Human rights yesterday and today

1. Human rights yesterdayand today • Idea of rights dates back to pre-Second World War domestic constitutions. • For our purposes starts with UN Charter: in its preamble declares as a primary purpose of the United Nations: “promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.” 

2. Human rights yesterdayand today (continued) • In signing on to international human rights treaties, states give away some sovereignty and make themselves vulnerable to be scrutinized by the international community. • Idea of international human rights: make them known to all people; don’t replace domestic protection of individuals but make it more effective within national systems. • When a state has ratified a treaty, it is supposed to adopt national measures to ensure that the treaty is implemented on the national level.

3. International Bill ofHuman Rights contains following instruments: • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948 • The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), 1966 • The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), 1966 

4. First developments on international arena: • adoption in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. • Antecedents to these: • minority treaties adhered to on bilateral or multilateral basis, the Charter of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg and international humanitarian law (was developed much earlier). 

5. Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly as a "common standard of achievement". UDHR is not a treaty. However, today, many of its provisions have become part of international customary law. • UDHR codified with the adoption of two Covenants in 1966: the CCPR, and the CESCR. • The two covenants are different in nature because of different type of rights that each addresses.

6. Other major human rights instruments • The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), 1965 • The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 1979 • The Convention against Torture (CAT), 1984 • The Convention on the Rights of theChild, 1989 • The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol, 1951 and 1967

7. International protection of human rights Inter-Governmental Organizations Universal UN UN Spec.Agencies Charter Conventions ECOSOC CCPRCESCRCERDCEDAWCATCRC…... GA SC, SG Commission on Status of Women Commission onHuman Rights Commissionon CrimePrevention Sub-Commission UNICEFUNHCRUNHCHR Special Procedures

8. Derogations during statesof emergency: • Civil and political rights may be derogated from during a state of emergency. • Derogating from human rights means to “limit” the extent to which these obligations apply. • The derogation clause is to be found in Article 4 of the CCPR.

9. General Commenton Article 4 • “The Committee holds the view that the measures taken under Article 4 are of an exceptional and temporary nature and may only last as long as the life of the nation concerned is threatened and that in times of emergency, the protection of human rights becomes all the more important, particularly those rights from which no derogation can be made.”

10. Criteria for lawful derogation • temporary derogations only; • exceptional threat to the life of the nation must exist; • official proclamation of a state of emergency must be made; • notification to other states and/or relevant treaty-monitoring body; • reasonable proportionality between means employed and end to be realized must exist; • other obligations under international law remain applicable; • measures taken to derogate must not be discriminatory.

11. The following rights arenon-derogable: • the right to life; • freedom from torture; • freedom from slavery; • freedom from post facto legislation and other judicial guarantees; • right to recognition beforethe law; • freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

12. The Office of theHigh Commissionerfor Human Rights • Broad mandate of UNHCHR createdby the General Assembly resolution of20 December 1993. • Responsibilities of the High Commissioner: • "to adopt and to foster a rights based approach across the whole spectrum of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, to promote and protect the realization of the right to development and to specifically include women's rights as human rights." 

13. The Office of theHigh Commissionerfor Human Rights (continued) • UNHCHR present in a number of countries; carries out monitoring and promotional activities there. • Important for UNICEF to coordinate its work in the field of monitoring and reporting with the Office of the High Commissioner.

14. Regional Human Rights Three regional human rights frameworks/treaties in addition to the international framework: • African Charter on Human andPeoples' Rights (1981); • American Convention onHuman Rights (1969); • the European Convention for theProtection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950).

15. A number of other human rights instruments on the regional level cover certain groups of people or certain issues: • Concerning children: • African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (adopted in 1990 but not yet in force); • European Convention on the Exercise of Children's Rights (adopted in 1996 but not yet in force). • Normally, a regional treaty provides more specific provisions. If conflicting treaty provisions: the one that grants the greatest protection prevails.