国際法の今日的課題 : 人権の国際的保障の現状とわが国の対応を中心にみた

抄録

One of the major tasks of the present International Law is the protection of human rights in the community of nations. It is after the second world war that the importance of international protection of human rights was widely recognized. Before the war the protection of human rights was mostly depended upon the internal legal systems of individual States. The United Nations has made great efforts for the advancement of international protection of human rights. The General Aseembly adopted "the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" in 1948. It also adopted the "the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Economic Rights", "the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" and "the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" on 16 December 1966. These Covenants and the Optional Clause came into force on 3 January 1967 and 23 March 1967 respectively. Presently these "International Bills of Rights" are the most important documents for the protection of human rights. The United Nations has adopted many other declarations and conventions on human rights in various fields. The UN Specialized Agencies such as the International Labour Organization and the UNESCO have also adopted conventions for the protection of human rights in the areas of their mandates. The regional organizations such as the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States, and the Organization of African Unity have also made significant contributions for the protection of human rights. These organizations have adopted regional conventions on human rights and operated their own systems for the implementation of the conventions. In spite of the large number of human rights conventions adopted and brought into force, still the present state of international protection of human rights is not satisfactory. The weakest point is in the systems of implementation of the conventions. Although the committees have been set up by the conventions in order to secure the compliance of the contracting States, these committees usually have no power to give binding decisions. The committees can examine the reports submitted by the contracting States on the implementation of the conventions. But their opinions on the reports are not binding. A committee may specially be empowered to receive complaints of the contracting States on the violation of a convention by other contracting States, or the complaints of individuals whose rights assured by a convention have been injured by a contracting State. Yet what the committee can do on the complaints is to lead to "friendly solutions" or to make recommendations. The Courts of Human Rights under the conventions adopted by the Council of Europe and the Organization of American States can make binding decisions. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe is given the same power. Therefore, they are rather exeptional. The systems of the protection of human rights in the international community should develope to the same level as these regional systems. The attitudes of the Japanese government towards the international protection of human rights may generally be summarized as not positive. The government has not adhered to many human rights convention on such as the prevention of "Genocide, Apartheit, Discriminations, Tortures or the convention prohibiting discriminations in the field of education adopted by the UNESCO. It has not recognized the power of the Human Rights Committee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to receive complaints of other contracting States or individuals against Japan. The judiciary is not inclined to apply human rights conventions to the cases brought before the courts. Yet the influences of human rights conventions are observed in enactments or amendments of legislations as well as in public activities for the promotion of human rights.