ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the structure of the international legal argument contributes to the preservation of the primacy of the state to the detriment of the effective promotion and protection of international human rights law (IHRL). The system of IHRL has developed from the creation of the United Nations and has made great strides in developing a significant body of law through treaties, declarations, resolutions, and decisions. IHRL finds itself struggling in a world of contradictions; it may speak of the importance of human values but does much to preserve and protect state values. In the movement between apology and utopia IHRL remains confined by the imbalance created by the primacy of state interests. The UN Charter demonstrates the struggle in the international legal argument between Apology and Utopia as it simultaneously allows for human values and state values to be given a prominent place in the declared purposes and principles of the organization.
