Developing human rights at sea

International Human Rights Law (IHRL) is a recent addition to the general body of international law. Despite the significance of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the law based upon it did not achieve meaningful substance until conventional law dealing with Human Rights had entered into force and international conditions had allowed for the customary acceptance of the rules it contained. The 1970s were an important period in the IHRL narrative. The two international Human Rights covenants from 1966 entered into force in 1976, Amnesty International received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 and Human Rights Watch was founded (as Helsinki Watch) the following year. These two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have since been the principal civil society monitoring and advocacy bodies advancing the cause of Human Rights globally and they contributed significantly to the growing influence of Human Rights from the 1970s onwards