ABSTRACT
Human rights are the minimum set of goods, services, opportunities, and protections that are widely recognized today as essential prerequisites for a life of dignity. The term human rights indicates both the nature and the source: they are the rights that one has simply because one is human. The International Human Rights Covenants proclaim that “these rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person.” The Vienna Declaration, adopted at the conclusion of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, likewise claims that “all human rights derive from the dignity and worth inherent in the human person.” Mixed systems of provisioning can be found in other areas of human rights concern, throughout the world. A principal function of international law, however, is to overcome the initial presumption of sovereign authority. International law, including international human rights law, is largely the record of restrictions on the exercise of sovereignty that have been accepted by states.
