HUMAN RIGHTS

Contemporary International Humanitarian Law



Contemporary International Humanitarian Law

Introduction

The basic political, economic, social, and cultural entitlements of all individuals in a society by virtue of their humanity. Human rights are legitimate, justified, and valid claims on society to guarantees and safeguards that are essential to personal well-being and dignity.

Society is required to respect and ensure human rights regardless of sex, race, age, social class, national origin, ethnic or tribal affiliation, ideology, or other commitment. In organized societies, which constitute the majority of the modern world, human rights are generally safeguarded by law and institutions in a country's legal system. International human rights law and institutions aim to ensure that every national society safeguards the human rights of its inhabitants.

Antecedents

The modern idea of human rights was formulated and given content during World War II and its aftermath. It was expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, and in the numerous covenants and conventions derived from it.

However, the philosophical foundations of human rights predate this period and are derived mainly from the liberal Western democratic tradition. A detailed formulation of this philosophy as it applies to the specific problem of human rights can be found in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, written in 1789 during the French Revolution. The declaration is the most widely known proclamation of rights and had the most far-reaching consequences on the continent of Europe.

Other historic texts fulfilled similar roles elsewhere. England's Magna Carta of 1215 had among its provisions guarantees of freedom from imprisonment, dispossession of property, unlawful prosecution, or exile. The English Habeas Corpus Act and Bill of Rights were issued in 1689, assuring the supremacy of Parliament over the monarch, the right to free elections, freedom of speech, the right to bail, freedom from cruel and unusual punishments, and the right to trial by jury.

English colonists in North America inherited these and other legal traditions, which were incorporated into the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776. By 1789, two parallel and broadly similar currents of thought, American and French, together made up the philosophical and historical foundation for the modern idea of human rights. It is this same stream of thought that found expression in the Universal Declaration of 1948.

Slavery, Humanitarian Law, And Minority Rights

The first international literature relating to the human rights problem as it is understood in the modern world appeared long before World War II and the Universal Declaration of 1948. It touched on the issue of slavery, which until the end of the 18th century, was generally legal under national law. Slavery remained legal in the United States until 1863 and, in some other countries, until the 20th century.

Antislavery laws were the first major development in the effort to ensure basic human rights for all individuals. The first antislavery act was signed in Brussels in 1890 and later ratified by 18 nations, including the United States. It was the most comprehensive instrument against slavery until the ...