Seeking to persuade: A constructive approach to human rights treaty interpretation

Abstract

Human rights protected in international treaties are invariably vague and ambiguous. This ambiguity is most acute with respect to economic, social and cultural rights. The rights to health, housing, and education are not standards that have traditionally been renowned for their clarity of content. But even civil and political rights, which have a significantly longer jurisprudential ancestry, are often indeterminate. For example, the precise scope of the prohibition against torture is continuously shifting, and the parameters of the right to a fair trial remain contentious. Thus, the need to determine the meaning of human rights standards is a constant dilemma: a dilemma that is heightened by the absence of an authoritative adjudicative body to bind states parties to a particular interpretation of each human right.