Origins and development of international law and institutions (Edexcel A-Level Politics): Revision Notes

27.1.1 International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court, UN Tribunals, and European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)

What are Human Rights?

Civil and Political Rights

Social and Economic Rights

The Human Rights Framework

Laws

Date	Law	Strengths	Weaknesses
1948	The Universal Declaration of Human Rights	The first universal statement of global human rights standards. Influenced binding international covenants, regional conventions, and the human rights laws of nation states.	Non-binding in international law. Critics argue it imposes a Western or Judo-Christian viewpoint of human rights.
1953	Europe Creates ECHR	The first regional agreement on HR.A binding legal text with 47 member states. The ECHR acts as a final court of appeal of last resort.	Decisions in the ECHR are binding but lack enforcement mechanisms, allowing states to ignore rulings. Sovereignty may be challenged if ECHR judges disagree with national governments.
1966	International Covenants on Social and Economic Rights (ICSR) and on Civil and Political Rights	First inclusion of human rights in international law, though some states failed to ratify.	Economic and social rights are challenging for less developed nations to deliver. No international enforcement body.
1980s	International Conventions	Address specific human rights abuses for vulnerable groups.Offers definitions of torture and prohibits reliance on torture-derived evidence.	Cannot be enforced on non-ratifying states.Examples include US torture practices revealed in 2015.

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Courts

Date	Court	Details
1959	European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)	Operates with 47 member states. Some decisions ignored, but most are upheld.
1990s	International Criminal Tribunals	Successful conviction rate but lacks long-term deterrence or guaranteed trials.
2002	International Criminal Court (ICC)	Established in 2002 with 9 convictions by 2019.Some states, including 3 of the P5, have not ratified.

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International Court of Justice (ICJ)

• Established by the UN Charter in 1945.
• Composed of 15 judges representing various legal systems and civilizations.
• Settles disputes between states and provides legal opinions to international branches and the UN General Assembly.
• Article 94 of the UN Charter mandates UN member states to comply with ICJ decisions.
• Non-compliance can be addressed by the UNSC.

Successes

• Resolved border clashes and disputes, e.g., Burkina Faso vs Mali, El Salvador vs Honduras, Nigeria vs Cameroon.
• Notable case: Rwanda genocide tribunal with 61 convictions.

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International Criminal Tribunals

• ICTY (Former Yugoslavia): Established to prosecute crimes against humanity and genocide. Significant convictions include Slobodan Milosevic.
• ICTR (Rwanda): Convicted 50 individuals, including high-ranking officials.
• Special Court for Sierra Leone: Notable conviction of Charles Taylor in 2012.
• Cambodian Tribunal: Convicted leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Case Studies

Case Study	Details
Cambodia	Convicted Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity.
Former Yugoslavia	Convicted high-ranking officials for genocide and other crimes.
Sierra Leone	Convicted Charles Taylor for war crimes.

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The ICC - International Criminal Court

• Established under the Rome Statute in 1998, effective from 2002.
• Handles the worst human rights abuses when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute.
• Has jurisdiction over crimes committed after July 1, 2002.
• Key relationship with UNSC but lacks automatic jurisdiction for non-signatory states.
• 121 ratifying states and 34 potential future ratifications.
• 3 P5 members have not ratified the Rome Statute.

Case Studies

Case Study	Details
Omar Al Bashir	Wanted for war crimes; evaded capture and remains in pre-trial stage.
President Kenyatta and President Ruto	Charges dropped due to insufficient evidence in the 2007 Kenya violence case.
Bosco Ntaganda	Sentenced to 30 years for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Effectiveness

Effective	Not Effective
Evidence of key successes, such as convictions and the ability to prosecute high-ranking officials.	Lacks authority to prosecute non-signatory states; majority of convictions are related to African states.
Permanent court structure.	P5 members not ratifying the Rome Statute affects legitimacy and global cooperation.

European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)

Features

• A binding supervisory mechanism with 47 members.
• Independent judges representing diverse legal systems.
• Covers migrants and non-member states as well.
• Rulings are binding but lack enforcement power, aiming to deter future violations.

Compliance

• Mechanisms exist through the Committee of Ministers to pursue non-compliance.
• Case examples:

Are Human Rights More Protected/Better Upheld?

Progress

• More specific laws and state adoption of human rights.
• Binding international laws and effective institutions like the ICC and ECHR.
• Increased monitoring by NGOs and humanitarian intervention.

Challenges

• Sovereignty and ratification issues affect the effectiveness of international laws.
• Lack of enforcement mechanisms and cooperation from major states.
• Most human rights are enforced domestically with varying success.