As they are our creation, an expression of a social contract, they work best when spelled out and made legally binding, supreme, and overruling even our governments. Rights only really exist to the extent they are written into our laws. Punishment will be dispensed for violating them, even punishment of those at the heights of power. They’re real when people in positions of authority are legally constrained by the documents which enshrine those rights.


Sometimes they aren’t set in stone. This is the status of those rights guaranteed by the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). They exist as custom and precedent. They exist in that we all agree that they should exist. There’s a whole area of international law called “Customary International Law”


Above - Te European Court of Human Rights. An international court established by the European Convention on Human Rights.


which is built on tradition, custom, and precedent. This is where the UDHR acts, as a tool of custom and precedent that can be used to apply pressure. Because the UN has very little enforcement capacity due to the murky nature of international politics these rights aren’t going to be universally enforced in every circumstance. The UN isn’t going to order the invasion of a nation simply because of human rights violations. There is almost always some expedient, strategic or political consideration.


June 2015 17


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