Introduction to Law

Germany represented in many ways a democratic, nationalistic, and scientific
paragon. The presence of these attributes was not enough to contain its lapse into
totalitarianism. According to some accounts, they were even enabling or
contributing factors.

Internationalization Until the aftermath of the Second World War, the legal
protection of human rights was seen exclusively as a domestic affair. The reason
for this was the development of the state system that was based on the idea of
sovereignty. If all states are equal and are the ultimate authority in their own
internal affairs, there is a natural limit to what can be regulated by international
law. International law can legitimately regulate the relations between sovereign
states, but it has no say in what states do within their own borders.

On sovereignty see the Sects.8.1.2and11.2.1.2.
The Second World War changed this. It shook the conscience of mankind,
making human dignity a universal concern. Furthermore, it linked human rights
to peace, as totalitarianism at home spilled over into global war. With this prece-
dent, the first global human rights declaration was made, the 1948United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR).

According to the political scientist Andrew Moravcsik (1958-) the creation of international

human rights instruments was an attempt to “lock-in” democracy with a view to ensuring

peace. He argues that knowing that violations of human rights often signal a lapse into

totalitarianism, and that totalitarianism often flares into war, states chose to surrender some

of their power to an international institution in order to guarantee liberal democracy.

12.2.4 Human Rights Treaties

After 1948, human rights protection systems proliferated, both domestically and
internationally. At the United Nations level, the “nonbinding” UDHR was followed
by various international human rights treaties, the most general being theInterna-
tional Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(ICESCR), both of which
were opened for signature on 1966 and entered into force in 1976.
At the regional level, three significant regional systems of human rights protec-
tion came into force:

1. the European System of Human Rights Protection, operating out of the Council
   of Europe and encompassing most states of geographical Europe, including
   Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia but excluding Belarus;


2. the Inter-American System of Human Rights, operating out of the Organisation
   of American States encompassing almost all states of the continent but with full
   participation of mostly Latin American states;


3. the African System of Human Rights Protection, originally operating out of the
   Organisation for African Unity and now based in the African Union,
   encompassing nearly all African countries.

264 G. Arosemena