Developing Human Rights at Sea

Steven Haines

doi:10.1163/22116001_03501003

Abstract

International Human Rights Law (IHRL) is a recent addition to the general body of international law. Despite the significance of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the law based upon it did not achieve meaningful substance until conventional law dealing with Human Rights had entered into force and international conditions had allowed for the customary acceptance of the rules it contained. The 1970s were an important period in the IHRL narrative. The two international Human Rights covenants from 1966 entered into force in 1976, Amnesty International received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 and Human Rights Watch was founded (as Helsinki Watch) the following year. These two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have since been the principal civil society monitoring and advocacy bodies advancing the cause of Human Rights globally and they contributed significantly to the growing influence of Human Rights from the 1970s onwards.

Highlights

International human rights law (IHRL) is a recent addition to the general body of international law
Despite the significance of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights,[1] the law based upon it did not achieve meaningful substance until conventional law dealing with human rights had entered into force and international conditions had allowed for the customary acceptance of the rules it contained.[2]
What influence have IHRL and the law of the sea had on each other during the last two decades? To what extent is IHRL applied effectively on the seas and oceans and is it having a positive effect on the lives of people who find themselves at sea? How are human rights standards monitored and enforced at sea? What are the prospects for improving human rights compliance at sea into the future? These are extremely important questions because it is increasingly apparent that human rights standards are not being maintained and protected at sea to the degree they should be

Summary

Introduction*

International human rights law (IHRL) is a recent addition to the general body of international law. Professor Bernard Oxman, a notable United States participant in the UNCLOS III negotiations, went so far in 1998 as to suggest that a great many of the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) could be interpreted as privileging human rights. He was forced to concede that “It is unlikely that [UNCLOS] or the law of the sea more generally, will be accorded a central role in the history of the international law of human rights.”[6]. I am grateful to Anna Petrig for pointing out this article to me. 7 Moyn, n. 2 above, pp. 176–177

Issues and Prospects

Human Rights and the Law of the Sea

Enforcement Jurisdiction

The Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea

Findings

Conclusion