Failure of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Comply with Erga Omnes Obligations in International Human Rights Law

Abstract

In international law, and particularly in international human rights law, the conception of erga omnes obligations stands for a certain mandatory duty for states to take towards the interests of the international community as a whole. Stemming from Latin origin, and signifying duties ‘towards all’ or ‘towards everyone’, erga omnes obligations require that all states comply with the norms and principles that the international community has reason to value. Despite the clarifications about the erga omnes obligations of states towards the interests of the international community, the Islamic Republic of Iran has wittingly ignored such obligations. In the field of international human rights law, this reluctance by Iran to fulfill the erga omnes obligations is more and more evident and shameless.