Human Rights - LLB - year 2- Revision Guide - all topics
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Human Rights
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University Of Law (ULaw)
Human Rights - LLB - year 2- Revision Guide - all topics
Topics covered:
• Key historical events in the development of human rights law
• The legal and political philosophies which underpin human right law
• The Treaty of London and the Council of Europe
• The rights and freedoms pro...
Development of HR Natural rights
- Rights of individuals that were not created by the state and which the state cannot remove
Positive Rights
- human made laws that require individuals to act or not act in a specific way - laws establishing rights for
individuals or groups
Magna Carta 1215
- Peace treaty ‘’ one of the most important legal documents in the world
- Beginning of HR development
- power against arbitrary and tyrannical rulers and as a guarantor of individual liberties
- fundamental values that challenged the absolute authority of the King
o Clause 39 - gave all freemen the right to justice in a fair trial’’
- Limited the use of royal authority
Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan - 1588- 1679
- people agree to lay down their natural rights of equality and freedom and give absolute power to the
king/queen
- sovereign would make and enforce laws to secure a peaceful society
o making life, liberty and property possible - Implied social contract
- If sovereign seriously abused power - Rebellion was justified
Bill of Rights 1689
- bill of rights limited powers of the monarchy, elevates the status of parliament and outlines specific rights of
individuals:
o freedom to elect members of parliament without royal interference
o freedom of speech in parliament
o freedom from royal interference within the law
o freedom from cruel and unusual punishment
o freedom to carry arms for self defence
- context - William of orange over threw James 2nd and summoned new parliament called the convention -
convention sad that kames had broken original social contract between the king and people
o Thrown offered to William and Mary on condition they sign the bill of rights
Enlightenment era
- The age of reason’, 1685 – 1815
- Questioned traditional authority, with essays, books, inventions and movements etc.
Locke – Two Treatises of Government
- Key ideas - ‘natural rights and absolute powers of kings’
- natural rights of life, liberty and property existed in that of nature and could never be taken away or voluntarily
given up by individuals
- sovereign do not hold absolute power but acted only to enforce and protect the natural rights of the people
Montesquieu – The Spirit of the Laws
- Key ideas – ‘seperation of powers’
- Best form of government is when legislative, executive and judiciary powers are separate and keep each
other in check through the doctrine of seperation of powers
- prevents any branch from becoming too powerful and exercising arbitrary powers which could threaten the
rights of individuals
Rousseau – The Social Contract
- individuals should enter into a social contract with each other and give up all their rights to the whole
community
- people, meeting together, should deliberate individually on laws and then by majority vote to find the general
will of the people
American Revolution
- 1600’s = America colonised (13 colonies)
- 1700’s = sought greater independence from British crown
- common sense- Thomas Paine advocated for American independence from Britain and said republican
government was superior to monarch
- Declaration of Independence 1776 - ‘’that all men are created equal’’ - drew from the MC, free from the
British crown and set up own government
- US Constitution 1787 -‘’We the people of the United States’’ - will of the people from Rousseau - later
amended by the Bill of rights 1791
French revolution
- 1700 Gross social and economic inequalities and corrupt monarchy
- 1788 dispute over proposed tax reforms became a movement for political and constitutional change
- 1789 national assembly formed to take steps to guarantee and protect individual rights
- 1789 national assembly passes Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen 1789
,International HR Abolition of slavery
- previously accepted practise
- ancient Greeks and romans didn’t believe natural laws applied to slaves
- UK founding father believed in slavery- inferior races should be denied basic rights and freedoms in order to
benefit others
- Ex P Somersett [1772] - Lord Mansfield: slavery was contrary to natural law - took leading role in looking to
outlaw slavery
- parliament outlawed slave trade in 1807 and slavery itself in 1833
Congress of Vienna 1815
- creation of the ‘Anti-slavery International’ (oldest Human Rights Non-Governmental Organisations, dating
back to 1839 (Amnesty international, human rights watch))
- countries getting together and recognising that slavery was inhuman and morally indefensible
Slavery convention 1926
- codified international law on abolishing slavery
- league of nations created this after WW
- slavery still continued despite this in many countries ie. Africa
The Hague Conventions
- 1899 and 1907
- sets out laws and customs of war which countries are requires to observe in times of war
- I.E rules on who counts as soldier in times of war, rights of prisoners of war, treatment of the wounded and
sick and the means in which a war may be waged
- acts of war which are prohibited such as killing innocent civilians, killing surrendered soldiers and use of
chemical weapons
The Geneva Conventions
- international agreement which deals with specific treatment of wounded members of the armed forces,
prisoners and civilians during the war
- first signed - 1864
o 4 international agreements 1864, 1907,1929, 1949
o contain core humanitarian principles which remain valid today
(a) Soldiers who surrender are entitled to respect for their lives and their moral and physical integrity. It is forbidden
to kill or injure them
(b) The wounded and sick must be collected and cared for by the party to the conflict which has them in its power.
(c) Soldiers who surrender are entitled to respect for their lives and their moral and physical integrity. It is forbidden
to kill or injure them.
(d) Civilians under the authority of a party to the conflict or an occupying power of which they are not nationals are
entitled to respect for their lives, dignity, personal rights and convictions.
(e) Everyone must be entitled to benefit from fundamental judicial guarantees. No one must be sentenced without
previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court.
(f) No one must be held responsible for an act he has not committed. No one must be subjected to physical or
mental torture, corporal punishment or cruel or degrading treatment.
(g) Parties to a conflict and members of their armed forces do not have an unlimited choice of methods and means
of warfare. It is prohibited to employ weapons or methods of warfare of a nature to cause unnecessary losses or
excessive suffering.
(h) Parties to a conflict must at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants in order to spare
civilian population and property
League of Nations
o Why = set up international establishment to protect humanitarian values post WW1 - 1920 - put together by
Woodrow Wilson
o Where = Switzerland
o How = came into force after signing of Treat of Versailles -
o Aim = to maintain world peace and resolve disputes without war
o Powers =
o could require countries in disputes to negotiate
o aggressor states could be given warnings
o then had power to impose economic sanctions and use military force
o disadvantages =
o no military force of its own and relied on members for troops
o US didn’t join
Senate voted to reject treaty of Versailles
o Germany wasn’t allowed to join
deemed to have caused WW1
o Russia wasn’t allowed to join initially
government killed Russian royal family
o very weak in practice
powerless to prevent future Nazi aggression in 1930’s WW2
, The United Nations
o Replace LoN at end of WW2 following its failure to
prevent the outbreak of war
o felt like LoN had to be replaced with a more effective
organisation
o still exists today
United Nations Charter 1945
o Who = by victors of WW2 - UK, USA, Russia, France - Nearly
every country now has signed up
o Purpose = Article 1 UN charter
o Aim = secure peace and security throughout the world and
‘reaffirm’ faith in fundamental human rights, the worth of
humans and in equal rights for all
Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 ‘’International bill of rights’’
o Aim = UN demonstrated their commitment to ensure human rights are observed
o adopted by general assembly of UN 1948
o Who = 48 members states have back the UDHR as a ‘common standard of achievement for all people and all
nations’
o Powers = doesn't create legally binding duties on member states however it does put political and moral
pressure on them which is the main driver behind the ECHR
o What = 30 articles of basic fundamental principles (political, economic and social rigts)
o political rights = right to life, liberty and security of the person, freedom from torture, right to a fair trial,
freedom of expression, right against arbitrary arrest or detention
o Economic Rights - right to employment, fair play, join a trade union
o social rights = right to adequate standard of living, medical care, clothing, housing and other welfare services
o preamble = promote universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms
o Covenants = impose binding legal obligations on states to uphold some of the freedoms listed in declarations
o ICCPR - the international covenant on civil and political rights
o ICESC - International covenant of economic, social and cultural rights
Human Rights Council
o What = Intergovernmental body forming part of UN, which meet in Geneva 10x yr
o Aim = to prevent abuse of HR, to protect the most vulnerable and expose those who abuse HR
o who = 47 elected member states, serving for 3yr periods
o how =special procedures to address HR concerns - appointment of independent experts to examine, monitor,
advise or publicly report on HR situations in specific countries
o council receives these reports and will suggest any recommendations
Security Council
o what = can take action if HRC finds and reports grave/sufficiently serious HR abuses (normally at times of
conflict )
o who = 5 x perm members - China, France, Russia, US, UK
o other countries will take turns to be members
o powers from the UN Charter
o investigate, mediate, dispatch a mission, appoint envoys, issue cease fire directive, impose economic
sanctions, financial penalties and restrictions, travel bans etc.
o Weaknesses
o doesn't have own troops
o any 1/5 perm members can veto or block any proposed action
o stronger than the LoN, not water tights
International crimes
London Charter of international military tribunals 1945
o 1945 - response to WW2 outcome
o enables action to be taken against indi. who had committed human rights violations during WW2
o set up the Nuremburg trials to prosecute the leading Nazis for their Crimes
defined 3 categories of crimes
o Crimes against peace - Planning, preparing and starting war
o War crimes - During the times of war, violations of customs or laws of war. set out in the conventions
o Crimes against humanity - Murder, enslavement, deportation of civilians, prosecution on political, religious
or racial grounds.
Nuremburg Trials Nov 1945-1946
o Doctrine of individual responsibility - holding someone accountable for their actions in the midst of war
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