Protecting Rights (DP IB Global Politics: HL): Revision Note

Codification

• Human rights laws are not easy to enforce due to state sovereignty

• Codification is a process which makes these laws legal at the national level, thereby removing sovereignty as an obstacle to justice

How do states codify rights?

Constitutions

• A constitution is a set of rules that determine the obligations of the state to its people and rights granted

  • Constitutions are normally found in democratic states

    • E.g. the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and India’s Constitution, which includes a section entitled 'Fundamental Rights'

  • Constitutional law is very difficult to change, thereby ensuring rights are secure

Laws and the judicial system

• Judicial systems are the structures and institutions responsible for interpreting and applying the law, and resolving legal disputes within a state

• Some states do not have constitutions, but all states have laws and judicial systems

  • Human rights laws created by global governance institutions can be made enforceable by the judicial system of the state

• Global governance institutions can apply soft power tactics to encourage and persuade states to codify human rights laws

  • States generally don’t want to be singled out as not respecting human rights - this does happen in the UN if states refuse to codify rights

  • The UN Human Rights Council conducts and publishes reviews of all states’ human rights record every 4 years and applies pressure to states lacking codification

  • The UN can also mobilise civil society organisations and NGOs to apply pressure to states

• The European Union applies hard power tactics to ensure its member states codify human rights laws, as membership is conditional on them doing so

Is codification effective?

• Codification is not a guarantee that human rights will be respected by all actors in the community

  • If laws are protected and enforced by the state, codification is highly effective

  • However, states can codify human rights laws in order to gain respect from the global community but then not enforce them

Human rights frameworks

• Frameworks are the structures, institutions or systems that should support human rights

  • Frameworks can be norms, documents or legal systems

• The existence of frameworks is not a guarantee that rights are protected

Examples of human rights frameworks