The development of international human rights law

In the nineteenth century, the positivist doctrines of state sovereignty and domestic jurisdiction reigned supreme. Virtually all matters that today would be classified as human rights issues were at that stage universally regarded as within the internal sphere of national jurisdiction. The major exceptions to this were related to piracy jure gentium and slavery. In the latter case a number of treaties were entered into to bring about its aboli­tion. Concern also with the treatment of sick and wounded soldiers and with prisoners of war developed as from 1864 in terms of international instruments, while states were required to observe certain minimum standards in the treatment of aliens. In addition, certain agreements of a general welfare nature were beginning to be adopted by the turn of the century. The nineteenth century also appeared to accept a right of humanitarian intervention, although its range and extent were unclear. An important change occurred with the establishment of the League of Nations in 1919. Article 22 of the Covenant of the League set up the mandates system for peoples in ex-enemy colonies “not yet able to stand by themselves in the strenuous conditions of the modern world”. The mandatory power was obliged to guarantee freedom of conscience and religion and a Permanent Mandates Commission was created to ex­amine the reports the mandatory authorities had undertaken to make. The arrangement was termed “a sacred trust of civilization”. Article 23 of the Covenant provided for just treatment of the native populations of the territories in question. The 1919 peace agreements with Eastern Euro­pean and Balkan states included provisions relating to the protection of minorities, " providing essentially for equality of treatment and oppor­tunities for collective activity. These provisions were supervised by the League of Nations, to whom there was a right of petition.

Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles provided for the creation of the International Labour Organization, among the purposes of which were the promotion of better standards of working conditions and support for the right of association. The impact of the Second World War upon the development of human rights law was immense as the horrors of the war and the need for an adequate international system to maintain international peace and protect human rights became apparent to all. In addition, the rise of non-governmental organizations, particularly in the sphere of human rights, has had an immense effect. While the post-Second World War world witnessed the rise of intergovernmental committees and organs and courts to deal with human rights violations, whether by public debate, states' reports, comments, inter-state or individual petition procedures, recent years have seen the interposition of domestic amnesty laws and this has given rise to the question of the acceptability of impunity.

T. – 3