Today marks the 60th anniversary celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the foundations of international human rights law. The UN General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the Declaration by Resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948. The 30 articles signify the "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations" with respect to a bundle of human rights: civil, cultural, economic, political, and social. Individuals have the right to be free from discrimination (art. 2) slavery (4), and torture (5) and to the affirmative rights of equal protection (7), gender equality (16), freedom of thought (18), freedom of expression (19), peaceful assembly (20), participation in government (21), and economic and social rights (22-27). The Declaration recognizes that these fundamental rights belong to each individual and are not bestowed upon them by any sovereign power. The sovereign has a responsibility to uphold and protect these individual rights. At the time of its adoption, the Declaration was non-binding on the U.N. member states. Many provisions, however, have become legally binding under customary international law and through codification in international treaties, state constitutions, and domestic laws. More

During the past week, three of the five permanent members on the UN Security Council publicly called for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to step down from office. The United States, France, and the United Kingdom point to the continued violence, the regime's repressive policies against opponents and the media, its failed economic management, and the worsening cholera and humanitarian disasters. On Sunday, Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga recommended an immediate authorization of African Union or UN troops by the African Union and the UN Security Council acting under its Chapter VII powers and the investigation of President Mugabe for crimes against humanity. China and Russia, however, are leery of the potential precedent should the UN Security Council authorize coercive intervention in Zimbabwe's sovereign domestic affairs. The government of Zimbabwe, meanwhile, contends that the cholera outbreak is the direct consequence of international sanctions and that the major powers are using the outbreak as political smoke screen to "mask their itch for aggression." This post discusses whether there is legal authority under international law for the international community to respond through the UN Security Council to a public health emergency, in the absence of state consent, when a state fails to protect its citizens or the people of other states during an infectious outbreak. More