Beyond Human Rights: The Legal Status of the Individual in International Law (Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law, Series Number 126)

A paradigm change is occurring, in the course of which human beings are becoming the primary international legal persons. In numerous areas of public international law, substantive rights and obligations of individuals arguably flow directly from international law. The novel legal status of humans in international law is now captured with a concept borrowed from constitutional doctrine: international rights of the person, as opposed to international law protecting persons. Combining doctrinal analysis with current practice, this book is the most comprehensive contemporary analysis of the legal status of the individual. Beyond Human Rights, previously published in German and now revised by the author in this English edition, not only deals with the individual in international humanitarian law, international criminal law and international investment law, but it also covers fields such as consular law, environmental law, protection of individuals against acts of violence and natural disasters, refugee law and labour law. Cover ......Page 1 Half-title page......Page 3 Series page......Page 4 Title page......Page 5 Copyright page......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Preface to the German Edition of 2014......Page 13 Preface to the English Edition......Page 15 List of Abbreviations......Page 17 Table of Cases......Page 22 1.1 Individualization of International Law?......Page 39 1.2 Backlash in the Age of BRICSs?......Page 41 1.3 The Legal Acquis Individuel: Structure of the Book......Page 45 1.4 Scope of Investigation: “The Individual”......Page 47 2.1 History of Ideas......Page 49 2.2 Historical Legal Practice......Page 63 2.3 Conclusion......Page 71 3.1 Basic Terminology: International Legal Subject and International Legal Person......Page 73 3.2 Traditional Classification of International Legal Subjects: The State and Everyone Else......Page 80 3.3 Decoupling Substantive and Procedural Individual Rights under International Law......Page 82 3.4 Legal Capacity and the Power to Create Law......Page 88 3.5 Individualism, Monism, and Dualism......Page 92 3.6 Conclusion......Page 96 4.1 Definition of the Problem......Page 98 4.2 Basic Categories......Page 100 4.3 Partially Corresponding Individual Claims......Page 104 4.4 The Normal Case of Merely Indirect Imposition of Obligations upon Individuals through State Duties of Protection......Page 105 4.5 Direct International Individual Obligations as an Exceptional Case......Page 109 4.6 The Need to Close Regulatory Gaps as a Reason for and Limit to Direct International Individual Obligations......Page 114 4.7 Further Limitation of Individual Rights by the Transnationalized Principle of Legality......Page 117 4.8 Legal Bases of Specific Individual Obligations......Page 123 4.9 Individual Obligation to Observe International Human Rights?......Page 137 4.10 No “Fundamental Duties” of Individuals under International Law......Page 148 4.11 Conclusion......Page 151 5.1 Foundations......Page 153 5.2 The International Criminal Responsibility of Individuals......Page 155 5.3 The International Non-criminal Responsibility of the Individual......Page 190 5.4 Conclusion......Page 202 6.1 Definition of the Problem......Page 205 6.2 Law of International (State) Responsibility......Page 208 6.3 Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law: Remedy and Reparation......Page 213 6.4 Rationale and Necessity of Individual Rights Arising from International Responsibility......Page 227 6.5 Conclusion......Page 230 7.1 Individual Rights at the Primary Level......Page 232 7.2 Secondary Rights of Individuals de lege lata......Page 240 7.3 Secondary Claims of Individuals de lege ferenda......Page 248 7.4 Ownership of Claims and Waiver......Page 251 7.5 Individual Enforcement of Secondary Claims in the Law of Armed Conflict......Page 254 7.6 Individual Obligations in the Law of Armed Conflict......Page 258 7.7 Conclusions......Page 269 8.1 Definition of the Problem......Page 271 8.2 Obligations Arising from the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)......Page 274 8.3 Obligations to Protect in the Event of Natural Disasters......Page 278 8.4 Appraisal......Page 284 8.5 Conclusion......Page 291 9.1 The Duty to Prosecute and Punish......Page 293 9.2 The Legal Status of Victims in International Criminal Proceedings......Page 307 9.3 No Privatization of the Right of Punishment......Page 314 10.1 Definition of the Problem......Page 320 10.2 The Procedural Right of Investors under International Law: Power to Institute Arbitration Proceedings......Page 323 10.3 Substantive Rights of Investors Arising from Contracts (Contract Claims)......Page 331 10.4 Rights Arising from Inter-State Investment Protection Treaties: The “Direct”/“Derivative” Rights Debate......Page 339 10.5 Investor Rights Are Not Human Rights......Page 356 10.6 Practical Consequences of Individual Rights (“Direct Rights”) Arising from Treaties......Page 359 10.7 Secondary Claims of the Investor under International Law......Page 369 10.8 Obligations of Investors under International Law......Page 377 10.9 Conclusion......Page 384 11 Individual Rights in Consular Law......Page 386 11.1 The Right to Consular Contact......Page 387 11.2 Rights of Detained Foreigners......Page 388 11.3 The Quality of Individual Rights Arising from Article 36 of VCCR......Page 394 11.4 Enforcement of the Individual Right......Page 403 11.5 Legal Consequences of the VCCR Violation, Especially in Criminal Proceedings......Page 406 11.6 Conclusion......Page 423 12.1 Foundations and Definition of the Question......Page 426 12.2 Rights against the Injuring State: The End of the Vattelian Fiction......Page 427 12.3 International Right to Diplomatic Protection vis-à-vis the Home State?......Page 434 12.4 Conclusion......Page 443 13.1 States as Overlords?......Page 446 13.2 International Legal Personality Independent of the State?......Page 450 13.3 Treaty Basis......Page 451 13.4 Customary International Law......Page 457 13.5 General Principle of Law......Page 459 13.6 Natural Law......Page 466 13.7 Human Right......Page 468 13.8 Conclusion......Page 469 14.1 Two Groups of International Individual Rights......Page 474 14.2 Possibility of a Distinction......Page 476 14.3 Desirability of the Distinction: Against the Trivialization of Human Rights......Page 481 14.4 Consequences of the Distinction......Page 485 14.5 Superposition of Human Rights and New Orientation of a Regime: The Example of Refugee Law......Page 488 14.6 Divergences and Tensions between Simple Rights and Human Rights: The Example of International Labour Law......Page 495 14.7 A Practical Conception of Human Rights......Page 507 15.1 Individuals as Guardians of the International Legal Order......Page 510 15.2 Addressees of International Individual Rights......Page 512 15.3 The Enforcement of International Individual Rights......Page 517 15.4 International Individual Rights as the Foundation of the Emerging International Guarantee of Access to Justice......Page 530 16.1 Definition of the Problem......Page 533 16.2 Terms and Distinctions......Page 534 16.3 Direct Effect and the Substantive International Legal Status of the Individual......Page 539 16.4 Traditional Criteria of Direct Effect......Page 542 16.5 The Direct Effect of Secondary Law......Page 545 16.6 Rejection of Direct Effect as a Mechanism of Legitimacy......Page 552 16.7 Direct Effect as the Normal Case......Page 557 16.8 Conclusion......Page 561 17 The International Individual Right......Page 564 17.1 Rights as a Paradigm of Modernity......Page 565 17.2 The Postmodern Critique of Rights......Page 568 17.3 The Lack of Global Citizenship......Page 582 17.4 The Global Bourgeois......Page 589 Bibliography......Page 594 Index......Page 629 The Starting Point For This Study Is The Observation That With Increasing Frequency, International Legal Norms Directly Address And Engage Individuals. For Instance, Individual Rights Under International Law Appear To Arise From Extradition Treaties, Treaties Of Friendship And Establishment, Double Taxation Agreements, Transport Treaties, Intellectual Property Treaties, Investment Protection Treaties, Treaties On The Legal Status Of Foreigners, And The Vienna Convention On Consular Relations. On The Side Of Duties, The Criminal Responsibility Of Individuals Under International Law Has In Recent Decades Been Fleshed Out By The Work Of The Ad Hoc Criminal Tribunals And The International Criminal Court-- Definition Of The Question -- Historical Thory And Practice Of The International Legal Status Of The Individual -- The Doctrine Of The International Legal Personality Of The Human Being -- International Individual Obligations -- The International Responsibility Of The Individual -- Individual Rights Arising From International Responsibility -- Individual Rights And Duties In The Law Of Armed Conflict -- Protection Against Acts Of Violence And Forces Of Nature -- The International Legal Status Of Victims Of Crime -- Rights And Duties In Investment Protection Law -- Individual Rights In Consular Law -- Individual Rights In Diplomatic Protection -- The Legal Basis For The Interantional Legal Personality Of The Individual And The Question Of Its Independence From The State -- Human Rights And Other Rights -- The Individualized Enforcement Of International Law -- Direct Effect Of Norms Establishing Individual Rights And Duties -- The International Individual Right. Anne Peters, Max Planck Institute For Comparative Public Law And International Law, Heidelberg, Germany ; Translated By Jonathan Huston ; Revised And Updated By The Author. Previously Published In German By Mohr Siebeck, 2014. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 556-590) And Index. A historical and doctrinal study about the legal status of individuals in international law. The author arrives at the forceful and well balanced conclusion that there has been a qualitative change in international law, namely that there now is, as underlined by theory and practice, an 'international individual right'. A paradigmatic change is occurring, in the course of which human beings are becoming the primary international legal persons. In numerous areas of public international law, substantive rights and obligations of individuals arguably flow directly from international law