Human Rights in Comprehensive Context Myres S
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digitalcommons.nyls.edu Faculty Scholarship Articles & Chapters 1978 Human Rights and World Public Order: Human Rights in Comprehensive Context Myres S. McDougal Harold D. Lasswell Lung-chu Chen New York Law School Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/fac_articles_chapters Part of the Human Rights Law Commons, and the International Humanitarian Law Commons Recommended Citation 72 Nw. U. L. Rev. 227 (1977-1978) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at DigitalCommons@NYLS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles & Chapters by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@NYLS. Northwestern University Law Review Printed in U.S.A. Vol. 72, No. 2 HUMAN RIGHTS AND WORLD PUBLIC ORDER: HUMAN RIGHTS IN COMPREHENSIVE CONTEXT * Myres S. McDougal** Harold D. Lasswell*** Lung-chu Chen**** The demands for human rights being made today around the world are heir to all the great historic movements for human freedom, equality and solidarity-including the English, American, French, Russian and Chinese revolutions and the events they set in train. They derive also from the more enduring elements in the traditions both of natural law and natural rights and of most of the world's great religions and philosophies. They achieve support, further, from the findings of modern science about the close link between simple respect for human dignity and the shaping and sharing of all other values.' It has been many times observed how * Copyright retained by Myres S. McDougal, Harold D. Lasswell and Lung-chu Chen. This article is exerpted from a book in progress, HUMAN RIGHTS AND WORLD PUBLIC ORDER: THE BASIC POLICIES OF AN INTERNATIONAL LAW OF HUMAN DIGNITY. The authors gratefully acknowledge the criticism and comments of Professor W. Michael Reisman. The Ralph E. Ogden Foundation has been generous in its support of the studies from which this article is drawn. ** Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law, New York Law School; Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law, Yale Law School. *** Ford Foundation Professor Emeritus of Law and the Social Sciences, Yale Law School. **** Professor of Law, New York Law School; Research Affiliate in Law, Yale Law School. Brunson MacChesney has long been our friend and valued associate both in inquiry about international law and in promotion of the better protection of human rights. His teaching, scholarly writing and wise leadership in professional organizations have made an immense contribution to the common interest. Though Professor MacChesney has taught us all, the debt of the most junior of us is multiple and direct: Professor MacChesney was an inspiring teacher and mentor at the beginning of his specialization in international law. It is a pleasure and honor to be permitted to participate in an issue designed to honor Brunson MacChesney. I See generally FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS (J. Bridge, D. Lasok, D. Perrott & R. Plender eds. 1973); J. CAREY, UN PROTECTION OF CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS (1970); COMPARATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS (R. Claude ed. 1976) [hereinafter cited as COMPARATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS]; COMMISSION TO STUDY THE ORGANIZATION OF PEACE, THE UNITED NATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS (1968); CORNELL LAW SCHOOL, HUMAN RIGHTS: PROTECTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW (1970) (Proceedings of the Fifth Summer Conference on NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW International Law); M. CRANSTON, WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS? (1973) [hereinafter cited as M. CRANSTON]; A. DEL Russo, INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1971); P. DROST, HUMAN RIGHTS AS LEGAL RIGHTS (1951) [hereinafter cited as P. DROST]; I. DUCHACEK, RIGHTS & LIBERTIES IN THE WORLD TODAY: CONSTITUTIONAL PROMISE & RE- ALITY (1973); INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (A. Eide & A. Schou eds. 1968) (Nobel Symposium 7) [hereinafter cited as NOBEL SYMPOSIUM ON HUMAN RIGHTS]; M. GANJI, INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1962) [hereinafter cited as M. GANJI]; M. GANJI, THE REALIZATION OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS: PROB- LEMS, POLICIES, PROGRESS, U.N. Doc. E/CN, 4/l108/Rev. I and 30 U.N. ESCDR (Provi- sional Agenda Item 7), U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1131/Rev. 1 (1975) [hereinafter cited as ECO- NOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS]; HUMAN DIGNITY: THIS CENTURY AND THE NEXT (R. Gotesky & E. Laszlo eds. 1970) [hereinafter cited as HUMAN DIGNITY]; HUMAN RIGHTS, FEDERALISM AND MINORITIES (A. Gotlieb ed. 1970); J. GREEN, THE UNITED NATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS (1956); E. HAAS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL ACTION (1970); SOCIALIST CONCEPT OF HUMAN RIGHTS (J. Halasz ed. 1966) [hereinafter cited as SOCIALIST CONCEPT OF HUMAN RIGHTS]; T. HESBURGH, THE HUMAN IMPERATIVE 23-37 (1974); A. HOLCOMBE, HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE MODERN WORLD (1948); RENE CASSIN, AMICORUM DiSCIPULORUMQUE LIBER (Institut International des Droits de l'Homme, ed. 1969-1972) (4 vols.) [hereinafter cited as REN CASSIN]; INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE, SOCIAL POLICY IN A CHANGING WORLD: THE ILO RESPONSE (1976) (Selected Speeches by Wilfred Jenks); G. JELLINEK, THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND OF CITIZENS: A CONTRIBUTION TO MODERN CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY (M. Farrand trans. 1901); THE HUMAN RIGHT TO INDI- VIDUAL FREEDOM (L. Kutner ed. 1970); H. LAUTERPACHT, AN INTERNATIONAL BILL OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN (1945); H. LAUTERPACHT, INTERNATIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS (1950) [hereinafter cited as H. LAUTERPACHT, 1950]; THE INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (E. Luard ed. 1967) [hereinafter cited as E. LUARD]; J. MARITAIN, THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND NATURAL LAW (D. Anson trans. 1943); HUMAN RIGHTS (A. Melden ed. 1970); M. MOSKOWITZ, INTERNATIONAL CONCERN WITH HUMAN RIGHTS (1974) [hereinafter cited as M. MOSKOWITZ, 1974]; M. MOSKOWITZ, THE POLITICS AND DYNAMICS OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1968) [hereinafter cited as M. MOSKOWITZ, 1968]; HUMAN RIGHTS (E. Pollack ed. 1971) [hereinaf- ter cited as HUMAN RIGHTS]; POLITICAL THEORY AND THE RIGHTS OF MAN (D. Raphael ed. 1967); A. ROBERTSON, HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WORLD (1972) [hereinafter cited as A. ROBERTSON]; HUMAN RIGHTS IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LAW (A. Robertson ed. 1968); D. SANDIFER & L. SCHEMAN, THE FOUNDATIONS OF FREEDOM: THE INTERRELATION- SHIP BETWEEN DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS (1966); E. SCHWELB, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY (1964); N. SINGH, HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION (1969); L. SINGHVI, HORIZONS OF FREEDOM (1969); L. SOHN & T. BUERGEN- THAL, INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1973); UNITED NATIONS, UNITED NATIONS ACTION IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN RIGHTS, U.N. Doc. ST/HR/2 (1974); UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION, BIRTHRIGHT OF MAN (1969) [hereinafter cited as BIRTHRIGHT OF MAN]; HUMAN RIGHTS (UNESCO ed. 1949); AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF HUMAN RIGHTS (F. Vallat ed. 1972); V. VAN DYKE, HUMAN RIGHTS, THE UNITED STATES, AND WORLD COMMUNITY (1970); Hearings on International Protection of Human Rights Before the Subcomm. on InternationalOrganization and Move- ments of the House Comm. on Foreign Affairs, 93d Cong., Ist Sess. (1974) [hereinafter cited as Hearings];Bilder, Rethinking InternationalHuman Rights: Some Basic Questions, 1969 WiS. L. REV. 170; Humphrey, The International Law of Human Rights in the Middle Twentieth Century, in THE PRESENT STATE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND OTHER ESSAYS 75 (M. Bos ed. 1973). On the regional level, see R. BEDDARD, HUMAN RIGHTS AND EUROPE (1973); BRITISH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW, THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (1965) (International Law Series No. 5); F. CASTBERG, THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (T. Opsahl & T. Ouchterlony eds. 1974); HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE LIBERATION OF MAN IN THE AMERICAS (L. Colonnese ed. 1970); J. FAWCETr, THE APPLICATION OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (1969); F. JACOB, THE 228 72:227 (1977) Human Rights rudimentary demands for freedom from despotic executive tyranny have gradually been transformed into demands for protection against not only the executive but all institutions or functions of government and all private coercion. Early demands for the barest "civil liberties," inherent in the most primitive conception of rule by law, have burgeoned into insistence upon comprehensive "human rights"-that is, into demands for effective participation in all community value processes and for wide sharing in all the values upon which even minimum civil liberties de- pend. 2 This history can be traced in the changing relation of the individual to the state: from the absolutist state through the liberal or laissez-faire state to the welfare or socialist state, with an increasing perception of political organization as an instrument of all values, and of the impor- tance of government of, by and for all people.5 From demands for physical security and inviolability of the person, with freedom from cruel and inhuman treatment and freedom from arbitrary arrest and confine- ment, a progression may be noted to demands for freedom of conscience and religion, of opinion and expression and of association and assem- bly.4 With the impact of industrialization, massive concentration of wealth, sprawling urbanization, accelerating change, and the attendant ills of exploitation, disparities in wealth distribution, unemployment and inadequate housing, medical care, education, skills and so on, have come not unnaturally demands for fair and adequate wages, basic in- come, improved working and health conditions, access to education and skill acquisition, and protection against the hazards of unemployment, sickness, old age and the like.5 EUROPEAN CONVENTION