What Is International Human Rights Law?

By Alda Facio
Human rights are inherent entitlements which belong to every human being as a
consequence of being born. These rights belong to all individuals and therefore no
exceptions can be made because of sex or gender, race or ethnicity, ability, political or
religious beliefs, cultural practices or traditions, sexual orientation, gender identity,
nationality or civil status, or any other conditions. Although human rights do not need to
be recognized by States in order to exist, those rights which have been formally
recognized by member States of the United Nations create the legal obligation of each
State to respect, protect and guarantee each right to each person under its jurisdiction.
International Human Rights Law:
International human rights law is a set of international rules, established by treaty or
custom, on the basis of which individuals and groups can expect all human rights to be
respected, protected and fulfilled by the State and on the basis of which individuals and
groups can demand or claim certain rights from States.
Customary International Law:
Customary International Law comprises the rules that are established by custom which
together with general principles of law, are the primary sources of international law. The
vast majority of the world's governments accept the existence of customary international
law, although there are many differing opinions as to what rules are contained in it.
The UN Charter acknowledges the existence of customary international law (article
38(1)(b) of the Statute, incorporated into the Charter by article 92 thereof): "The Court,
whose function is to decide in accordance with international law such disputes as are
submitted to it, shall apply... international custom, as evidence of a general practice
accepted as law."
Customary international law "... consists of rules of law derived from the consistent
conduct of States acting out of the belief that the law required them to act that way." 1 It
follows that customary international law can be discerned by a "widespread repetition by
States of similar international acts over time (State practice); Acts must occur out of a
sense of obligation (opinio juris); Acts must be taken by a significant number of States
and not be rejected by a significant number of States."
A particular category of customary international law ius cogens refers to a principle of
international law so fundamental that no State may opt out by way of treaty or otherwise.
Examples of this are the act of genocide or crimes against humanity and the idea that
slavery is always illegal. Another example that I would add is discrimination based on
sex, race, ethnicity or any other condition which the great majority of States have
1

Rosenne, Practice and Methods of International Law, p. 55

prohibited in their laws thus making the principle of non-discrimination part of customary
international law since most States have acted on this principle by incorporating it into
their own Constitutions.
So, ius cogens is an unwritten but fundamental principle of general customary
international law that cannot be set aside by agreement or acquiescence.
Codified International Human Rights Law:
Codified International human rights law usually referred to simply as International
Human Rights Law, consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and
the nine UN human rights treaties. Together these instruments represent agreed upon
international standards for the respect, promotion, protection and fulfillment of all human
rights.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the basic document of all UN
human rights conventions. The declaration consists of 30 articles which outline the view
of the United Nations with regards to the human rights that are guaranteed to all people.
Even though the UDHR is a declaration and therefore not legally binding on States, in
1968 the United Nations International Conference on Human Rights held in Tehran
decided that it constitutes an obligation for the members of the international
community for all persons. Nowadays the UDHR is considered to be part of customary
international law and is thus considered to be binding on States.
Furthermore some jurists talk about the International Bill of Human Rights which is
comprised of the UDHR plus the two International Covenants on Civil and Political
Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights with their respective protocols.
As of April 2013, nine UN human rights conventions form the UN treaty body system
which is largely responsible for setting the international standards for the protection and
promotion of human rights. These conventions are legally binding on each State that
becomes a party to the treaty mainly by ratifying it. Each State party has an obligation to
take steps to ensure that everyone in the State can enjoy the rights set out in the treaty.
Some jurists consider that since some of these conventions have been ratified by so many
States, they should be considered part of the Customary International Law. Some jurists
also believe that the Charter of the United Nations is an integral part of codified
international human rights law.
International Bill of Human Rights
UDHR: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
ICCPR: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
ICESCR: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)

Core Human Rights Instruments

ICERD: International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (1965)
CEDAW: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (1979)
CAT: Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (1984)
CRC: Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
ICRMW: International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of Their Families (1990)
ICRPD: The International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006)
ICPPED: The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance (2010)

Some of these treaties are supplemented by optional protocols dealing with specific
concerns:
ICCPR-OP1 Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICCPR-OP2 Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty
OP-CEDAW Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women
OP-CRC-AC Optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict
OP-CRC-SC Optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale
of children, child prostitution and child pornography
OP-CAT Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
OP-CRPD Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

There are many other universal instruments relating to human rights. In addition to the
International Bill of Rights and the core human rights treaties, there are other covenants,
statutes, protocols and conventions which are legally-binding for those States that ratify
or accede to them. Examples of these are the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court, as well as all of the above protocols. The legal status of these instruments varies:
declarations, principles, guidelines, standard rules, resolutions and recommendations

have no binding legal effect, but they do have an undeniable moral force and provide
practical guidance to States in their conduct. Covenants, treaties, conventions, protocols
and any other type of instrument which requires a State to ratify or accede to it are legally
binding on the State that has ratified them.
Human Rights Treaty Bodies:
Treaty bodies are created in accordance with the provisions of the treaty that they
monitor. Each of the core human rights treaties has established such monitoring body,
named the Committee whose purpose is to ensure the implementation of the treaty
provisions by the State parties. State parties are obligated to periodically report to these
committees on the implementation of the treaty into national law and policies and
programs. During and after each reporting process the treaty monitoring bodies (the eight
existing committees) give the State parties specific recommendations on how to better
implement the treaties.
There are nine human rights treaty bodies:
The Human Rights Committee (CCPR) monitors implementation of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and its optional protocols;
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) monitors
implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(1966);
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) monitors
implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (1965);
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (1979) and its optional protocol (1999);
The Committee Against Torture (CAT) monitors implementation of the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (1984);
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) monitors implementation of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and its optional protocols (2000); and
The Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) monitors implementation of the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families (1990).
The Committee on the Right of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) monitors
implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(2006).

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) monitors implementation of the

International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
(2010)
Each treaty body receives secretariat support from the Human Rights Treaties Branch of
OHCHR in Geneva. CEDAW, which was supported until 31 December 2007 by the
Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), met only once a year in New York at
United Nations Headquarters but from 2010 onwards has met three times a year in
Geneva and New York Headquarters and is now being supported by the OHCHR.
The Human Rights Committee usually holds one session in New York and the others in
Geneva. All the other treaty bodies meet in Geneva, either at Palais Wilson or Palais des
Nations.
What do the treaty bodies do?
The treaty bodies perform a number of functions in accordance with the provisions of the
treaties that created them. These include:

Consideration of State parties' reports

Consideration of individual complaints or communications

They also publish general comments on the treaties and organize discussions on related
themes. (CEDAW called them general recommendations but is changing the name to
general comments for the purpose of harmonization).
Consideration of State parties' reports
When a country ratifies one of these treaties, it assumes a legal obligation to implement
the rights recognized in that treaty. But signing up is only the first step, because
recognition of rights on paper is not sufficient to guarantee that they will be enjoyed in
practice. So the country incurs an additional obligation to submit regular reports to the
monitoring committee set up under that treaty on how the rights are being implemented.
This system of human rights monitoring is common to most of the UN human rights
treaties.
To meet their reporting obligation, States must submit an initial report usually one year
after joining (two years in the case of the CRC) and then periodically in accordance with
the provisions of the treaty (usually every four or five years). In addition to the
government report, the treaty bodies may receive information on a countrys human
rights situation from other sources, including human rights activists organizations, UN
agencies, national human rights institutions, intergovernmental organizations, academic
institutions and the press. In the light of all the information available, the Committee
examines the report together with government representatives. Based on this dialogue,
the Committee publishes its concerns and recommendations, referred to as concluding
observations.

Consideration of individual complaints or communications

In addition to the reporting procedure, some of the treaty bodies may perform additional
monitoring functions through three other mechanisms: the inquiry procedure, the
examination of inter-state complaints and the examination of individual complaints.
Four of the Committees (CCPR, CERD, CAT and CEDAW) can, under certain
conditions, receive petitions from individuals who claim that their rights under the
treaties have been violated.
General Comments/General Recommendations
The Committees also publish their interpretation of the content of human rights
provisions, known as general comments on thematic issues or methods of work. The
general comments of each treaty body are listed on their respective web pages: CCPR,
CESCR, CERD, CEDAW, CAT, CRC. The CMW has not yet issued any general
comments.
Note that both CERD and CEDAW refer to their general comments as "general
recommendations".
The general comments of all human rights treaty bodies are compiled annually in the
document HRI/GEN/1/Rev.7 (Accessed here:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/treaty/comments.htm)
Meeting of chairpersons and inter-committee meeting
The treaty bodies coordinate their activities through the annual meeting of chairpersons
of human rights treaty bodies and through the inter-committee meeting.
The treaty bodies are continually seeking ways to enhance their effectiveness through
streamlining and harmonization of working methods and practices.
For a comprehensive overview of the United Nations human rights treaty system,
download OHCHR Fact Sheet 30:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet30en.pdf