International Human Rights and the International Human Rights System A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions International customary law does not concern human rights alone but certainly, over the past half century, human rights have featured prominently in its development. Many human rights provisions have acquired the status of jus cogens or “peremptory norm” of international law; that is, they cannot be amended or repealed by any means, not even by a treaty. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties provides: A treaty is void if, at the time of its conclusion, it conflicts with a peremptory norm of general international law. For the purposes of the present Convention, a peremptory norm of general international law is a norm accepted and recognized by the international community of States as a whole as a norm from which no derogation is permitted and which can be modified only by a subsequent norm of general international law having the same character.44 It has been suggested that jus cogens or peremptory norms now include the prohibitions of: • genocide • slavery and the slave trade • murder and enforced disappearance • torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment • prolonged arbitrary detention • systematic racial discrimination.45 KEY POINTS: CHAPTER 3 • International law is the body of law that governs the conduct of States and their relations with each other. • International law has two sources; treaty law and customary law. • Treaties are binding on all States that are parties to them. • Customary law binds all States. • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the foundational international human rights instrument. Together with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, it constitutes the International Bill of Rights. 44 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969; article 53. 45 International Human Rights in Context; Henry Steiner, Philip Alston and Ryan Goodman; 2008 (3rd edition); pp. 172–3. 18 | Chapter 3: What is international human rights law?