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Tzevelekos, Vassilis P. --- "The making of international human rights law" [2016] ELECD 593; in Brölmann, Catherine; Radi, Yannick (eds), "Research Handbook on the Theory and Practice of International Lawmaking" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 329

Book Title: Research Handbook on the Theory and Practice of International Lawmaking

Editor(s): Brölmann, Catherine; Radi, Yannick

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781953211

Section: Chapter 16

Section Title: The making of international human rights law

Author(s): Tzevelekos, Vassilis P.

Number of pages: 25

Abstract/Description:

The paper discusses how human rights norms are created in international law. After explaining the limits of the sources of positive international law (and especially the problems that are inherent to custom making), it turns towards the role of international courts and tribunals and discusses the ways through which they may recognise the existence of human rights. The paper identifies a number of means that are available to international courts for that task (such as the expansion of already existing legal bases on the basis of socio-normative evolution and the helpfulness in that respect of the respect-protect-fulfil classification of human rights) and highlights the distinction between consensus-based reasoning, and decision making based on human rights principles.