Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b6zl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-20T16:26:30.722Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
Series:   Elements in Historical Theory and Practice

A Human Rights View of the Past

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2024

Antoon De Baets
Antoon De Baets
Affiliation:
University of Groningen

Summary

The idea of human rights has been much criticized from a historical perspective but curiously enough its theoretical and practical contributions to the study of time, memory, and history have never been systematically explored. How is it to look at the past from a human rights perspective? How can historical writing benefit from applying human rights logic? In tackling these questions, the book first clarifies what a human rights view of the past is. The constituent dimensions of the past – time, memory, and history – are then reviewed, indicating what a human rights perspective can add to the study of each. Finally, the benefits accruing from a human rights view of the past to historical theory and practice are highlighted.
Get access

Keywords

freedom of expressioninternational lawmemorializationresponsible historytime regimes
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Historical Theory and Practice
Online ISBN: 9781009345927
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 16 January 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Alfaix Assis, Arthur, “Objectivity and the First Law of History Writing,” Journal of the Philosophy of History, 13 (2019), 107–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Article 19, Defining Defamation: Principles on Freedom of Expression and Protection of Reputation. London: Article 19, 2017.Google Scholar
Article 19 ‘Hate Speech’ Explained: A Toolkit. London: Article 19, 2015.Google Scholar
Aswad, Evelyn Mary, “Loosing the Freedom to Be Human,” Columbia Human Rights Law Review, 52 no. 1 (2020), 331–353.Google Scholar
Bán, Marina, and Belavusau, Uladzislau, “Memory Laws,” Bloomsbury History: Theory and Method. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022, 1–27.Google Scholar
Baranowska, Grażyna, “How Long Does the Past Endure? ‘Continuing Violations’ and the ‘Very Distant Past’ Before the UN Human Rights Committee,” Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, 41 no. 2 (2023), 97–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barendt, Eric, Academic Freedom and the Law: A Comparative Study. Oxford: Hart, 2010.Google Scholar
Beaud, Olivier, “Reflections on the Concept of Academic Freedom,” European Review of History, 27 no. 5 (2020), 611–627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belfast Guidelines on Amnesty and Accountability. Belfast: University of Ulster Transitional Justice Institute, 2013.Google Scholar
Bevir, Mark, The Logic of the History of Ideas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Bloxham, Donald, History & Morality. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bredin, Jean-Denis, “Le Droit, le juge et l’historien,” Le Débat, no. 32 (November 1984), 93–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brettschneider, Corey, When the State Speaks, What Should It Say? How Democracies Can Protect Expression and Promote Equality. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Bublitz, Christoph, and Dresler, Martin, “A Duty to Remember, a Right to Forget? Memory Manipulations and the Law,” in Handbook of Neuroethics, eds. Clausen, Jens and Levy, Neil. Dordrecht: Springer, 2015, 1279–1307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burger, Peter, “The Berne Convention: Its History and Its Key Role in the Future,” Journal of Law and Technology, 3 no. 1 (Winter 1988), 1–69.Google Scholar
Cassell, Douglas, “Steering Clear of the Twin Shoals of a Rights-Based Morality and a Duty-Based Legality,” in Between Rights and Responsibilities: A Fundamental Debate, eds. Parmentier, Stephan, Werdmölder, Hans, and Merrigan, Michaël. Cambridge: Intersentia, 2016, 51–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centre for Law and Democracy, Reconceptualising Copyright: Adapting the Rules to Respect Freedom of Expression in the Digital Age. Halifax: CLD, 2013.Google Scholar
Baets, De, Antoon, , “Democracy and Historical Writing,” Historiografías/Historiographies: The Journal of History and Theory, no. 9 (June 2015), 31–43.Google Scholar
Baets, De, Antoon, , “A Historian’s View on the Right to Be Forgotten,” International Review of Law, Computers and Technology, 30 nos. 1−2 (March–July 2016), 57−66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baets, De, Antoon, , “Historians and Human Rights Advocacy,” in The Professional Historian in Public: Old and New Roles Revisited, eds. Raphael, Lutz and Bevernage, Berber. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023a, 299–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baets, De, Antoon, , “Laws Governing the Historian’s Free Expression,” in The Palgrave Handbook of State-Sponsored History after 1945, eds. Bevernage, Berber and Wouters, Nico. London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2018, 39–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baets, De, Antoon, , “Memory and Tradition as Limits to the Freedom of Expression about the Past,” Storia della Storiografia/History of Historiography, 79 no. 1 (September 2021), 19–42.Google Scholar
Baets, De, Antoon, , “The Posthumous Dignity of Dead Persons,” in Anthropology of Violent Death: Theoretical Foundations for Forensic Humanitarian Action, eds. Parra, Roberto and Ubelaker, Douglas. Hoboken NJ: Wiley, 2023b, 15–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baets, De, Antoon, Responsible History. New York: Berghahn, 2009.Google Scholar
Baets, De, Antoon, , “The United Nations Human Rights Committee’s View of the Past,” in Law and Memory: Towards Legal Governance of History, eds. Belavusau, Uladzislau and Gliszczyńska-Grabias, Aleksandra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017, 29–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baets, De, Antoon, , “The View of the Past in International Humanitarian Law (1860–2020),” International Review of the Red Cross, 104 nos. 920–921 (November 2022), 1586–1620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dennett, Daniel, Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking. London: Penguin, 2014.Google Scholar
Dworkin, Ronald, Justice for Hedgehogs. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Elias, T. O., “The Doctrine of Intertemporal Law,” American Journal of International Law, 74 no. 2 (1980), 285–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finlayson, James Gordon, Habermas: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foqué, René, “Human Rights and Human Responsibilities: Setting the Ethical and the Conceptual Scene,” in Between Rights and Responsibilities: A Fundamental Debate, eds. Parmentier, Stephan, Werdmölder, Hans, and Merrigan, Michaël. Cambridge: Intersentia, 2016, 13–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankfurt, Harry, On Truth. New York: Knopf, 2017.Google Scholar
Gibbons, Tony, “The Concept of Integrity,” in Integrity and Historical Research, eds. Gibbons, Tony and Sutherland, Emily. London: Routledge, 2012, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorman, Jonathan, “Ethics and the Writing of Historiography,” in A Companion to the Philosophy of History and Historiography, ed. Tucker, Aviezer. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, 253–261.Google Scholar
Gutman, Yifat, and Wüstenberg, Jenny (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism. London: Routledge, 2023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halme-Tuomisaari, Miia, and Slotte, Pamela, “Introduction,” in Revisiting the Origins of Human Rights, eds. Slotte, Pamela and Halme-Tuomisaari, Miia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015, 1–36.Google Scholar
Hammer, Leonard, The International Human Right to Freedom of Conscience: An Approach to Its Application and Development. London: SOAS, 1997.Google Scholar
Hazan, Pierre, Amnesty: A Blessing in Disguise? Making Good Use of an Important Mechanism in Peace Processes. Geneva: Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, 2020.Google Scholar
Higgins, Rosalyn, “Time and the Law: International Perspectives on an Old Problem,” International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 46 no. 3 (1997), 501–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, Stefan-Ludwig, “Human Rights and History,” Past and Present, no. 232 (August 2016), 279–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Committee of Historical Sciences, Constitution (1926, as amended in 1992 and 2005).Google Scholar
International Council on Archives, Universal Declaration on Archives (2010).Google Scholar
Jaspers, Karl, The Question of German Guilt, translation E. B. Ashton. New York: Fordham University Press, 2000 (originally German, 1947).Google Scholar
Jay, Martin, “Historical Truth and the Truthfulness of Historians,” in Integrity, Honesty, and Truth Seeking, eds. Miller, Christian and West, Ryan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020, 240–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Juzgado Federal de Resistencia, Expediente: FRE 9846/2019, “Masacre de Napalpí s/Juicio por la Verdad” (30 June 2022).Google Scholar
Kelsen, Hans, “The Rule against Ex Post Facto Laws and the Prosecution of the Axis War Criminals,” Judge Advocate Journal, 2 no. 3 (1945), 8–12, 46.Google Scholar
Kelsen, Hans “Will the Judgment in the Nuremberg Trial Constitute a Precedent in International Law?” International Law Quarterly, 1 no. 2 (1947), 153–171.Google Scholar
Kennedy, David, “The International Human Rights Movement: Part of the Problem?” Harvard Human Rights Journal, 15 (2002), 101–126.Google Scholar
Kennedy, David “The International Human Rights Regime: Still Part of the Problem?” in Examining Critical Perspectives on Human Rights, eds. Dickinson, Rob, Katselli, Elena, Murray, Colin, and Pedersen, Ole W.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012, 19–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koskenniemi, Martti, “The Past According to International Law: A Practice of History and Histories of a Practice,” in History, Politics, Law: Thinking Internationally, eds. Brett, Annabel, Donaldson, Megan, and Koskenniemi, Martti. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021, 49–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loth, Marc, “How Does Tort Law Deal with Historical Injustice? On Slavery Reparations, Post-Colonial Redress, and the Legitimations of Tort Law,” Journal of European Tort Law, 11 no. 3 (2020), 181–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1997).Google Scholar
Mälksoo, Maria (ed.), Handbook on the Politics of Memory. Cheltenham: Elgar, 2023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meltzer, Bernard, “A Note on the Nuremberg Debate,” University of Chicago Law Review, 14 no. 3 (April 1947), 455–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendel, Toby, “Emilio Palacio Urrutia and others versus Ecuador: Expert Statement by Toby Mendel.” Halifax: Centre for Law and Democracy, 2021.Google Scholar
Mendel, Toby, “Negotiating the Delicate Boundary between History and Hate Speech,” Storia della Storiografia/History of Historiography, 79 no. 1 (2021), 43–63.Google Scholar
Mendel, Toby, “Reflections on Media Self-Regulation: Lessons for Historians,” Storia della Storiografia/History of Historiography, nos. 59–60 (September 2011), 50–65.Google Scholar
Mill, John Stuart, On Liberty. London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1865 (originally 1859).Google Scholar
Mokhtar, Aly, “Nullum Crimen, Nulla Poena sine Lege: Aspects and Prospects,” Statute Law Review, 26 no. 1 (2005), 41–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moynihan, Harriet, “Regulating the Past: The European Court of Human Rights’ Approach to the Investigation of Historical Deaths under Article 2 ECHR,” in British Yearbook of International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, 68–100.Google Scholar
Nowak, Manfred, U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: CCPR Commentary. Kehl: Engel, 2005 (second edition).Google Scholar
O’Flaherty, Michael, “Freedom of Expression: Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Human Rights Committee’s General Comment No 34,” Human Rights Law Review, 12 no. 4 (2012a), 627–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Flaherty, Michael, “Limitations on Freedom of Opinion and Expression: Growing Consensus or Hidden Faultlines?” Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law), 106 (2012b), 347–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oreskes, Naomi, Why Trust Science? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019.Google Scholar
Parisi, Piergiuseppe, “The Obligation to Criminalise Historical Denialism in a Multilevel Human Rights System,” in Responsibility for Negation of International Crimes, ed. Grzebyk, Patrycja. Warsaw: Institute of Justice, 2020, 41–53.Google Scholar
Paul, Herman, Historians’ Virtues: From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popper, Karl, The Poverty of Historicism. London: Harper and Row, 1957.Google Scholar
Post, Robert, Constitutional Domains: Democracy, Community, Management. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Radbruch, Gustav, “Statutory Lawlessness and Supra-Statutory Law,” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 26 no. 1 (2006), 1–11 (originally German, 1946).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raphael, Lutz, and Zachariah, Benjamin, “Intellectual Honesty and the Purposes of History,” Bloomsbury History: Theory and Method. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021.Google Scholar
Salojärvi, Juhana Mikael, “Human Rights in Time: Temporalization of Human Rights in Historical Representation,” in International Law and Time: Narratives and Techniques, eds. Polackova-Van der Ploeg, Klara, Pasquet, Luca, and Castellanos-Jankiewicz, León. Cham: Springer, 2022, 51–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schabas, William, “Time, Justice, and Human Rights: Statutory Limitation on the Right to Truth?” in Understanding the Age of Transitional Justice: Crimes, Courts, Commissions, and Chronicling, ed. Adler, Nanci. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2018, 37–55.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya, “Democracy as a Universal Value,” Journal of Democracy, 10 no. 3 (1999), 3–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunstein, Cass, “Analogical Reasoning and Precedent,” Philosophical Foundations of Precent, eds. Endicott, Timothy, Kristjánsson, Hafstein Dan, and Lewis, Sebastian. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023, 227–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunstein, Cass, Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Superior Court of the State of California, Mermelstein versus Institute for Historical Review (1991), www.concernedhistorians.org/le/579.pdf.Google Scholar
Tirosh, Noam, and Reading, Anna (eds.), The Right to Memory: History, Media, Law and Ethics. New York: Berghahn, 2023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tshwane Principles: Global Principles on National Security and the Right to Information. New York: Open Society Foundations, 2013.Google Scholar
Tucker, Aviezer, “Historiographic Revision and Revisionism: The Evidential Difference,” Past in the Making: Historical Revisionism in Central Europe after 1989, ed. Kopeček, Michal. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2008, 1–15.Google Scholar
Weber, Max, Wissenschaft als Beruf. Munich: Duncker & Humboldt, 1919.Google Scholar
Wheatley, Steven, “Revisiting the Doctrine of Intertemporal Law,” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 41 no. 2 (2021), 484–509.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, Bernard, Truth & Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
de Zayas, Alfred, and Roldán Martín, Áurea, “Freedom of Opinion and Freedom of Expression: Some Reflections on General Comment No. 34 of the UN Human Rights Committee,” Netherlands International Law Review, 59 no. 3 (September 2012), 425–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

A Human Rights View of the Past
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

A Human Rights View of the Past
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

A Human Rights View of the Past
Available formats
×