Human Rights in International Law

Adam Webb

Professor O’Dell

Genocide and Human Rights - SPS 206

5 October 2018
 There are plentiful of conventions and treaties that have lead to the current Humans

Rights Regime in terms of international laws and mechanisms. Some protect racial minorities,

while others protect an entire gender or age group. All of these have been the basis for the

protecting certain rights that every person should have no matter on race, gender, age, etc.

These conventions and treaties that have become laws are enforced by the United Nations and

also by special committees that have a distinct group that they are supposed to protect. The

current Human Rights Regime was largely created by the many treaties and conventions that

were written throughout the past and is enforced in varying strictness.

The Human Rights Regime’s purpose is to protect the rights that every person in the

world has no matter who they are. Each person has at the moment at least 30 Human Rights

that should be protected no matter who they are or where they are(Source 1). These rights go

from the right to live to the right marry whoever they want. These rights are listed in the UDHR

(United Declaration of Human Rights), which is a document that lists and explains every right

that every human being on the planet has. This is one of various documents that state the rights

people have while other documents like the “International Convention on the Elimination of All

Forms of Racial Discrimination” and the “Convention on the Rights of a Child” protect specific

groups rights. There are many others like this that state policies for the protection of rights for

these groups of people and others that are not stated in any of the documents talked about so

far.

All of the documents stated above and many that are not have many roots throughout

history. These roots are from many prominent documents written by various people from

throughout history. These people had similar intentions, but not on the same scale as some of

the more recent documents. A lot of the older documents tried to state and protect the rights for

a general group of people that were involved in a incident. Some of the older documents that

have lead to the current Human Rights Regime are the “Magna Carta”, “The Declaration of

Independence”, and “The English Bill of Rights”. These are a few of many documents that have
lead to the current Human Rights Regime and each one gave various amounts of help. In the

“The Declaration of Independence”, which is written in 1776, it breaks down some of the rights

each person has in a general fashion. As it says in the declaration, “We hold these truths to be

self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain

unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”(Source 6).

This means that every single person on the earth has a set amount of rights that no one can

take away and lists a few of the most prominent ones. This document was a very important

stepping stone in the United States history and the Human Rights Regime. This allowed a group

of people who wanted to live their own lives in their own way. They wanted to do this without

other people trying to take away their right to live their lives how they wanted to with the rights

that every person should be guaranteed. This document is one of many documents that were

the building blocks of the current Human Rights Regime by helping to define the some of the

current human rights.

The “English Bill of Rights”, which was written in 1969, had similar effects as the “The

Declaration of Independence”, but it protects certain rights of the English people from the

Royalty of England at the time. This document also gave Parliament the power over all other

governmental powers(Source 7). This means that the English people have certain rights that no

one can take away including the freedom of speech and the right to live their lives. This

document like others gave some of the many Human Rights that every person has. Not all the

current Human Rights are listed in one specific document from the past, but many listed a few of

the current Human Rights.

Some of the more recent documents as stated previously protect the rights of specific

groups of people. These conventions and treaties were very important in helping to clarify that

there is no reason at all that a person should be denied certain rights no matter of they are

disabled, a certain gender, or a certain age group.

 All of these documents and many more have lead to the UDHR which as stated

previously lists all of the current Human Rights. It was officially proclaimed in the December of

1948 by the UN(United Nations) for all people all people of every nation(Source 1). It was

created to stop “barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the

advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom

from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common

people,”(Source 1). This took points from all of these documents and many more to create the

current Human Rights Regime and how it is to be enforced.

The current Human Rights Regime is enforced in many more or less effective ways.

There are multiple committees and groups of peoples that want or have to protect the rights of

all people. When states become parties to treaties, “States assume obligations and duties under

international law to respect, to protect and to fulfil human rights”(Source 9). This means that

each state must not interfere with how people enjoy their rights, protect people from other

groups trying to take their rights away, and be proactive in the opportunities for people to be

able to enjoy their rights(Source 9). This is what each state is supposed to do but they do not

always complete this in the most effective and thorough ways. One problem is that governments

may place legal parameters in place to try and protect people’s rights, but some people slip

through the cracks. Some people beat the legal system in nations and get away with depriving

people of their rights or keeping them from enjoying their rights. In cases like that there are

mechanisms in place so people can go and put in a complaint in regards to the discrimination

against them. These are also can only be applied if people come forward if they are

discriminated against by not allowing them their rights. There are also committees created by

the treaties and conventions ratified by the United Nations. Each of these committees have

there own power assigned to them by the convention and UN itself. Even though there are so

many mechanisms set in place to try to help people by protecting their rights, the laws created

by this can only do so much. One people have to come forth about it and also there are too
many ways around getting charged. There are people who get around the laws and the

committees by having better lawyers or leaving no evidence or proof that they did anything. All

of these laws have helped in the fight for equal human rights for everyone in the world no matter

what nation they are from. Even though some people fall through the cracks, the cracks are

getting smaller. Also even though they are not equally enforced thoroughly in every nation,

things are getting better for everyone everyday.

The world is very large and full of many people with different beliefs, ages, etc. Many of

these people have been denied their rights for way to long and many people are trying to fix

that. People have drafted many conventions and treaties to try and combat these issues by

bringing these issues to the world through the UN. These laws were created to protect anyone

and everyone no matter what nation they are from, how old they are, what they believe in, or

what color their skin is. This world has been made much better by the current Human Rights

Regime and the documents that have helped create it by protecting the rights of everyone.

Work Cited

1) “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” United Nations, United Nations,

www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/.

2) Engstrom. “Human Rights: Effectiveness of International and Regional Mechanisms.” Oxford

Research Encyclopedia of International Studies, 13 Dec. 2017,

internationalstudies.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.001.0001/acrefore-

9780190846626-e-214.
3) “The Global Human Rights Regime.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations,

www.cfr.org/report/global-human-rights-regime.

4) “Enforcing International Human Rights Law: Problems and Prospects.” E-International Relations,

www.e-ir.info/2014/04/29/enforcing-international-human-rights-law-problems-and-prospects/.

5) “Magna Carta.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association,

www.ushistory.org/documents/magnacarta.htm.

6) “The Declaration of Independence: Full Text.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association,

www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/.

7) “English Bill of Rights 1689.” Colonial Women ***, www.landofthebrave.info/bill-of-rights-

1689.htm.

8) “OHCHR | Core International Instruments.” OHCHR | Freedom of Religion: UN Expert Hails Albania,

but Notes New Challenges and Unresolved Issues from the Past,

www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CoreInstruments.aspx.

9) “The Foundation of International Human Rights Law.” United Nations, United Nations,

www.un.org/en/sections/universal-declaration/foundation-international-human-rights-

law/index.html.