The historical development of modern international human rights law

This year has witnessed a global assault on human rights largely due to failure of governments in handling the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. However, with every infringement of human rights we are reminded of the importance of its existence. Every year on December 10, Human Rights Day is celebrated internationally to commemorate the United Nations General Assembly's (UNGA) adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). 

While we celebrate this day annually, many remain oblivious of the history behind the development of modern international human rights law (IHRL). Although its basic concepts have existed since time immemorial, legal scholars have recently begun to see IHRL as part of international law. 

This article seeks to provide the reader an understanding of various political, legal, and philosophical events and viewpoints considered to be the impetus for the development of the modern IHRL. In giving one a clearer explanation of the same, it is imperative to divide the ensuing discussion into three headings: development before World War I, development during the interwar years, and  development during and after World War II.

Development before WW I

Cyrus Cylinder, created in 539 B.C, granted rights like the right to choose religion and freedom from slavery, and is recognised as the world's first human rights charter. However, an ancient Western belief is that human rights have come from natural law advocated by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Stoics, Hugo Grotius, and John Locke amongst others, originating from various moral, religious or biological standards free from the laws or customs made by humans. 

These philosophers made references to numerous natural rights. For instance, Thomas Aquinas opined, "All humans had rights which were given to them by natural law as part of the law of god." John Locke wrote, "If the ruler, having violated natural law, is unable to protect life, liberty, and property, then people may justifiably overthrow them." 

The concept of such natural rights was harshly criticised by Edmund Burke, Jeremy Bentham, Karl Marx, and Alasdair MacIntyre etc. For example, Jeremy Bentham called natural rights "nonsense upon stilts". Alasdair MacIntyre stated, "There are no such rights, and belief in them is one with belief in witches and in unicorns." 

Some believe that human rights are of religious origin for it can be found in the texts of religions like Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. For example, Lord Mahavira of Hinduism promoted "live and let live" which is equal to the right to life. Buddhism teaches "hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful" which confers a right of being treated equally and with fairness. 

Eventually, certain rights of relevance like the right to own and inherit property, equality before the law, procedural fairness and due process, freedom from torture and slavery began to appear in national documents like the Magna Carta (1215), the Petition of Right (1628), the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), the US Declaration of Independence (1776), the Constitution of the USA (1787) and Bill of Rights (1791), the declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), the constitution of Spain (1812), Denmark (1849) etc. 

Certain multilateral treaties like the 1864 Geneva Convention, the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 also form significant milestones in the development of human rights.

The interwar years

The WW1 ended through the Versailles Treaty which also produced the League of Nations (LON). The LON entered into agreements with Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, that guaranteed, inter alia, the right to life, self-determination, liberty, equality before the law and in the exercising of civil and political rights. 

They also administered additional agreements in Albania, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania that protected the freedom of religion, right of non-discrimination of the minorities etc. Scholars have also played a pivotal role in the development of human rights in this period. For instance, Andre Nicolayevitch Mandelstam persuaded the International Law Institute to create a commission to conduct research on human and minority rights.

In 1929, he convinced them to adopt a Declaration of the International Rights of Man which not only outlined the state's obligation to uphold the equal rights of all within its territory to life, liberty, property, and religious freedom, but also its duties towards the citizens. Later, HG Wells with his colleagues drafted "the Sankey Declaration" giving recognition to eleven human rights.

These rights are- right to life, knowledge, work, personal property, liberty, law-making, protection of minors, duty to the community, freedom of thought and worship, movement, and freedom from violence.

During and after WW II

During the WW2, the actions of unprecedented brutality (e.g. the Holocaust, Rape of Nanking, and Battle of Britain) perpetrated by the German-Italian-Japanese axis made it clear to the world that previous attempts towards securing human rights were inadequate. In 1941, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, the article six of which enunciated the significance of endorsing human rights in the post-war world. 

Eventually, having realised the vision of these two great leaders, the victors established the UN in 1945. The UN charter gave human rights an international status through articles 1, 55, and 56. Article 68 provided for the establishment of a commission, the first task of which was to draft the UDHR. It is widely recognised to be the first international agreement dedicated to describing the fundamental human rights in detail. 

It has influenced the development of over eighty international human rights treaties and declarations including the ECHR and ACHR. The commission also drafted the remainder of the International Bill of Human Rights which consists of five documents and is the most authoritative and complete order of human rights obligations which governments have to accept before joining the UN.

To conclude, it can be said that the development of IHRL has been achieved through collective efforts made at various points of time by philosophers, legal scholars and global leaders in response to acts of oppression. 

With growing concerns about the rise of autocratic power resulting in a reduction of respect for human rights at present, it is now the responsibility of our generation to protect the dream seen by our ancestors of building a world wherein human rights will be enjoyed by every human irrespective of his/her status. 

Shah Kamal Sagar is an LL.B Graduate from BPP University, UK.

Maisha Zaman is a final year student of Law at the University of London.

Arafat Reza is employed as a Teaching Assistant at the LCLS (South).

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.