A/HRC/14/38
working with human rights had been quite indifferent to the question of the crime of
aggression.
41.
The expert indicated that the right to peace was an underdeveloped value in human
rights instruments. Universal human rights instruments did not give proper expression to
the right to peace. There were, however, many references to peace in the preamble to the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Those references also appeared in the preamble to
the two human rights covenants. The preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights was informed by the four freedoms referred to by Franklin D. Roosevelt, namely,
freedom of belief, freedom of expression, freedom from want and freedom from fear.
Freedom from fear was the expression of the right of peoples to peace.
42.
Mr. Schabas further indicated that the International Court of Justice had been asked,
in the context of its advisory opinion on the legality of nuclear weapons, to consider the
relationship between international humanitarian law and international human rights law,
specifically in the context of the right to life. The Court had indicated that international
human rights law was applicable to armed conflict but that what constituted arbitrary
deprivation of the right to life in the context of an armed conflict was to be interpreted in
the context of international humanitarian law. The European Court of Human Rights had
had a number of cases in which it had addressed the question of armed conflict without any
reference to international humanitarian law, using instead the relevant human rights norms.
Thus, in practice judicial organs had analysed the causes of armed conflict in order to
determine whether human rights obligations had been violated. Therefore, international
human rights law was not only concerned with the way in which parties behaved during an
armed conflict, but also dealt with the causes of the conflict and with the question of
whether the use of force was lawful.
43.
Finally, Mr. Schabas recalled that the Human Rights Committee had dealt with the
question of protecting the right to life in the context of armed conflict in its general
comment No. 6. In its general comment No. 14 on nuclear weapons and the right to life, the
Committee further drew a clear link between the prohibition of war and the right to life.
44.
Fatimata-Binta Victoire Dah, Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination, noted that that Committee had been the first treaty body to function
in the human rights system. The Committee had adapted to each new challenge, bearing in
mind that racism found its expression in many varied and changing ways. The Committee
had guided many States in their work and had achieved many of its goals. For example, the
Committee held the view that political and social stability contributed to the enjoyment of
human rights for all. Those who enjoyed rights should enjoy them without discrimination.
The singularity of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination rested on the identification of the rights holders. Claims of individuals or
groups of individuals were recognized in the Convention under article 14. In order to assess
State policy in the sphere of racial discrimination the rights evaluated were, among others,
civil and political rights and economic and social rights, for example, the right to housing,
education, and health. States must create the conditions for social coexistence in harmony
through the respect of cultures and human rights, which was important considering that
cultural differences were often at the root of conflicts. Ms. Daw stated that peace was
possible when the State institutions worked properly and legitimate democratic systems
were in place.
45.
Ms. Dah indicated that from the Committee’s experience it was possible to derive
the message that peace was essential for the enjoyment of rights and that in the absence of
peace victims could and should claim peace as a right along with other human rights. It was
in that sense that the preamble to the International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination stated that discrimination among human beings was an
12
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