Human Rights Governance (Edexcel A Level Politics): Revision Note

The International Court of Justice

• The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an aspirational document, meaning it is not enforceable by law

• The United Nations and regional intergovernmental organisations have since worked to formally introduce human rights into international law, thereby making them more enforceable and holding states accountable

The purpose of the International Court of Justice

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and is an instrument of mediation and justice

  1. It was set up to provide an opportunity for states to resolve issues and thus prevent conflict

  2. A respect for human rights is seen as the foundation to prevent conflict between states and within states

  3. It does not create laws but it clarifies and offers judgement using existing international laws

Human rights laws and the United Nations

• All international human rights laws created by the United Nations are presented to nation states

  • State have the power to reject them or ratify them, meaning the states are legally bound to uphold them

  • Although states have the power to reject such laws, they generally do agree to them

• Even if a state has ratified a human rights law, it is difficult for global governance institutions to enforce them due to state sovereignty 

  • The ICJ can be approached by states if they are concerned about another state violating ratified human rights international laws

  • The ICJ can make decisions which are binding but not enforceable so it relies on the goodwill of the states involved

The International Criminal Court

• Atrocities which took place in Rwanda and Kosovo in the 1990s highlighted the limitations of the United Nations in providing justice to victims of severe human rights abuses and action was taken to address this

  • In 2002 the ICC came into being specifically to put on trial individuals, rather than states, who are responsible for crimes such as genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity

  • States had the option to accept the jurisdiction of the court, and most did

    • The notable exceptions were two Security Council members: China and the USA 

  • Citizens of a state that has not accepted the ICC jurisdiction cannot be prosecuted 

  • Crimes committed in a state that has not accepted ICC jurisdiction cannot be prosecuted 

• The ICC works together with the justice systems of states or independently if the state is unwilling or unable to prosecute

How cases are brought to the ICC

1. States themselves can ask that an individual be put on trial

   • E.g. In 2004 Uganda asked that leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a violent terrorist group, be prosecuted for horrific crimes against its citizens

2. The UN security Council can request an ICC investigation 

3. Other individuals and civil society can request an ICC investigation

Special human rights tribunals

• Some cases brought to the United Nations are so complex that special tribunals are set up to investigate and later prosecute the cases

  • Such tribunals are temporary rather than permanent like the ICC

The European Court of Human Rights

• Human rights laws and courts are created at the regional level of global politics as well as the international level

• The Convention on Human Rights was legally agreed upon by 12 members of the Council of Europe in 1953

  • This document gave legal force to many of the human rights outlined in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

• The Council of Europe (later evolved into the European Union) established the European Court of Human Rights which would investigate and prosecute violations of the Convention in 1959

  • States within the EU must fully accept decisions of this court, as it has a higher power than individual  state judicial decisions 

  • Citizens and states may bring cases to the court