Summary: Working Group on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

How to strengthen the effectiveness and universality of human rights and humanitarian law at the international and regional levels

Various ways of strengthening the effectiveness and universality of human rights (HR) law and humanitarian law were examined in this session: national implementation, NGO action, and principles of international law. A special focus was given on how NGOs can strengthen intrenational law and how they can support states in implementing it at the national level.

Ms. Isabelle Kuntziger of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) first tackled the issue of implementation of international human rights law, underscoring that the primary responsibility of implementation lies with states and illustrating the measures that states should take in this respect. First of all, preventive action must be taken, such as educating the public and armed forces in particular on IHL. Also, international treaties must be incorporated in national law, and criminal law must provide for punishment of violations. The ICRC has now created an Advisory Service on IHL to promote ratification of IHL and its national implementation.

An important principle for strengthening the universality of human rights law was illustrated by Mr. Claudio Cordone of Amnesty International, who clearly explained the principle of universal jurisdiction and the obstacles it must face. The principle of universal jurisdiction allows any country to prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and torture regardless of where the crime has taken place and regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator. The primary responsibility to implement HR law rests with the territorial state, but if it is unable or unwilling to take action the territorial state has the obligation to extradite the perpetrator to a country that will prosecute, regardless of whether it has signed a relevant treaty.

There are currently 125 states which have incorporated the principle of universal jurisdiction in their national law, but as of now only 15 have actually exercised it. The main obstacles to this principle are political, with governments trying to interfere with the judiciary. Another problem is the lack of knowledge among judges and lawyers, who often are not aware of the possibility of exercising the principle of universal jurisdiction. The major obstacle is that of the persistence of the principle of immunity for heads of state despite its negation in HR law. As it is primarily heads of state committing such crimes, the principle of immunity is a particularly difficult obstacle to universal jurisdiction. Amnesty International has a campaign against immunity, as well as projects to train judges and lawyers on the principle of universal jurisdiction.

Ms. Marie Ganier-Raymond then presented her organization, the Foodfirst International Information and Action Network, as an example of the use of NGO knowledge to strengthen economic and social rights. Her NGO works with victims of the violation of the right to food, which can take many different forms and is usually connected to the violation of other fundamental rights. She also emphasized the fact that the responsibility to respect the right to food lies with states, mentioning that the main problem does not concern productivity but distribution, and that it is often as a consequence of the economic and social policies of governments that people are denied the right to food. FIIAN's mandate includes awareness raising, informing victims of their rights and thereby empowering them. 

Interesting questions
The debate regarding the definition of the prisoners in the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as prisoners of war was brought up, and also raised the question of what can be done when super powers such as the US decide to restrict human rights in this way. Claudio Cordone replied that the prisoners in Guantanamo should be considered prisoners of war, and as such be protected as specified in the Geneva Conventions, unless a tribunal decides otherwise. No state can keep people in detention for six months without a legal basis, and NGOs must insist on this in order to reaffirm the validity of international law and to show that the fight against terrorism cannot be used as a way to undermine human rights.

Conclusions
As a result of the discussions, various ways in which civil society can strengthen human rights law and humanitarian law were defined:

• Cooperation of NGOs for a certain cause (such as the coalitions put in place for the creation of the ICC and to ban landmines)
• Education and training of the judiciary, of armed forces, and of the public in general
• Pressure on governments to respect and implement human rights law and humanitarian law.

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