Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T10:48:40.018Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Human rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

David Armstrong
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
Theo Farrell
Affiliation:
King's College London
Hélène Lambert
Affiliation:
Brunel University
Get access

Summary

International human rights law is mainly treaty law (a characteristic of modern international law) with some human rights principles having passed into customary international law and some having acquired the status of general principles of law. Prior to the development of international human rights treaties, a relatively small number of states provided protection of human rights through their constitutions or specific domestic laws, but even fewer provided an effective legal system of remedies. There has been a parallel growth in domestic provision and international instruments for the promotion and protection of human rights, with important cross-over between the domestic and international. The focus of this chapter is on the international law of human rights. Nonetheless, some consideration is given to domestic law as a source of law in this area and also, crucially, as a source of remedy. Indeed, a principle common to all human rights treaties is that they may only be invoked by individuals when domestic instruments have failed to provide remedy for breaches of human rights.

In the first section we consider the content of international human rights law as rules, liberal or community values, and discourse. The next section explores the reasons for state compliance with human rights law. Here we might note the curious irony of this area of international law, namely, that individual states have nothing to gain by it.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cronin, Bruce, Institutions for the Common Good: International Protection Regimes in International Society, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. A clearly written and strongly argued book on the links between international stability and the creation of international protection regimes.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donnelly, Jack, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice, 2nd edition, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003. An excellent book that takes human rights into the twenty-first century with a wide range of issues being discussed, including cultural relativism, humanitarian intervention, democracy and human rights, group rights and ‘Asian values’.Google Scholar
Forsythe, David P., Human Rights in International Relations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. An accessible and thorough treatment of the policy-making processes pertaining to human rights in the context of international relations.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, Michael, Human Rights, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2002. An interdisciplinary account of human rights, with particular references to the social science, philosophy and law.Google Scholar
Gearty, Conor, Can Human Rights Survive?, The Hamlyn Lectures 2005, Cambridge University Press, 2006. Most enjoyable read of ‘the story of human rights’ with a warning against complacency and a lucid look at the future.Google Scholar
Gibney, Matthew J., The Ethics and Politics of Asylum, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. A well-argued work on the obligations of liberal democracies to asylum-seekers with an empirical focus on the USA, Germany, the UK and Australia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodwin-Gill, , Guy, S., and Jane, McAdam, The Refugee in International Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Probably the best substantial textbook on refugee law with a clear international focus.Google Scholar
Rehman, Javaid, International Human Rights Law, London: Longman, 2003. A comprehensive and accessible textbook.Google Scholar
Risse, Thomas, Stephen, C. Ropp and Kathryn, Sikkink (eds.), The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. An evaluation of the impact of human rights norms articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the behaviour of national governments in five different regions of the world (i.e., Northern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe), with a particular focus on internalisation.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, Brian, Human Rights and the End of Empire: Britain and the Genesis of the European Convention, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. An astonishing historical account of the negotiations of the European Convention on Human Rights, with a particular focus on the role of Britain.Google Scholar
Steiner, Henry J., and Philip, Alston, International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Morals, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. This book is unique in providing the ‘big picture’ of the ‘human rights movement’. Highly readable, it is a masterpiece in interdisciplinary scholarship and in critical legal thinking. A third edition is on its way.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×