Introduction to Human Rights Week 2: The internationalization of Human Rights VI. The origin of Human Rights In spite of all the precursors that we have seen, States are reluctant to limit their sovereignty and to carry on with the requests to internationalize Human Rights. This is in spite of the fact that there were many suggestions during the interwar time. The efforts had even increased during World War II. Indeed, Human Rights were invoked as the foundation of a new international order during World War II. They also became the cause in whose name the Allies fought against the Axis powers. The writer Herbert George Wells' campaign had a great impact, in this context. The campaign started with a letter written in the newspaper The Times in 1939. Indeed, Wells published the plan of an international Declaration of Human Rights. He edited and published it later in a book with the significant title The Rights of Man: or what are we fighting for? Herbert George Wells' Declaration of rights was widely disseminated not only in Europe, but also on the Asian and African continents. More than 100'000 copies circulated in 48 countries. Efforts have also been made in order to make the Declaration available in the Axis Alliance. The academic community did not remain silent either. Let us remember, for example, Hersch Lauterpacht and his project for an International Bill of Rights which was submitted to the public in 1943 and published in a book in 1945. In politics, the American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt also invoked Human Rights as an ideological justification in the war against Germany and its Allies. In his State of the Union Address on 6 January 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt explained his vision of a new international order. An international order in which each person should be able to enjoy four fundamental freedoms: - Freedom of speech - Freedom of worship - Freedom from want - Freedom from fear In a joint declaration with the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Roosevelt confirmed his vision of an international order which would respect these four freedoms. This declaration is known as the Atlantic Charter. The Atlantic Charter was adopted after the Atlantic Conference which took place on board of the ship USS Augusta. The Charter was adopted on 14 August 1941. The Charter includes basic principles of new international politics which especially rests on justice, freedom, peace, fraternity, and security. These principles were approved by 25 States before the end of World War II. The Atlantic Charter became the basis for Declaration by United Nations signed on the 1st of January 1942 by the representatives of 26 countries in war against Germany and its Allies. The Charter also became the basis for the Charter of the United Nations signed on 26 June 1945 in San Francisco. For the visionary authors of Human Rights such as Hersch Lauterpacht, the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations was however a deception. According to Lauterpacht, the internationalization of Human Rights should rest on two pillars to be effective. The first pillar is an International Bill of Human Rights. By this, he was thinking of a legally binding instrument. We could therefore not be content with political declarations only. Lauterpacht also thought that an international monitoring mechanism was needed. Nazism showed that States are capable of monstrous acts vis-à-vis their own people. The sovereignty of the State should therefore be limited by an external control mechanism. Lauterpacht had for example in mind the creation of an international court for Human Rights. However, if we have a look at the Charter of the United Nations, we do not find any list of Human Rights. Neither do we find any mention of an external or international control mechanism of Human Rights. Indeed, the Charter is rather succinct regarding Human Rights. Human Rights are mentioned in the preamble. Human Rights are set up as the aim of the United Nations and international cooperation. The Charter's stipulations must however be read in relation with other principles of the Charter. The Charter stipulates for example the principle of equal sovereignty of States and the principle of non-intervention in internal affairs. How can we combine the respect of Human Rights and the principles of sovereignty and of non-intervention? The Charter does not answer this question. From an institutional point of view, Article 68 of the Charter stipulates that the Economic and Social Council has the authority to set up commissions that can promote the respect of Human Rights. The Economic and Social Council did not take a long time to use this competence: in 1946, the Council created the Commission on Human Rights. The Commission on Human Rights is the precursor to the Human Rights Council. It was the main institution devoted to the protection of Human Rights in the UN project for six decades. Indeed, it is in 2006 that the Human Rights Council replaced the Commission on Human Rights. The first mission of the commission was to write an international charter of Human Rights. The commission was presided by Eleanor Roosevelt. The commission believed that an international Charter of Human Rights should rest on three pillars. First, the Declaration of Human Rights should be a non-legally binding instrument. Then, Human Rights should be protected by a convention. This would be an international treaty - a legally binding instrument. Finally, as Lauterpacht also suggested, an international implementation machinery would be needed too. For the time being, only the first point had been realised. But the project to write a Declaration of Human Rights - a non-legally binding instrument - was ambitious. The project met with several obstacles. First, there was a polarization between the Soviet bloc and the Occidental bloc due to the Cold War. The other contentious point was the universal ambition of the Declaration. In this context, a text written by the American Anthropological Association was much talked about. In this document, the Anthropological Association defended a relativist point of view. The Association was very sceptical about the ambition to write a universal Charter of Human Rights. Here is a key passage: The discussion on the universality of Human Rights was also sustained by a study from UNESCO. In 1947, UNESCO made a major inquiry into the foundation of Human Rights. The inquiry was made in the form of a questionnaire. This questionnaire was sent to about 150 famous people representing different cultures. UNESCO received about 70 responses. These answers were used as a basis for the report. The conclusions of this report are more positive than the words of the American Anthropological Association that we have just heard. The report suggested a catalogue of Human Rights. According to UNESCO, this catalogue was a transcultural agreement. UNESCO's view was not excessively optimistic. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly in Paris on 12 December 1948. The Declaration was adopted with some abstentions but without any opposition. According to Stéphane Hessel, the adoption without opposition probably represented one of the last moments of consensus of the international community. The adoption of the Universal Declaration marked the origin of Human Rights at the international stage. Let us now read a couple of passages from the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people [...]. The General Assembly proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations [...]." Some ideas that we mentioned during the two first weeks of the course are reflected again in these passages. For example: Human Rights is a reaction against human tragedies such as Nazism. The vision of a new international order and the universal aspiration of Human Rights are also mentioned again.
