INTERNATIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF GLOBAL CONVENTIONS

Abstract

A study of human history reveals that the concept of fundamental human rights is not confined to any specific civilization or era; rather, it is a universal human necessity and a natural demand. However, in the modern era, human rights attained international legal status particularly after the catastrophic consequences of World War II, when the global community adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) under the auspices of the United Nations in 1948. This declaration formally brought human rights within the domain of international law, attempting to bind states to ensure the protection of the basic human rights of their citizens. Subsequently, numerous global, regional, and thematic treaties were developed in the light of this declaration, among which the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are particularly prominent. The objective of these treaties was to promote human dignity, equality, liberty, and justice on an international level. However, their formulation and implementation have been subjects of critique, divergence, and ideological debate. Various civilizations, especially the Islamic world, consider these treaties as products of a Western intellectual framework, pointing out the absence of inherent, moral, and spiritual values in them. As a response, Islamic countries adopted the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam in 1990, aiming to reinterpret human rights in accordance with Islamic teachings. This article presents a scholarly and critical review of these international human rights conventions, analyzing them from diverse perspectives including their historical background, legal foundations, ethical justifications, practical implementation, and cultural implications. A comparative analysis with the Islamic conception of human rights will also be conducted, in order to assess whether the existing framework of international human rights is truly universal and just, or merely a tool of cultural hegemony.

Keyword: International Law, Human Rights, Global Conventions, Civilizations, Catastrophic, Cultural Hegemony