The Jurisprudence of Human Rights in a Global Context

Abstract

This paper is a study of the conceptual dimensions of human rights gleaned from the writings of scholars and jurists, judicial precedent, and domestic and international human rights instruments, particularly under the United Nations System. Human rights have become an international subject and have today attained the status of a jus cogens rule of international law. The need to determine and clarify the history and dynamics of this subject has given impetus and inspiration to this paper. Applying a theoretical and doctrinal methodology, the paper set out to appraise the different dimensions, and for that matter ramifications, to the concept of human rights and how they affect our everyday life. The paper found, among other things, that human rights law and its observance are much more entrenched at the international forum than in domestic jurisdictions. The paper concluded that human rights issues are no longer a matter of domestic affairs of any nation in the light of extant international instruments to which nations are committed. It therefore recommended that national governments should be more sensitive and responsive to the growing status of human rights as an international subject.