International human rights law

The international law of human rights is the branch of international law designed to promote and protect human rights at the international, regional and national levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law consists mainly of treaties, agreements between states that have binding legal effect between the parties that have agreed with them; and customary international law, rules of law derived from the consistent conduct of states acting out of the belief that the law requires them to act that way. Other international human rights instruments, while not legally binding contribute to the implementation, understanding and development of international law of human rights and have been recognized as a source of political obligation.
Implementation of international human rights can occur either in a home regional or international level. States that ratify human rights treaties undertake to respect the rights and ensuring that their domestic law is consistent with international law. Where domestic law can not provide a remedy for human rights abuses, the parties may be able to use regional or international mechanisms to enforce human rights.
The relationship between international law of human rights and humanitarian law is disputed among scholars of international law. This debate is part of a wider debate on the fragmentation of international law. While scholars conceive pluralistic international law of human rights as a distinct system of international humanitarian law, constitutional approach advocates consider the latter as a subset of the former. In short, favoring separate, autonomous regimes emphasize the differences in implementation; IHL applies only during armed conflict. Moreover, a more systemic perspective explains that international humanitarian law is a function of international human rights law; including the general rules that apply to everyone at all times, as well as the special rules that apply to certain situations such as armed conflict and military occupation (ie IHL) or certain groups of people , including refugees (eg the 1951 Refugee Convention), children (the Convention on the Rights of the Child), and Prisoners of War (Geneva Convention III 1949).