In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries a number of human rights problems came to the forefront and began to be addressed internationally. First of all, these were the problems of slavery, serfdom, inhumane working conditions, and child labor. It was around this time that the first international agreements related to human rights were adopted. Although these agreements offered effective measures to protect rights, they were still based on reciprocal obligations between states. This is a sharp contradiction with modern human rights treaties, where responsibilities are directly related to the holders of human rights.
In England and France, slavery was outlawed in the early nineteenth century, and in 1814 the British and French governments signed the Treaty of Paris for cooperation in suppressing the slave trade. The Brussels Conference of 1890 saw the signing of the Act against Slavery, which was later ratified by eighteen states. The intention was hereby proclaimed to put an end to the slave trade from Africa.
Better to die of hunger free than to be a well-fed slave. Aesop
However, this did not solve the problem of forced labor and the continuing brutal working conditions. Even the 1926 International Convention on the Suppression of the Slave Trade and Slavery, aimed at abolishing slavery in all its forms, failed to stop the daily use of forced labor until the 1940s.
The creation of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 1919 was the materialization of the idea that universal and lasting peace could only be achieved through the principle of social justice. The ILO developed a system of international labor standards to ensure decent conditions for productive work, freedom, equality, safety and dignity of workers.
One of the ILO’s areas of work is to combat the exploitation of child labor, especially in its worst forms. Today this work takes place on many fronts, including the promotion of international agreements on child labor, such as ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor and Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age for Admission to Employment.
From 1899 to 1977, many important treaties in the field of international humanitarian law were concluded, and they outlined a new area of cooperation between states in its first phase.
International humanitarian law brings armed conflicts into the legal sphere. There is no doubt that both international humanitarian law and human rights must be respected in all cases, for example with regard to prisoners of war. However, international humanitarian law describes in more detail special measures for conflict cases, such as the permissibility of the use of weapons and military tactics.