2.3.2 Other regional agreements 2.4 Customary rules : A number of other regional organisations have adopted conventions relating to human rights: The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man of 1948, which was closely modelled on UDHR, was followed by the Protocol to the Charter of the Organisation of American States 1967, which established the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as a principal organ of the OAS A significant number of the provisions contained in the various human rights treaties are now considered to be rules of customary international law. In particular, many of the provisions of UDHR, which as a UN resolution is not binding per se, have come to be regarded as expressing customary rules. An important case in this respect is Filartiga v Pena-Irala (1980), which was heard by

doi:10.4324/9781843143802-152

Chapter

2.3.2 Other regional agreements 2.4 Customary rules

Chapter

A number of other regional organisations have adopted conventions relating to human rights: The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man of 1948, which was closely modelled on UDHR, was followed by the Protocol to the Charter of the Organisation of American States 1967, which established the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as a principal organ of the OAS A significant number of the provisions contained in the various human rights treaties are now considered to be rules of customary international law. In particular, many of the provisions of UDHR, which as a UN resolution is not binding per se, have come to be regarded as expressing customary rules. An important case in this respect is Filartiga v Pena-Irala (1980), which was heard by

ABSTRACT

More recently the member states of the Council of Europe adopted the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1987, which entered into force in 1989. The convention establishes a European Committee for the Prevention of Torture which is charged with monitoring the treatment of those deprived of their liberty and envisages a system of inspections of prisons and other places of detention. The convention aims to encourage observance of its provisions rather than to provide formal enforcement mechanisms. Torture and other forms of degrading or inhuman treatment are already prohibited under Article 3 of the ECHR.