Promoting and enforcing human rights internationally: sovereignty, the UN, courts, NGOs and media: HSC Legal Studies

What this dot point is asking

The syllabus asks how human rights are promoted (encouraged, raised, monitored) and enforced (made to happen, with consequences for violations) in the international community. You must know the roles of state sovereignty, the United Nations, intergovernmental organisations, courts, tribunals and independent statutory authorities, non-government organisations and the media, and you must assess the role of state sovereignty and evaluate the effectiveness of international responses.

These are favourite short-answer targets: 2025 asked how the media influences change in human rights (5 marks) and 2024 asked for the impact of state sovereignty on a contemporary issue (7 marks). Keep promotion and enforcement separate in your mind: most international bodies are good at the first and weak at the second.

The answer

State sovereignty

State sovereignty is the supreme authority of a nation state to govern its own territory and people without outside interference. The UN Charter is built on it: the organisation is based on the sovereign equality of its members (article 2(1)) and must not intervene in matters essentially within domestic jurisdiction (article 2(7)).

Sovereignty affects human rights in two opposite ways:

Examples:

• Assisting: Australia used its sovereign power to implement the Palermo Protocol by creating slavery and trafficking offences (Criminal Code (Cth) Div 270), enforced in R v Tang (2008).
• Impeding: after the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released its assessment of Xinjiang on 31 August 2022, finding that serious violations against Uyghurs "may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity", the Human Rights Council voted 19 to 17, with 11 abstentions, against even holding a debate (6 October 2022).
• Withdrawal: in 2025 the United States again withdrew from the Human Rights Council and imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court officials, showing that sovereign states can disengage from international mechanisms.

Important distinction. In Australian law "states" means NSW, Victoria and so on; in international law "state" means a sovereign nation. NESA's 2024 feedback flagged students who confused the two.

The United Nations

The UN is the centre of the international human rights system.

• General Assembly. Adopts declarations and treaties (the UDHR 1948, the covenants 1966, UNDRIP 2007, the right to a healthy environment 2022) and can suspend members of the Human Rights Council: on 7 April 2022 it suspended Russia over atrocities in Ukraine, 93 to 24 with 58 abstentions, only the second suspension after Libya in 2011.
• Security Council. The only UN body that can make binding decisions and authorise sanctions or force (Chapter VII), and refer situations to the ICC (Darfur 2005, Libya 2011). The veto of the five permanent members has blocked action on Syria, Ukraine and Gaza.
• Human Rights Council. 47 elected member states (replacing the discredited Commission on Human Rights in 2006). It conducts the Universal Periodic Review of every UN member (Australia's fourth review was on 26 January 2026, when 27 states made recommendations on raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility), appoints special rapporteurs and commissions of inquiry, and passes resolutions.
• Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Monitors, reports and advises (the 2022 Xinjiang assessment).
• Treaty bodies. Independent expert committees (such as the Human Rights Committee under the ICCPR) review state reports and decide individual complaints. Their "views" are not binding: Toonen v Australia (1994) led to reform, but many views on Australian immigration detention have not been implemented.

Intergovernmental organisations

Intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) are bodies made up of states:

• UN specialised agencies: the International Labour Organization (labour standards and supervision), UNHCR (refugee protection), UNICEF (children), WHO (health).
• Regional organisations: the Council of Europe created the European Convention on Human Rights and Court; the European Union links trade to human rights conditions; the African Union has the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights; ASEAN's Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (2009) has no enforcement powers. There is no regional human rights court for the Asia-Pacific, a gap that affects Australia's region.
• Others: the Commonwealth of Nations can suspend members for serious violations.

Courts, tribunals and independent statutory authorities

• International Court of Justice. Decides disputes between states and gives advisory opinions. In Ukraine v Russia (16 March 2022) it ordered Russia to suspend military operations; Russia did not comply. In South Africa v Israel it ordered provisional measures on 26 January 2024 requiring Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and to enable humanitarian aid. In The Gambia v Myanmar it ordered provisional measures in January 2020 requiring Myanmar to prevent genocidal acts against the Rohingya; it heard the merits from 12 to 29 January 2026, and as at September 2026 its judgment had not been delivered. Its orders are binding but it has no enforcement arm.
• International Criminal Court. Prosecutes individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. Arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin (2023) and Benjamin Netanyahu (2024), and the surrender of Rodrigo Duterte by the Philippines in March 2025 show reach but also dependence on state cooperation. Pre-Trial Chamber I confirmed three counts of crimes against humanity (murder and attempted murder) against Duterte on 23 April 2026, and his trial is scheduled to open on 30 November 2026, although a ruling on his fitness to stand trial was still pending in September 2026.
• Regional courts. The European Court of Human Rights is the most effective human rights court in the world, with binding judgments supervised by the Council of Europe. In Verein KlimaSeniorinnen v Switzerland (9 April 2024) it held that Switzerland violated article 8 by failing to act sufficiently on climate change. The Inter-American and African courts are weaker.
• Independent statutory authorities. National human rights institutions, such as the Australian Human Rights Commission, report to UN bodies and are accredited internationally; independent UN experts (special rapporteurs, treaty body members) act as non-state monitors.

Non-government organisations

NGOs are independent, non-profit organisations. International examples include Amnesty International (founded 1961), Human Rights Watch, the International Committee of the Red Cross (guardian of the Geneva Conventions) and Walk Free (modern slavery research). They:

• investigate and publish reports that governments may not want published;
• lobby states and UN bodies and make submissions to the Universal Periodic Review;
• provide evidence and legal support in court cases;
• campaign for new treaties: the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its work on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Limits: no legal power; dependence on donations; denial of access by some states; accusations of bias that states use to dismiss their findings.

The media

The media promotes human rights by:

1. Exposing violations. The ABC's Four Corners program "Australia's Shame" (25 July 2016) broadcast footage of boys being tear-gassed, restrained and hooded in the Don Dale youth detention centre; the next morning the Prime Minister announced a Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory.
2. Mobilising public opinion and governments. Reporting from Bucha in April 2022 preceded Russia's suspension from the Human Rights Council.
3. Holding authorities accountable and prompting law reform.
4. Giving a voice to victims, now amplified by social media and citizen journalism.

Limits: press freedom is not universal; journalists are imprisoned and killed in conflicts; attention is selective and short-lived; and misinformation spreads quickly on social media.

Evaluating international responses

Judgement. International responses are effective at promoting human rights and at making violations costly to a state's reputation, and they occasionally succeed in enforcement where powerful states agree. But enforcement is inconsistent because it depends on state sovereignty and great-power politics.

In one sentence

International human rights protection rests on sovereign states, so the UN, IGOs, courts, NGOs and the media promote rights effectively and can apply real pressure, but enforcement is inconsistent because it depends on state consent, the Security Council veto and state cooperation with courts.

Try this

Q1. Outline the role of the Universal Periodic Review. (3 marks)

• What the marker wants. Human Rights Council peer review of every UN member, recommendations, and an example such as Australia's 2026 review.

Q2. Explain the role of international courts in enforcing human rights. (5 marks)

• What the marker wants. ICJ and ICC distinguished, a current example of each, and the enforcement limit.

Q3. Evaluate the effectiveness of international responses in promoting and enforcing human rights. (7 marks)

• What the marker wants. A judgement separating promotion from enforcement, supported by the UN, courts, NGOs and media with current examples.