Autointerpretation, Competence, and the Continuing Validity of Article 2(7) of the UN Charter

1977 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The United Nations

With the failure of the United Nations to control the use of force by states to the degree that many had wished for, the attention of many commenators shifted to what was hoped would be more fertile ground—the protection of human rights, self-determination, and other areas in which the organization might play a supranational role. In discussing the development of the supranational aspect of the organization, attention is invariably directed to Article 2(7) of the Charter which is, of course, the current symbol of sovereignty. Since most visionaries are frustrated by the concept of sovereignty, it is not surprising that this article has received little sympathy on the part of many who are more concerned with ends than means. Yet it is doubtful whether the concept may be dismissed summarily and, since it plays such a key role in so many of the allegedly developing fields of international law, one would do well to consider how Article 2(7), properly interpreted, affects the legal assumption on which supranationalism is based.

Reviving the 'Spirit of San Francisco': The Lost Proposals on Human Rights, Justice and International Law to the UN Charter

2007 ◽  
Vol 76 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 217-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarina Månsson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Law And Justice

AbstractWhile it has been claimed that no subject matter has been referred to as frequently in the United Nations (UN) Charter as human rights, a close analysis of its traveaux préparatoires reveals that it contains but a fragment of what was actually proposed during the drafting of the Charter in 1945. This article presents and analyses these 'lost proposals', particularly those seeking strong references to human rights, international law and justice in the Charter's preamble and chapters on the purposes and principles of the UN. Presented by smaller states, they include suggestions that respect for and protection of human rights constitutes a principle of the UN and that the maintenance of peace and security is conditioned on adherence to international law. It concludes that UN peacemakers of today struggle with the same conundrum as the drafters of the UN Charter 60 ago: "What comes first, justice or peace?"

Human rights: a reply to Geoffrey Best

1991 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-94
Author(s):  
Tony Evans
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Personal Qualities ◽  
The United Nations

Geoffrey Best's article ‘Whatever Happened to Human Rights9 in the January 1990 issue of the Review touches upon many important questions which are well known to human rights scholars. These include such political, legal and philosophical difficulties as defining the concept of self-determination, the prospects for implementing certain economic and social rights and the role of international law in improving human right standards. By examining the work of René Cassin in his role as a member of the Commission for Human Rights during the early years of the United Nations, Best points to these difficulties while attempting to achieve two further objectives. The first is to provide an appreciation of Cassin's personal qualities, and the second, to demonstrate that had Cassin's views been more closely adhered to human rights would in some way be healthier today. Although Best's article is the edited text of a lecture, and is consequently not the tightly argued piece we might expect from a more considered paper prepared especially for publication, several of his claims are either questionable or mistaken.

Indigenous Peoples

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérémie Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

The rights of indigenous peoples under international law have evolved greatly since the late 1980s. Efforts by indigenous peoples to get their rights recognized under international law started during the League of Nations in the early 1920s, but it was only in 2007 that the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The adoption of the declaration not only marks an important moment in terms of lawmaking; it also represents the achievement of long decades of lobbying and advocacy from indigenous peoples’ representatives. The UN declared the decade 1994–2004 as the First International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, and later 2005–2015 was declared the second such decade. The main objective was the strengthening of international cooperation for the solution of problems faced by indigenous people in such areas as human rights, the environment, education, and health. As a result, in 2002, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was established as an advisory body to the UN Economic and Social Council. But it was only in 2007 that the UN General Assembly adopted the UNDRIP, which universally proclaims and consolidates a specific international legal corpus of rights for indigenous peoples. The adoption of the declaration is representative of the significant legal developments of the rights of indigenous peoples under international law. The international legal framework concerns general human rights such as nondiscrimination and equality, as well as very specific collective rights such as self-determination, cultural rights, land rights, and control over natural resources. The establishment of a specific corpus of law dedicated to the rights of indigenous peoples, or sui generis rights, has also meant a proliferation of scholarly literature on the topic. This article does not propose to be exhaustive or comprehensive, but rather to offer a review of some of the texts that can guide the researcher or the reader through the vast and extensive existing literature. First, it focuses on some of the leading sources that provide a general overview on the rights of indigenous peoples. It then examines the institutional and regional approaches. And finally, it focuses on specific issues affecting indigenous peoples, namely historical claims, self-determination, land rights, natural resources, and development.

Resolution 530 (1983

1984 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 838-840
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Central America ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Foreign Minister ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Northern Border ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The One

The Security Council,Having heard the statement of the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Nicaragua,Having also heard the statements of various States Members of the United Nations in the course of the debate,Deeply concerned, on the one hand, at the situation prevailing on and insid the northern border of Nicaragua and, on the other hand, at the consequent dange of a military confrontation between Honduras and Nicaragua, which could further aggravate the existing crisis.situation in Central America,Recalling all the relevant principles of the Charter of the United Nations,, particularly the obligation of States to settle their disputes exclusively by peaceful means, not to resort to the threat or use of force and to respect the self-determination of peoples and the sovereign independence of all States,Noting the widespread desire expressed by the States concerned to achieve solutions to the differences between them,

scholarly journals Diplomatic protection in international law and the United Nations

2013 ◽  
pp. 667-681
Author(s):  
Bojan Milisavljevic
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Diplomatic Protection ◽  
History Of ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Law Commission

The paper deals with the issue of the diplomatic protection in international law and its development through the history of the international community. In this sense, the author investigates the practice of states regarding the application of diplomatic protection and the steps taken by the International Law Commission of the United Nations on the codification of this area. In 2004 International Law Commission adopted at first reading a full set of draft articles. In this paper is presented judicial practice, especially of the International Court of Justice, in the field of diplomatic protection in order to evaluate whether the approach of the Court to diplomatic protection has become more human-rights oriented in the last few years. Author presents the development of customary law rules relating to diplomatic protection and its transition into a whole system of rules through the work of the International Law Commission. In this sense, these are the basic stages in the codification of rules on diplomatic protection and the United Nations contribution to the protection of the rights of foreign nationals. This article points the development of universal and regional mechanisms to protect human rights and highlights the impact of those mechanisms on traditional measures of diplomatic protection.

International Law, the ECHR, and the EU

2021 ◽  
pp. 212-312
Author(s):  
Jan Wouters ◽  
Michal Ovádek
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Intergovernmental Organization ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

This chapter focuses on the relationship between international law, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and the EU. International law features with respect to the EU both as an object of the EU's internal fundamental rights regime and as a source of human rights obligations. Whereas the latter reflects the original conception of international human rights law, the former is capable of generating unease due to the scope for contravening the principle of supremacy of international law. Moreover, although the ECHR can, in principle, be regarded as international law, it is of special importance to the legal order of the EU and its Member States, in addition to representing the most developed regional regime of human rights protection in the world. The specific character of the EU as neither a typical international (intergovernmental) organization nor a state often complicates the relationship with international law further. Nonetheless, Article 3(5) TEU requires the EU to contribute, in its international relations, ‘to the protection of human rights as well as the strict observance and the development of international law, including the respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter’. The chapter then looks at other Council of Europe instruments and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD).

Implementing Decisions of International Human Rights Institutions – Evidence from the United Nations Human Rights Committee

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 753-777
Author(s):  
Vera Shikhelman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
International Human ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Internal Capacity

Abstract In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of research about the implementation of international law. However, there has been almost no empirical research about implementing decisions of international human rights institutions. The decisions of those institutions are usually regarded as soft law, and states do not have a clear legal obligation to implement them. In this article, I bring original empirical data about how and when states implement decisions of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) in individual communications. I hypothesize that the following factors influence the readiness of states to implement the views of the HRC: (i) the level of democracy and human rights protection in the state; (ii) internal capacity; (iii) strength of civil society; (iv) type of remedy; (v) representation on the HRC; (6) subject matter of the communication. I find that the most important factor for implementing remedies granted by the Committee is the high human rights score of the state. The internal capacity of the state is also significant but to a lesser extent than found in previous studies. Also, I find a certain connection between the state being represented on the HRC and its willingness to implement the remedies.

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