17 National and International Public Spheres and the Protection of Human Rights

Abstract

Abstract Since the founding of the UN, the protection of human rights has been a national and international challenge. In international human rights covenants, State Parties firstly commit themselves to respecting human rights in their respective constitutional area and to protecting and possibly incorporating them into the relevant constitution, but, secondly, they also submit to an international control. National protection is usually organized by different institutions (Constitutional Court, “Human Rights Commissioner of the Government”, etc.), but also accompanied by critical NGOs and the national civil public. International protection is on the one hand implemented by a number of international organizations and institutions (Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN Human Rights Commissioner, monitoring bodies to individual contracts, regional and international human rights courts), but on the other hand is accompanied by a critical, now regionally and internationally operating public. This includes a number of permanent NGOs, but also ad hoc groups, tribunals and the various media (print, TV, internet) and anonymous campaigns on the Internet and the social networks. This paper examines the functions and tasks of such concomitant national and international public spheres and tries to assess their importance for the protection of human rights.