THE INTERNATIONAL BILL OF HUMAN RIGHTS

One of the areas of principal concern in international relations in recent years has been the protection of the fundamental rights of the individual. So much so that it is now well settled that the way a state treats her own nationals could well be a matter of international concern, no more completely protected by the doctrines of "sovereignty of nations" and "domestic jurisdiction".! This internationalisation of the individual stands best manifested in the adoption by the United Nations of the International Bill of Human Rights, comprising the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966). These instruments an international Magna Carta abundantly underline the obligations of states towards individuals and, in certain cases, provide a mechanism whereby the rights of the individual against his state may be "internationally" enforced. Such international accountability of the nation-states is, however, a recent development originally inspired by the provisions of the United Nations Charter which oblige all member-states to promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms" (Article 55). Prior to such a multilateral commitment, it could be, and had been, successfully asserted that deprivations inflicted by a state on people in her territory were, so to say, "no one else's business*.