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The Crisis and the Quotidian in International Human Rights Law

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Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 2013

Part of the book series: Netherlands Yearbook of International Law ((NYIL,volume 44))

Abstract

This chapter considers the idea that international human rights law is both produced by and dependent upon crisis. Surveying the capaciousness, ambiguity, and constructedness of the concept, we position the relative weight given to particular rights in terms of their framing as ‘crises’. We focus on how the idea of crisis has been differently deployed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the division between civil and political rights and economic, cultural and social rights to argue for a critical engagement with the language of crisis in human rights law, and to ask how that language has shaped the value and meaning of rights discourse more generally.

Dr. Benjamin Authers is an Australian Research Council Laureate Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for International Governance and Justice in the Regulatory Institutions Network, Australian National University, Australia. Professor Hilary Charlesworth is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Director of the Centre for International Governance and Justice in the Regulatory Institutions Network, Australian National University, Australia.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    UNGA Res. 217, UN Doc A/810, 10 December 1948 (hereinafter UDHR).

  2. 2.

    Von Bernstorff 2008, at 904.

  3. 3.

    Slaughter 2007, at 74.

  4. 4.

    See Evans 2008.

  5. 5.

    This is discussed further in Sect. 2.3.2.

  6. 6.

    This is discussed further in Sect. 2.2.

  7. 7.

    Koselleck 2006, at 358.

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    Ibid., at 359–360.

  10. 10.

    Ibid., at 360.

  11. 11.

    Ibid., at 397.

  12. 12.

    Ibid., at 370.

  13. 13.

    Hay 1995, at 63.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., at 68.

  15. 15.

    Ibid., at 64.

  16. 16.

    Russill and Lavin 2011, at 4.

  17. 17.

    Ibid., at 16.

  18. 18.

    Harmes 2012, at 217.

  19. 19.

    Ibid., at 232.

  20. 20.

    Hay 1995, at 74.

  21. 21.

    Cadzyn 2007, at 649.

  22. 22.

    Hay rejects the idea of perpetual crises, as the endless deferral of decisive intervention that this would require would quickly become catastrophic, causing complete chaos and thus engulfing the crisis. Hay 1995, at 63.

  23. 23.

    See Charlesworth 2002.

  24. 24.

    Koskenniemi 2011, at xviii.

  25. 25.

    Johns et al. 2011, at 3.

  26. 26.

    Koskenniemi 2011, at xix.

  27. 27.

    Goldstone 2009, at 48.

  28. 28.

    Commission on Human Rights Drafting Committee, Report of the Drafting Committee to the Commission on Human Rights, UN Doc. E/CN.4/21, 1 July 1947, at 49.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., at 3–4.

  30. 30.

    Commission on Human Rights Drafting Committee, Draft International Declaration of Rights, UN Doc. E/CN.4/AC.1/W.1, 16 June 1947, at 1.

  31. 31.

    Charlesworth 2008.

  32. 32.

    Glendon 2001, at 176; see the amendments proposed by Australia at UN Doc. A/C.3/257.

  33. 33.

    Quoted in Glendon 2001, at 176.

  34. 34.

    Slaughter 2007, at 15.

  35. 35.

    UDHR, Preamble.

  36. 36.

    1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 993 UNTS 3 (hereinafter ICESCR).

  37. 37.

    1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 999 UNTS 171 (hereinafter ICCPR).

  38. 38.

    1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, UN Doc A/CONF 183/9 (hereinafter Rome Statute).

  39. 39.

    1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1249 UNTS 13 (hereinafter CEDAW).

  40. 40.

    UNGA, United National Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, UN Doc A/RES/61/295, 2 October 2007.

  41. 41.

    Charlesworth 2002, at 384–386.

  42. 42.

    Burgers 1992, at 448. See also Moyn 2010.

  43. 43.

    Mitchell 2002, at 567.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., at 567–568.

  45. 45.

    Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 29: States of Emergency (Article 4), UN Doc.CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.11, 31 August 2001 (hereinafter General Comment 29).

  46. 46.

    1987 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1465 UNTS 85, Article 2(2).

  47. 47.

    Listed in Article 4(2) of ICCPR.

  48. 48.

    These include Article 4 of ICESCR, Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights, 213 UNTS 222 (hereinafter ECHR), and Article 27 of the American Convention on Human Rights, 1144 UNTS 123 (hereinafter ACHR).

  49. 49.

    General Comment 29, at 3.

  50. 50.

    Ibid., at 2.

  51. 51.

    The European Court of Human Rights has described this as ‘an exceptional situation of crisis or emergency which affects the whole population and constitutes a threat to the organised life of the community of which the State is composed’. Lawless v Ireland, ECtHR, No. 332/57, 1 July 1967, para. 28.

  52. 52.

    For a comprehensive discussion of the relationship between international human rights and states of emergency, see Gross and Ní Aoláin 2006, at 247–325.

  53. 53.

    For example, arguments that the Convention against Torture and relevant provisions of the ICCPR lack extraterritorial applicability, the use by security agencies of information obtained from torture (and a paucity of investigation and accountability when allegations of this are made), practices involving ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ and ‘moderate physical pressure’ that attempt to redefine the parameters of torture, and attempts to relax the rule of non-refoulement. See Sheinin 2010, at 592.

  54. 54.

    For example, practices of secret and unacknowledged detention and concerns over the right to a fair trial in military and special courts that include a lack of judicial independence, the provision of proper counsel to the accused, and the selective sharing of evidence between prosecution and defence. Ibid., at 593–594.

  55. 55.

    See ibid., at 955.

  56. 56.

    See Carne 2008.

  57. 57.

    Glendon 2001, at 115–117.

  58. 58.

    Ibid.

  59. 59.

    Ibid., at 116–117. See also Dennis and Stewart 2004, at 477–480.

  60. 60.

    Glendon 2001, at 42–43, 186–187. The other freedoms were freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship and freedom from fear.

  61. 61.

    Burke 2012, at 428.

  62. 62.

    Ibid., at 432.

  63. 63.

    Ibid.

  64. 64.

    Ibid., at 434. Mehta’s view was not shared by representatives of other Third World states, who were keen to retain a single instrument. See, for example, the speech by the Pakistani representative, Abdul Waheed, quoted in ibid., at 435.

  65. 65.

    Ibid., at 436–441.

  66. 66.

    Ibid., at 441–442.

  67. 67.

    UNGA Res. 41/128, 4 December 1986. See Donnelly 1985.

  68. 68.

    E.g. Constitution Project 2013.

  69. 69.

    The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism has highlighted these issues. See Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, UN Doc A/HRC/6/17/Add. 4, 16 November 2007. See also the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories advisory opinion where the International Court of Justice briefly acknowledges Israel’s violations of the ICESCR. Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, ICJ, Advisory Opinion, 9 July 2004, paras. 190–192.

  70. 70.

    ICESCR, Article 2.

  71. 71.

    See Müller 2009.

  72. 72.

    E.g. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 3: The Nature of States Parties’ Obligations, UN Doc. E/1991/23, para. 1 (referring to rights such as the right to non-discrimination etc.).

  73. 73.

    E.g. Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 9: The Domestic Application of the Covenant, UN Doc. E/C.12/1998/24, para. 10.

  74. 74.

    Ibid., paras. 3, 8.

  75. 75.

    E.g. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 15: The Right to Water, UN Doc. E/C.12/2002/11, 20 January 2003, paras. 40, 47.

  76. 76.

    Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31: The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, UN Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13, 26 May 2004.

  77. 77.

    Ibid., para. 2.

  78. 78.

    Ibid., para. 5.

  79. 79.

    Ibid., para. 8.

  80. 80.

    1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1577 UNTS 3.

  81. 81.

    2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2515 UNTS 3.

  82. 82.

    E.g. UNGA, Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, A/CONF.157/23, 12 July 1993 para. 5; UNGA Res. 60/1 (2005 World Summit Outcomes), 24 October 2005, para. 13. UNGA Res. 60/251 (establishing the Human Rights Council) adds the following words to this formula: ‘mutually reinforcing, and that all human rights must be treated in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing and with the same emphasis.’ UNGA Res. 60/251, 3 April 2006, Preamble, para. 3.

  83. 83.

    E.g. Ignatieff 2001; Dennis and Stewart 2004.

  84. 84.

    Human Rights Watch 2012, at section IV.

  85. 85.

    Roth 2004, at 67–68.

  86. 86.

    Ibid., at 68–70.

  87. 87.

    Ibid., at 72.

  88. 88.

    Niland 2004, at 322.

  89. 89.

    See Chinkin and Charlesworth 2006.

  90. 90.

    For a discussion of this point in the context of Zimbabwe, see Muvingi 2009.

  91. 91.

    Kleinfeld 2006, at 69, footnote 47.

  92. 92.

    Roth 2004, at 72.

  93. 93.

    ICESCR, Article 8.

  94. 94.

    ICCPR, Article 22. Article 22 of ICCPR also refers to the right to form and join trade unions.

  95. 95.

    ICESCR, Article 11.

  96. 96.

    ICCPR, Article 6.

  97. 97.

    ICESCR, Article 13.

  98. 98.

    ICCPR, Article 19.

  99. 99.

    See also Van Boven’s schema of the indirect protection of economic, social and cultural rights through civil and political rights (Table 8.1). Van Boven 2010, at 179.

  100. 100.

    Brown 2004, at 455.

  101. 101.

    Harmes 2012, at 219.

  102. 102.

    Mitchell 2002, at 570.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for International Governance and Justice, Regulatory Institutions Network, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Acton, Australia

    Benjamin Authers & Hilary Charlesworth

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  1. Benjamin Authers
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Correspondence to Benjamin Authers .

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  1. Legal Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Mielle K. Bulterman

  2. University of Tilburg Tilburg Law School, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Willem J.M. van Genugten

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Authers, B., Charlesworth, H. (2014). The Crisis and the Quotidian in International Human Rights Law. In: Bulterman, M., van Genugten, W. (eds) Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 2013. Netherlands Yearbook of International Law, vol 44. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-011-4_2

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