Although the protection of human rights has seen a rapid growth in many areas, little attention has been paid in scholarly literature to the place of human rights in the discipline of international law. This book is an attempt to fill that gap. The inquiry is divided into two principal areas of discussion. Firstly, it looks at the relationship of human rights and humanitarian norms with customary law. Secondly, it concerns itself with the relationship of human rights and humanitarian norms with the law of state responsibility. The author examines how the contemporary human rights and humanitarian law meshes with the general principles of international law and particularly with the principles governing the international responsibility of States. The author clarifies the status of international human rights and humanitarian norms in public international law, and examines the sources, evidence, and process of creation of such rights.

Part I: Humanitarian Instruments as Customary Law. I. The importance of a norm's customary character -- II. Reservations to humanitarian and human rights instruments and customary law -- III. The Nicaragua judgment -- IV. The antecedents to Nicaragua -- V. Geneva Conventions: assessing practice, opinio juris, and violations -- VI. Additional Protocols of 1977. Part II: Human Rights Instruments and Customary Law. I. The quest for universality -- II. The International Court of Justice and customary human rights -- III. Customary human rights in selected national courts. Part III: Responsibility of States for Violations of Human Rights and Humanitarian Norms. I. Mapping recourse options -- II. Acts of State, imputability, private acts -- III. Exhaustion of local remedies -- IV. Obligations of means and obligations of result -- V. Obligations erga omnes -- VI. Judicial remedies: is damage a condition for State responsibility? -- VII. Violations as international crimes and international delicts -- VIII. State of necessity and derogations -- IX. Responsibility for violations of international humanitarian law: special problems -- X. The relationship between remedies in human rights treaties and other remedies -- XI. Countermeasures, non-judicial remedies.