A New United Nations Mechanism for Encouraging the Ratification of Treaties

The ratification of international human rights treaties is critical to the worldwide observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The United Nations General Assembly and Commission on Human Rights have repeatedly emphasized the importance of ratification and have frequently encouraged states to ratify the relevant international instruments. Despite these efforts, acceptance of human rights treaties has been uneven. A considerable number of states have failed to ratify

The Three Theme Special Rapporteurs of the UN Commission on Human Rights

In March 1982, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights initiated the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on Summary or Arbitrary Executions. The Special Rapporteur on Summary or Arbitrary Executions has done far more than merely study that grave human rights problem; he has received complaints about impending and past executions, issued appeals to governments about threatened executions and the need to investigate past killings, and reported publicly on much of his activity. The Commission on Human Rights not only has renewed the Special Rapporteur on Summary or Arbitrary Executions in its subsequent annual sessions, but has followed this precedent by appointing in 1985 a similar Special Rapporteur on Torture and in 1986 a Special Rapporteur on Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief

The Approach of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to Interpreting and Applying International Humanitarian Law

The four Geneva Conventions 1 and the two Additional Protocols of 1977 2 generally lack authoritative mechanisms for interpretation. Interpretation and application of these treaties are principally left to the judgment of the states that are parties to the Geneva Conventions and Protocols 3 and, increasingly, to the International Criminal Court and international tribunals. 4 The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) encourages states parties to comply with their obligations under humanitarian law, but it is not an adjudicative body 5 and rarely publishes its authoritative interpretations of the Geneva Conventions and Protocols. 6 Article 90 of Additional Protocol I authorizes the establishment of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission. 7 While seventy states have accepted the competence of the Commission - which has been ready for activities since Article 90 came into force in 1991 - the parties to armed conflicts have yet to call upon it.

Prospects for Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Since early in the development of international human rights law, the particular need to care for children has been acknowledged. Beginning with the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child in 1924 1 and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1959, 2 children\u27s rights have been recognized by human rights organizations and instruments alike. Rights of the child were included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; 3 the Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War; 4 the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; 5 and other instruments of specialized agencies and organizations.

United States Foreign Policy and Human Rights: An Overview

The organizers of this symposium asked me to provide a back- ground for the present status of human rights in the foreign policy of the United States Government. They suggested that I provide a his- tory of the subject, stressing the approach of President Carter. I have written such a history, stressing the United States human rights legis- lation which was not created by President Carter, but which he found already in place when he reached the White House. Rather than recite this historical background, I think it would be more useful to look at three basic questions which might assist students to analyze the situa- tion for themselves. First, why have a United States foreign policy on human rights? Second, how do we determine what that policy is? And third, what can we do about it, once we have identified the policy

Ethical Problems of an International Human Rights Practice

Little attention has been devoted to ethical problems facing American lawyers engaged in commercial and corporate work in foreign countries or with foreign clients. IEven less attention has been paid to the professional responsibilities of lawyers engaged in an international human rights legal practice. 2 As an increas- ing number of lawyers become involved in the practice of international human rights law in the courts of the United States, in international fora, and abroad, issues will continue to arise regarding the ethical constraints on their work.

Globalization of Constitutional Law and Civil Rights

The teaching of U.S. constitutional law is remarkably insular. A quick review of course books reveals few, if any, references to materials from other countries or to relevant international law.1 Constitutional law courses focus almost exclusively on the U.S. constitutional order. The course books appear to consider as unique this country\u27s balance of power between the national government and the states and its approach to bridging the structural tension among executive, legislative, andjudicial branches. One colleague facetiously told me that the only country comparable to the United States is the United Kingdom. Since the U.K. has no written constitution, the U.S. is unique and no other country is worthy of attention

Country-Related and Thematic Developments at the 1988 Session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights is the principal and most important political organ of the United Nations concerned principally with human rights.1 ; The Commission meets for six weeks every year in February and March. This year, for example, it met from 1 February through 11 March 1988.2 The Commission is comprised of forty-three government represent- atives who are elected by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The Economic and Social Council is, in turn, a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly. When the UN Charter was written in 1945, the subject of human rights was so important that the Charter in Article 68 specifically prescribes that a Commission on Human Rights should be established

Human Rights Standards Concerning Transnational Corporations and Other Business Entities

The rapid expansion of transnational economic activity and corresponding growth in power of transnational corporations and other business entities have prompted renewed international discourse and action over the past decade to address the human rights abuses committed by businesses. 2 The responsibility of businesses to respect human rights has been at the heart of the discussion. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948, states that every individual and every organ of society ... shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and ... to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction. 3 The UDHR placed human rights responsibilities on individuals, as well as on every organ of society, which would presumably include businesses. Determining what exactly those responsibilities entail has been the subject of much debate ever since