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Introduction, William W. Bishop, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law is a symposium devoted to human rights aspects of the Helsinki Final Act. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe was convened in Helsinki July 3, 1973. After sessions there and in Geneva, all European states, both Western and Eastern (except Albania), took part, as did also the United States and Canada. On August 1, 1975, the Final Act of the Conference was signed at Helsinki by thirty-five nations. Its provisions had been laboriously arrived at by consensus rather than by voting. Early pressures for such a conference had come …

The Place Of Helsinki On The Long Road To Human Rights, Vojin Dimitrijevic

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The ten principles enumerated in the Helsinki Final Act mark the beginning of a process that could improve relations among the signatory States. Such rapprochement would create a more favorable climate for fuller realization of human rights or values by every person living in their territories. In the other direction, Principles VI and VIII try to define the societal preconditions for amelioration of interstate relations. The term "progress" implies gradual development to be assessed at certain intervals. The assessment can hardly be unanimous; thus, the fact that government representatives in Belgrade parted without substantive agreement was not in itself a …

The Csce Follow-Up Mechanism From Belgrade To Madrid, Dante B. Fascell

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The on-going nature of the Final Act has given the endeavor initiated at Helsinki the characteristics of an active process, one intended to grow and intensify as its commitments are fulfilled, and, in turn, expanded by the participating states. It is this sense of an on-going process which makes the Final Act unique among international documents. Unlike many treaties or other legally binding documents, the Final Act, which is non-binding, provided for a mechanism which allows periodic review of implementation progress in a series of multilateral forums. This review mechanism, in many respects, makes the issue of compliance, if not …

East European Perceptions Of The Helsinki Final Act And The Role Of Citizen Initiatives, Vratislav Pechota

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Human rights are articulable expressions of legal ideas that can be readily identified. The developments of the last thirty-five years have created a duality of sources from which fundamental rights of the individual derive. There are, on the one hand, national human rights. They derive from the constitution and the laws of each nation, from its traditions, values and other elements that make up what may be appropriately called the "national human rights culture." They are expressive of the specific needs of each society and indicate the purposes for which governments are created. They necessarily differ from one country to …

Human Rights And The Belgrade Meeting, Arthur J. Goldberg

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In September of 1977, President Carter asked me to take on responsibility for what is familiarly called CSCE--the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Like most Americans, I had previously thought of the CSCE in terms of the Helsinki Summit of 1975 when President Ford signed the document called the Final Act, a lengthy text, not a treaty, but an expression at the highest political level of the commitment of the 35 states of Europe and North America to respect certain principles of interstate behavior, to respect human rights, to build mutual confidence in the military sphere, and to …

Follow-Up At Madrid: Another Chance For The United States, Harold S. Russell

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

One of the unusual characteristics of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was its provision for "follow-up" meetings to assess implementation of the negotiated commitments and consider adoption of new measures. The first review meeting convened in Belgrade in October 1977. The second such follow-up session is to convene this November in Madrid. In the hope of strengthening this unique mechanism, an analysis of the CSCE process, an evaluation of the previous follow-up session at Belgrade, and a suggested approach to the Madrid talks are presented in this paper.

Numerous writers have now …

The Approach Of The Helsinki Declaration To Human Rights, Antonio Cassese

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The purpose of this paper is to outline briefly the basic attitude toward human rights evidenced in the Helsinki Declaration. By way of introduction, I shall describe summarily how perceptions of human rights have evolved in the United Nations since the adoption of the Charter in 1945. It is in this context that the novelty of the Helsinki exercise can be viewed and assessed.

There are many ways of analyzing and appraising United Nations action in the field of human rights over the years. This complex phenomenon can be divided into various stages, according to prevailing political philosophy. Three phases …

Preface, Journal Editor

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This symposium commemorates the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The historic document was concluded in Helsinki on August 1, 1975, by the highest representatives of thirty-two European countries, the Soviet Union, Canada, and the United States. Our goal is to provide a forum for evaluation of the Helsinki process prior to the Madrid review meeting in October. To permit a comprehensive treatment of this important topic, this symposium combines the spring and summer issues(Nos. 2 & 3) of volume 13.The Final Act contains a number of provisions …

Charter 77 In Czechoslovakia And The International Protection Of Human Rights, Roger Errera

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Charter 77 was published in Prague in early January, 1977. At that time the document contained 240 signatures, a number which increased by 1977 to over 600. This Charter marked the beginning of a new period in the political history of Czechoslovakia, a period of public affirmation of fundamental liberties. It is useful to recall briefly reactions to the publication of this document in the East and the West, and to analyze its profound significance. It is also important to examine the major events that have taken place since 1977 and the inspiration which Charter 77 derived from the United …

The Humanitarian Provisions Of The Helsinki Accord: A Critique Of Their Significance, Valery Chalidze

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It is no exaggeration to say that the humanitarian provisions of the Helsinki Accord have been recorded in the history of international relations by virtue of not so much their content as the strong public response they have elicited. This reaction is perhaps surprising, for the humanitarian provisions of the Helsinki Accord itself are very weak. If the convergence of East and West means loss by the West of its legal perspective on issues as fundamental as human rights, then I would not recommend such a convergence. Keeping in mind the development of such problems in the future, it would …

The International Legal Significance Of The Human Rights Provisions Of The Helsinki Final Act, Alexandre C. Kiss, Mary F. Dominick

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It may be submitted that the Helsinki Final Act is not a treaty, nor is it similar to resolutions of international organizations. In light of the language used in the text and the signatories' public expressions of intent, the human rights provisions must be deemed to have the same legal nature as the other provisions. The document as a whole falls within a special category of international legal instruments not anticipated by traditional definitions of the sources of international law--that is, non-binding, but directive texts which produce limited legal effects. Its foundation is agreement on a common objective: detente. Its …

Human Rights Bibliography, Igor L. Kavass

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It would be a mistake to assume that the concept of human rights as an ethical precept is an invention of recent origin. The shelves of libraries throughout the world are filled with books which either endeavor to define the inalienable rights of individuals or record the sad history of their constant and relentless abuse. Many of the world's greatest literary creations, from the Greek drama onward, chronicle man's cruelty to man. What is more effective in evoking a feeling of indignation about the perversity of human misery and suffering than the unforgettable books of writers with such culturally and …

Book Review, Ved P. Nanda

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Human Rights and World Public Order

Myres S. McDougal, Harold D. Lasswell, and Lung-chu Chen

New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980. Pp. 116.

Reviewed by Ved P. Nanda

Human Rights And The Helsinki Conference On Security And Cooperation In Europe, Jacqueline P. Granier

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Preparatory talks for the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe began in November 1972, in Helsinki, Finland. This final product of seven months of discussions, known as the Blue Book, served as the procedural manual for the Conference when it officially opened in July 1973. It contains recommendations on various aspects of the Conference including organization, agenda, participation, rules of procedure and financial arrangements.

The organizational section provides that the Conference be divided into three working sessions designated Stages I, II, and III. Stage I was a ministerial level meeting designed to open the Conference and allow for the …

Human Rights Research In Periodicals: A Bibliographic Note, Howard A. Hood

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Research on implementation of the humanitarian provisions of the Helsinki Accord must include examination of the periodical literature. Articles on this topic are not restricted to specific journals, however, but are scattered throughout the gamut of human rights and general interest publications--from scholarly reviews and esoteric newsletters to the most popular magazines and newspapers. Research on the Accord thus encounters difficulties common to the investigation of the broad topic of human rights. Many of the relevant periodicals are obscure, unindexed, hard to locate, and ephemeral. Because of the global character of human rights concerns, journals and newsletters dealing with them …