .
O Customary law is binding on all states (except those that may have
objected to it during its formation), whether or not they have
ratified any relevant treaty.
O One of the important features of customary international law is that
customary law may, under certain circumstances, lead to universal
jurisdiction or application, so that any national court may hear
extra-territorial claims brought under international law.

O Many scholars argue that some standards laid down in the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which in formal terms is
only a resolution of the UNGA and as such not legally binding)
have become part of customary international law as a result of
subsequent practice; therefore they would be binding upon all
states. Within the realm of human rights law the distinction
between concepts of customary law, treaty law, and general
principles of law are often unclear.
 SUBSIDIARY MEANS FOR THE
DETERMINATION OF RULES OF LAW
O According to Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court
of Justice, judicial decisions and the teachings of the most
qualified publicists are ‘subsidiary means for the determination
of rules of law’. Therefore, they are not, strictly speaking, formal
sources, but they are regarded as evidence of the state of the law.
O As for the judicial decisions, Article 38 of the Statute of the
International Court is not confined to international decisions
(such as the judgements of the International Court of Justice, the
Inter-American Court, the European Court and the future African
Court on human rights); decisions of national tribunals relating
to human rights are also subsidiary sources of law.
O The writings of scholars contribute to the development and
analysis of human rights law. Compared to the formal standard
setting of international organs the impact is indirect.