III. Fundamental Human Rights Principles A. Sources of Human Rights 1. International human rights law is derived from international law. According to Article 38(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the sources of international law are:  International conventions or treaties;  International custom as evidence of a general practice accepted as law;  General principles of law recognized by the community of [civilised] nations;  Judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists…as subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law. 2. One of the principal sources of human rights law are treaties. These are formal, written agreements between States. Once these treaties have been adopted, signed and ratified they are binding upon the States who are party to the treaty. Customary International Law 3. Customary international law consists of rules of law derived from the consistent conduct of States acting out of the belief that the law required them to act accordingly. Customary international law applies to all States, it is not dependent upon ratification of a treaty. 4. It is generally held that there are two essential elements to customary international law:   General Practice Opinio Iuris General Practice 5. In any circumstance, a custom may be said to exist only where there is a certain degree of concurrency of behaviour amongst the relevant actors. According to the International Court of Justice, for a rule to become part of customary international law, evidence must be shown of a ‘constant and uniform usage practiced by States’.24 State practice, in this respect, may include treaties, decisions of national and international courts, national legislation, diplomatic correspondence, opinions of national legal advisors and the practice of international organisations. In some cases, a treaty provision might be regarded as becoming part of customary international law ‘even without the passage of any considerable period of time’ if the treaty enjoyed a ‘very widespread and representative participation’25 and the practice includes ‘that of States whose interests are specially affected’.26 A State that has persistently 24 ICJ, North Sea Continental Shelf cases, p.14. ICJ, North Sea Continental Shelf cases, para 71. 26 ICJ, North Sea Continental Shelf cases, p.42. 25 22