Abstract:
In our day and age, the violation of human rights has become a matter of
international concern. This article is focused on the sharing of those concerns by
the United States, in particular as manifested by the treatment of human rights
violations in the United States. Following introductory observations in Part I
highlighting the special commitment of the United States to the protection of
international human rights, the article will show, in Part II thereof, that in virtue
of Article 6, Clause [2] of the American Constitution (the Supremacy Clause),
human rights conventions are in principle self-executing in the United States.1
However, the United States invariably adds a reservation to its instruments of
ratification of such conventions proclaiming that they will not be self-executing
in the United States. Incorporating the provisions of human rights conventions
ratified by the United States into the country’s municipal legal system therefore
requires Congressional implementation legislation, which will be exemplified in
Part III with reference to the Torture Convention Implementation Act of 1994.
Part IV of the article is devoted to the exercise of universal jurisdiction by federal
courts, in virtue of Article 1, Section (8), Clause [10] of the Constitution, to bring
to justice those responsible for piracies and felonies on the High Seas and
offences against the law of nations.2 In the United States, universal jurisdiction of
federal courts is not confined to criminal prosecutions but has also been extended
by the Alien Tort Statute to civil actions by foreign victims of a tort that constitutes a violation of the law of nations or of a treaty entered into by the
United States.3 The treatment of human rights violations under the Alien Tort
Statute and similar legislation is the subject-matter of Part V of this article. Some
concluding observations to evaluate the above manifestations of the American
commitment to human rights, notably in view of considerations based on the
national interests of the United States and a perception of American
exceptionalism, will bring the article to a close in Part VI thereof.
