DOI: 10.46340/eppd.2025.12.4.1
Volodymyr Lysyk
PhD in Law, Department of International Law, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine
How to cite: Lysyk, V. (2025). The Common Philosophical Foundations of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law. Evropský politický a právní diskurz, 12, 4, 5-11. https://doi.org/10.46340/eppd.2025.12.4.1
Abstract
This article explores the relationship between international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL), arguing that their current convergence reflects a return to shared philosophical and historical roots. It traces the principles of humanity and respect for human dignity to ancient moral, religious, and philosophical traditions, including early norms in ancient civilizations, Christian and Islamic thought, and Stoic philosophy. The article emphasizes that the true historical breakthrough was not the creation of these principles but their gradual extension from limited groups to a universal standard, forming the basis of modern international law.
It then examines how these ethical ideas evolved into a systematic legal framework during the Enlightenment, shaped by thinkers such as Hugo Grotius, Emmerich de Vattel, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and later reflected in key documents like the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. In the nineteenth century, their codification in the Lieber Code and the Geneva and Hague Conventions marked the formal embedding of humanitarian and human rights principles in international law.
The article also discusses the artificial division of IHL and IHRL in the mid-twentieth century, viewing it as a result of Cold War politics rather than a fundamental contradiction. Today, this divide is narrowing, as international courts such as the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights increasingly interpret the two regimes in harmony.
Recognizing their common origins, the article concludes, is essential for applying IHL and IHRL in a complementary way, reinforcing protection, filling legal gaps, and advancing their shared purpose: safeguarding human dignity in all circumstances.
Keywords: International Humanitarian Law, IHL, International Human Rights Law, IHRL, human dignity, principle of humanity, philosophical foundations, convergence, lex specialis, Martens Clause, international courts.
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