On The Relationship Between Sovereignty And Human Rights

The problem of relation between sovereign rights and human rights is a significant one in modern international relations and polities, which has been a general core issue in the area of international human rights since the cold war ended. To build the theory of human rights and fight outside, it will be of great importance to inspect and study the relation further both in theory and practice.First of all, the article briefly states the historical development of the concepts of sovereign rights and human rights respectively and extracts the fundamental elements of them. Then it expounds the historical evolution of the relation, discloses the different characteristics during the developing period and points out that the relation between sovereignty and human rights in Europe-centered based and dual one in world's recent history. One is that the international relations and law based on the sovereignty and sovereignty equality have been formed among the so called "civilized countries" in Europe, which is also the common concept of human rights; the other is that the so called "civilized countries" in Europe with their accompanying international law haven't been admitted that non-European countries are sovereign states and consequently they have denied the basil human rights possessed by people in there countries both in theory and practice. However, that the sovereignty and sovereignty equality of all countries are defined by UN chart is the premise of the international relations and law in the real modern sense, which is also the basis of the formation of the theory and practice of modern international human rights. After the cold war, the relation was Challenged by economy globalization, informatization of social life, heavy conflicts of nation and religion and the worse development of new interventionism, but the function of sovereignty as the cornerstone of international relations can never be replaced and shaken.Based on above, the article discusses the basic relation between sovereign rights and human rights systematically, including the one between inside sovereignty and human rights and the other between outside sovereignty and human rights. It is considered that there are several layers in the latter relation as follows, national independence and sovereignty is the premise of realizing human rights; the realization of international human rights treaty depends on the willing and efforts of each sovereign state; International protection of human rights abides by the principle of respecting national sovereignty and not intervening politics inside a state; Sovereignty equality is the basis of improving international cooperation in human rights area and developing international human rights course soundly. It also shows that, in essence, sovereignty is in accordance with human rights. For the people in a state, without state sovereignty, it is impossible to speak of human rights; without human rights (the right of governing), it is impossible to speak of people's sovereignty. There is a fundamental boundary line between international protection of human rights and inside jurisdiction, human rights are essentially included in inside governance affairs, but when invading events in a large scale are beyond a state and threaten international peace and safety, intervention of international society will be not that of intervening inside a state.Finally the article puts forward that it is necessary to properly recognize and handle the challenges to the relation between sovereignty and human rights by the current international situation and it demonstrates that the right standpoint on the problem of the relation is to promote human rights, to maintain sovereignty and to fight against hegemony.