From Crisis to Quotidian: Countering the Temporal Myopia of Jus Cogens

THE TIMES AND TEMPORALITIES OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW (Kathryn McNeilly and Ben Warwick, eds., Hart 2022), https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/times-and-temporalities-of-international-human-rights-law-9781509949908/

16 Pages Posted: 19 Sep 2022

See all articles by Mary H. Hansel

Mary H. Hansel

University of California, Irvine School of Law

Date Written: September 15, 2022

Abstract

The doctrine of jus cogens has a paradoxical relationship with crisis. In a sense, the doctrine is impervious to crisis due to the non-derogable nature of jus cogens norms: States cannot suspend their obligations with respect to such norms during an emergency. Notwithstanding, the doctrine seems to be constituted and governed by a crisis temporality. Indeed, this chapter argues that jus cogens instantiates international human rights law’s well-established prioritisation of crisis and is underpinned by the discipline’s myopic temporal scheme. The chapter then proposes and applies an alternative temporal approach to inform the doctrine and support the identification of ‘everyday’ jus cogens norms, not dictated by crisis.

Keywords: international human rights, temporality, jus cogens, feminist theory, crisis

Suggested Citation

Hansel, Mary, From Crisis to Quotidian: Countering the Temporal Myopia of Jus Cogens (September 15, 2022). THE TIMES AND TEMPORALITIES OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW (Kathryn McNeilly and Ben Warwick, eds., Hart 2022), https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/times-and-temporalities-of-international-human-rights-law-9781509949908/, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4037766

Mary Hansel (Contact Author)

University of California, Irvine School of Law

401 E. Peltason Dr.
Ste. 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-1000
United States

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