POLS 3212 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Eleanor Roosevelt, Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, Negative And Positive Rights
23 Sep 2018
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Human right: a claim by someone, on someone, for something essential to human dignity. Looser definition: the rights necessary for a life with human dignity (forsythe, 2006). Legal tools: binding international law (hard law, treaty-based law i. ii. iii. Optional protocols (added to treaties: process of a treaty i. ii. iii. iv. v. Ratification: representatives of a state sign a convention. It is passed to the legislature of that country for ratification. Legislature must be sure that the laws of the country do not conflict with the obligation of the convention. Some treaties are ratified with reservations (opt-out language), Constant and uniform practice : ex: universal declaration of human rights, ex: diplomatic immunity: immune to prosecution while visiting other countries. Soft law: norms that do not meet the procedural test of law but influence policy making: ex: un declaration conference documents, norms: expectations/ rules that are written or understood for actions with a given position.
