A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

iv. Specific Application of International Bill of Rights to Police and Law Enforcement, Judicial,
and Legislative Branches
Generally, international human rights instruments apply to all public authorities, including the
judicial and legislative branches and police and law enforcement, by their own terms. In other words,
the right to be free from arbitrary arrest and detention provided in the UDHR applies with equal
weight to the branches of the national and local governments and to the individual police officers
working within a state. The United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights has produced
a pocket book for police describing the application of international human rights to police and
law enforcement officers specifically. 63 Furthermore, the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights also has produced a background guide for judges, prosecutors, and lawyers, detailing
the application of IHRL to the coordinate branches of a national government and police and law
enforcement. 64
The concept of state responsibility under international law is expansive, and it is generally recognized
that human rights law applies even to “private” conduct. Specifically, states are not only obligated
to refrain from committing human rights violations themselves, but may also be responsible for
failing to exercise due diligence toward otherwise “private” acts when they fail to fulfill their duty to
prevent, investigate, or punish such acts. 65
C. Other Major Universal International Human Rights Instruments
In addition to the UDHR, ICESCR, and ICCPR, several other major universal international human
rights instruments are especially relevant.
i. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide
Convention) was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on December 9, 1948 and entered
into force on January 12, 1951. 66 As of June 11, 2009, 140 states were parties to the Genocide
Convention. 67 The parties to the Genocide Convention “confirm that genocide, whether committed
in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to
prevent and to punish.” 68 Thus, the Genocide Convention recognizes that genocide is likely already a
crime under customary international law.
The Genocide Convention does not have an international body charged with the implementation
of the Convention; rather, the parties “undertake to enact, in accordance with their respective
Constitutions, the necessary legislation to give effect to the provisions of the…Convention, and,
in particular, to provide effective penalties for persons guilty of genocide” or of conspiracy to
commit, incitement or attempt to commit, or complicity in, the crime of genocide. 69 The Genocide
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