STATUS OF INDIVIDUAL

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This article is written by S. Simi Sthebiya Mary of Sathyabama institute of Science and technology an intern under Legal Vidhiya.

ABSTRACT

I am describing the position of the individual in international law in this research article. International law might acknowledge people as subjects but could not give them direct individual rights and obligations. An overview of international law shows that for centuries, people were only taken into account in an abstract way. This was because international law is a set of agreements between nations, and since people are citizens of those states, they were viewed as objects rather than subjects. They were deemed ineligible under international law to possess rights and obligations.

INTRODUCTION

The law establishes rules and regulations that control how people and States interact with one another, as well as how international organisations interact with one another. The need and potential to recognise an individual’s legal obligation under international law and to make them, in some way, subjects of international law were both considered after the First and Second World Wars by the international community. Even now, governments continue to be the major subjects of international law, leaving individuals as its secondary subjects.

KEY WORDS

International law, individual, nation, state, rights, private, public.

IN INTERNATIONAL LAW, AN INDIVIDUAL

The term was coined by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham first used the phrase “international law” in 1971 to describe a body of regulations that are commonly viewed and acknowledged as binding in dealings between states and nations. Another term of ‘international law’ is law of nation. The set of laws that govern relations between sovereign states and other groups that are regarded by international law as being international actors.

It is a grouping of states created by a treaty signed by two or more of those states. International Organisations are thought to be covered by international law and have a legal personality as well. The United Nations, as an illustration.

Private international law and public international law are the two categories of international law they are:

PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW

Private international law is the area of the law that governs interactions between private individuals from different nations or that deals with the establishment, enforcing, and defining of rights in circumstances where both the party to whom the right belongs and the party upon whom the obligation rests are private individuals.

It is a set of norms and guidelines that are formed or agreed upon by individuals from several countries who engage in a private transaction and which will be followed in the event of a disagreement. Private international law differs from public international law in this regard. Public international law is the body of norms that independent states’ governments have agreed to, defining their rights and governing their interactions.

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW

It relates to the laws and guidelines that control how various nations and international organisations interact with one another. It provides rules for everything that has an impact on people, such as the environment, global trade, the ocean, and human rights.

International organisations like the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are subject to public international laws.

Public international law aspects-

1. Custom: Consistent state practises that are based on the opinio juris, or the conviction that something must be done because it is required by law.

2. Accepted behaviour that is the norm throughout the world.

3. Legal treaties that have codes.

For instance, many nations have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, a climate pact, which calls for them to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases in order to protect the environment.

Consider the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty that guarantees the protection of children’s rights in the nations that have ratified it.

STATUS OF AN INDIVIDUAL

Before 1945-

The person had no special standing under public international law. He may be subject to international law regulations, but he was not accorded any personal rights or obligations by the international legal system. Due to the fact that public international laws are laws governing nations and that people are citizens of those states, they were viewed as objects rather than subjects in this situation. International law did not deem them capable of having rights or obligations.

The individual may have benefited from these regulations, but because he did not have any explicit rights or obligations under international law, he was unable to assert those rights directly on the basis of customary laws or treaties.

In the past, States did not grant individuals the immediately applicable rights and obligations under international law that they may later assert before international organisations. States were required to ratify the treaties in order to include them in their domestic laws, and it was only within the purview of this domestic law that the individual may assert the rights outlined in those treaties.

After 1945-

After the Second World War ended in 1945, the United Nations Organisation was created. The idea of international law arose and gained popularity during this time. The war’s experience shown that cultural governments might degenerate into a state of relative savagery and that domestic rules could be ineffective, broken, or exploited for strange ends. Thus, the need for and potential for making a person a subject of international law granting him legal responsibility and rights began to be considered by the international community.

Since rights are awarded and obligations are enforced directly on persons under public international law, the notion that international law primarily focuses on interstate interactions and that a person is merely an object of the State has altered.

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE PRIVILEGES AND OBLIGATIONS ACCORDED TO PEOPLE UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW-

Individuals’ rights under international law:

Human rights: Individuals were granted rights by the General Assembly in 1948 when it enacted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The provisions of the UDHR, however, were not required to be implemented by the states by law.

The contracting states commit to grant individuals the rights outlined in the conventions and protocols by adopting the following conventions and protocols.

The convention and protocols are-

Civil and political rights convention international
The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.
Convention for the preservation of basic freedoms and human rights in Europe
Universal declaration of human right.

CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS CONVENTION INTERNATIONAL –

The ICCPR pledges to support the conditions required for the exercise of civil and political rights within each state and affirms the inherent value of every person. Every person has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion under Article 18 of the convention.

THE UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON HUMAN RIGHTS –

The right of people to obtain the opportunity to earn a living via labour and to protect their economic and political freedoms is recognised in Article 6 of the ICESCR.

CONVENTION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF BASIC FREEDOMS AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN EUROPE –

According to the European Convention, which went into effect in 1950, party nations are required to guarantee certain rights and freedoms to everyone within their authority. These include

Article 2 – Right to life (prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhumane, or humiliating treatment),

Article 5- Right to liberty,

Article 6- Right to a fair trial.

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHT-

Nuremberg showed that safeguarding human rights was crucial and that it could not be completely the responsibility of nations. In order to encompass rights like the right to life (Article 3), liberty, and the security of one’s person, the United Nations enacted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. States, however, are free to choose whether or not to implement local legal systems with international human rights law.

THE ABILITY TO FILE PETITIONS-

If their rights are violated, the Individuals have the right to file a petition. A petition of this nature may be submitted to the forum. Only at the state’s request is this petitioning privilege available. Therefore, the individual cannot petition the state before an international forum if the state is not a party to the convention that has granted individuals rights.

ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION PROCEDURES RIGHTS-

Private international investors now have the ability to mediate and arbitrate issues with investment-receiving states. Before a disagreement is sent to arbitration and conciliation, both nations must agree that they want to resolve it that way. The treaty for the settlement of disputes between States and Nationals of Other States, 1965, granted this right to dispute resolution through arbitration and conciliation.

OBLIGATIONS

The obligations placed on people by the laws of public international law have grown as a result of the establishment of the notion of international criminal liability. Regardless of his official position, a person who commits significant crimes against the world community is brought before the pertinent international criminal tribunals. Some of them are listed below:

Crimes of war Genocide
Violations of humanity
Aggression-related crimes
Plane hijacking
Offence of kidnapping diplomats and other individuals
A violation of apartheid

Some international agreements make direct references to specific people and establish requirements that must be fulfilled in accordance with international criminal liability. These agreements consist of-

1948’s International Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide
The four 1949 Geneva Conventions
The 1968 International Convention against War Crimes
International Criminal Court’s 1988 Rome Statute

CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR INDIVIDUALS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

Though international law does not directly apply to persons, it does allow for individual rights, as was stated in the previous section. In very rare circumstances, international law does directly apply to individuals. The most frequent occurrence is when someone is held accountable for crimes against humanity’s security and peace under international law. Regardless of the will and domestic rules of the state of their nationality, individuals accused of crimes against humanity may be tried directly under international law.

The “locus standi” theory underlies the concept of lawmaking. By doing this, the person can influence the creation of laws. According to the research presented above, there is no support for a person’s international personality in the content or context of laws governing individual criminal responsibility. Every time a person is given international criminal responsibility, it would seem that their actions are not intended to result in punishment under any particular country legal system.

An individual is not punished through the direct application of International Law if the state in question is capable and willing to uphold its international commitments with regard to punishing those who violate the peace and security of humanity.

INDIVIDUALS’ CURRENT STANDING WITHIN INTERNATIONAL LAW

A summary of these tendencies is followed by some conclusions. First, it is generally acknowledged that the kind and degree of a state’s and an individual’s capacity varies. Second, it is also acknowledged that individual capacity is founded on a treaty that needs the approval of nations and that it is only applicable in certain rare and extraordinary instances. This is true even of those who believe that individuals are international persons. There are numerous instances that demonstrate how an individual’s legal ability is thought to constitute the foundation of that person’s international personality, including:

The principles of international law can be directly applied to a person’s legal relationships and actions.
Individuals’ rights and obligations under international law.
Individuals can participate in the creation of international law in addition to private transnational businesses.
The ability to defend one’s rights before international legal and quasi-judicial entities.
The international judicial courts have the authority to initiate proceedings against specific persons in certain circumstances of international law violations, regardless of the state’s wishes or domestic laws.

CONCLUSION

International law is a body of regulations that are binding between nations and works to maintain security and peace. The identification of each individual’s rights and obligations is aided by international law. International law exists to uphold international peace and order, to resolve conflicts between distinct people, states, and nations, and to guarantee fundamental rights.

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