1.2 A new momenttim

This book contends that the right of access to justice (at national and international levels) constitutes a basic cornerstone of the international protection of human rights, and conforms a true right to the Law. It amounts, lato sensu, to the right to the realization of justice. In such understanding, it comprises not only the formal access to a tribunal or judge, but also respect for the guarantees of due process of law, the right to a fair trial, and to reparations (whenever they are due), and the faithful execution of judgments. On its part, the right to an effective domestic remedy is a basic pillar of the rule of law in a democratic society. In its part, the right of international individual petition, together with the safeguard of the integrity of international jurisdiction, constitute the basic foundations of the emancipation of the individual vis-à-vis his own State. This is a domain that has undergone a remarkable development in recent years. It is submitted that the right of access to justice belongs today to the domain of jus cogens. Without it, there is no legal system at all. The protection of the human person in the most adverse circumstances has evolved amongst considerations of ordre public. Such recent evolution has been contributing to the gradual expansion of the material content of jus cogens. Furthermore, the very notion of "victim" (encompassing direct, indirect and potential victims) has been the subject of a considerable international case-law. Victims have had their cause vindicated in situations of utmost adversity, if not defencelessness (e.g., abandoned or "street children", undocumented migrants, members of peace communities in situations of armed conflict, internally displaced persons, individuals in infra-human conditions of detention, surviving victims of massacres).

Over the past sixty years the regional human rights systems have surpassed the UN human rights bodies in affording protection to the victims of human rights violations. Most of these systems have courts that are empowered to issue legally binding judgments and reparations for violations of human rights, which states have been unwilling to accord the UN system. The essays selected for this volume examine the structure and functioning of the principal regional human rights systems in the world today: 1) the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights, 2) the European Court of Human Rights, 3) the African Commission and Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights and 4) the ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission. These systems guarantee primarily civil and political rights. Central to all four systems is the necessity of a democratic form of government to guarantee these rights, although not all governments, parties to these regional treaties, are democracies. These articles trace the history of these systems, in particular, the expansion of their membership to include almost all independent countries in the region, and their evolution towards recognition of a 'right to democracy'.

Fully updated and covering the new challenges and dangers which have emerged since publication of the previous edition, the new 3rd Edition of International Law for Humankind builds on the revised and adapted text of a General Course on Public International Law delivered by the Author at The Hague Academy of International Law. Professor Cançado Trindade develops his Leitmotiv of identification of a corpus juris increasingly oriented to the fulfillment of the needs and aspirations of human beings, of peoples and of humankind as a whole. With the overcoming of the purely inter-State dimension of the discipline of the past, international legal personality has expanded, so as to encompass nowadays, besides States and international organizations, also peoples, individuals and humankind as subjects of International Law. The growing consciousness of the need to pursue universally-shared values has brought about a fundamental change in the outlook of International Law in the last decades, drawing closer attention to its foundations and, parallel to its formal sources, to its material source (the universal juridical conscience). He examines the conceptual constructions of this new International Law and identifies basic considerations of humanity permeating its whole corpus juris, disclosing the current processes of its humanization and universalization. Finally, he addresses the construction of the international rule of law, acknowledging the need and quest for international compulsory jurisdiction, in the move towards a new jus gentium, the International Law for humankind.

This book is a record of the international symposium held at the Kyoto International Conference Hall to mark the centennial of the Japanese Association of International Law. The purpose of the symposium was to reflect on past Japanese practice, to analyze current problems affecting Japan, and to seek to clarify the future role of Japan in the global community, in terms of international law. After joining the international community in the middle of the nineteenth century, Japan adopted a policy of wealth creation and armament in order to maintain its independence against the expanding Western States. At the same time, on the domestic scene, Japan vigorously promoted the modernization - Westernization - of its political, economic, and social institutions. Japan emerged as one of the victorious 'Principal Allied and Associated Powers' in World War I, and started asserting its place in the international order. However, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, Japan failed to reach agreement with the international community, eventually left the League of Nations, invaded the Asian continent, and met with complete military defeat in World War II. In the subsequent years, Japan toiled to rebuild its economy and to rejoin the world community, but despite its miraculous economic recovery and expansion, Japan remains ambivalent in its policy of contributing to the maintenance of international peace and security. During these one and a half centuries the Japanese practice of international law has covered a wide range of fields. From these various fields, the symposium took up three specific topics: War and Peace, Economy, and Human Rights, because of their relevance to past Japanese practice and because future Japanese practice in these areas would be bound to affect international law in the coming century. In addition, the symposium discussed Japanese transactions, in general, with international law. The period covered by the symposium has witnessed many drastic changes in the world, and international law, which used to be applied almost exclusively to relations among the Western States, has now come to be applied universally. The Association wished to emphasize that an analysis of Japanese practice should be of significance for anyone interested in promoting and consolidating the rule of law in the world community at large.

"Theory of International Law at the Threshold of the 21st Century" is a remarkable book, and is destined to become a standard work, without which no International Law library will be complete. The essays contained in this volume are written by the foremost experts, and the topics have been chosen with the greatest care, to reflect the most pressing current problems facing the world community. The research and writing made available in this collection will be of enduring worth, and will be studied and quoted for decades to come. It follows in the finest traditions of the major collective works published by Martinus Nijhoff/Kluwer Law International. It is most appropriate that a remarkable book should be dedicated to a remarkable man, and the editor of the volume Professor Jerzy Makarczyk has ensured that the choice of writers, the choice of topics and the quality of the material do indeed honour one of the leading international lawyers of his generation: Professor Krzysztof Skubiszewski.