The Incoherence of Human Rights in International Law

Book excerpt: Incoherence is a term that is all too often associated with the public international law regime. To a great extent, its incoherence is arguably a natural consequence of the fragmented nature of both the development and overall scope of the discipline. Despite significant achievements since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), a coherent human rights regime that is properly integrated with other branches of public international law is still lacking. This book explores this incoherent approach to human rights, including specific challenges that arise as a result of the creation and regulation of legal relationships between parties (state and non-state) that sit outside of the human rights framework, with a view to considering how it may be remedied. Divided into three parts, the collection provides a critical exploration of various challenges and barriers related to the absence of human rights in some instances, contemporary emergence of rights, and a lack of rights fulfilment in others. These three situations are considered within the wider context of, and difficulties facing, a human rights-based approach to international law. Each of the three parts aligns with one of the three prime responsibilities and duties of states in respect of international human rights: to promote, to protect and to fulfil. The contributions represent different perspectives in international law and human rights and how the global agenda of promoting human rights, the rules-based international order and multilateralism requires further strengthening – the lens of incoherence providing a means to understand particular inconsistencies. Chapters focus upon subjects including international investment law, international financial contracts, the arms trade, indigenous peoples’ rights, rights of peasants, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, the right to food and transitional justice. Presenting a critical exploration of key contemporary challenges and the implementation of human rights law in different contexts, the collection will be of interest to a wide-ranging audience of international law and international relations scholars and practitioners, and students of law, politics and globalisation across the world.