If criminal proceedings are instituted against a consular officer, he does not need to appear before the competent authorities.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is the embodiment of the rights of both these generations, attaches equal importance to political and economic rights and consider them as interdependent. However, in the 1970s, a “third generation” rights emerged with the predominant support of the developing countries. In contrast to the individual’s rights (i.e., the first two generations rights), these are collective or  group rights such as the right to development, right to healthy human environment, right to peace, and right to self-determination. Therefore, the correct option is B.

The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was sunk in Auckland harbor by French agents on July 10, 1985, which was an attributable conduct. The French Government subsequently admitted that explosives were planted on the ship by agents on the orders of the Directorate General of External Security. New Zealand sought and received an apology and compensation from France for the violation of its sovereignty

In theory, judicial decisions do not constitute a formal source of law; in practice, however, they play a substantial role in the development of international law.

When the State practice is either ambiguous, non-existent, sparse, or contradictory, courts get involved in determining the rules of law in order to decide a legal issue and in this process they create new rules. Decisions rendered by the courts are of immense value; and in those cases where there is no preexisting rule, these decisions become a direct source of law.

force majeure as a defense is available only where the following three elements are met:

• the act in question must be brought about by an irresistible force or by an unforeseen event,

• which is beyond the control of the State concerned, and

• which makes it materially impossible in the circumstances to perform the obligation

Therefore, the correct option is B.

Mens rea: the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime, as opposed to the action or conduct of the accused.

Restitution involves the re-establishment of the situation, as far as possible, which had existed prior to the commission of the internationally wrongful act.

The Draft Articles in Chapter V of Part One enlist these defenses under the heading of “circumstances precluding wrongfulness,” though they are not exclusive. It sets out six circumstances (defenses):

• Consent (Art. 20),

• Self-defense (Art. 21),

• Countermeasures (Art. 22),

• Force majeure (Art. 23),

• Distress (Art. 24),

• Necessity (Art. 25).

Under this principle, a state has the jurisdiction to prosecute and punish its juristic persons for a crime committed outside its territory. A state may exercise civil or criminal jurisdiction over its nationals on the basis that the nationality is a mark of allegiance which the person, charged with the crime, owes to his state of nationality. 

Jeremy Bentham and John Austin were its chief proponents. They considered the natural law to be vague and meaningless. They believed in freedom and equality; however, they did not base these values on natural law.

Valid consent by a State to a particular conduct of another State, which would otherwise be inconsistent with its international obligations, precludes the wrongfulness of that act in relation to the consenting state, provided that the conduct remains within the limits of the consent given (Art. 20). However, Consent may be vitiated by error, fraud, corruption, or coercion.

Self-defense precludes the wrongfulness of the conduct taken within the limits laid down by international law. Article 21 of the Draft Articles states: “The wrongfulness of an act of a State is precluded if the act constitutes a lawful measure of self-defense taken in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.” Under Article 51 of the UN Charter, a state has an inherent right of self-defense in the face of an armed attack.

Human rights postulates of liberal democracy
and the rule of law are also being challenged. In
fact, the emphasis on the individual rights may
contradict the democratic theory. The idea that
the individual has rights which he/she can plead
against the state is sustained by a conviction that
the single person is of such an intrinsic worth that
he/she deserves to be protected from the harmful
consequences of a majority or abstract will. Instead,
it may be that the group rights make the individual
to realize his/her true potential by achieving his/
her interests in a given group.
This understanding has led to the emergence
of group rights, particularly as emphasized
by the developing world.

 The first reference of personal liberties is found in the Magna Carta of 1215 in England. Therefore, the correct option is A.

“Marx regarded the natural law approach to
human rights as idealistic and ahistorical. He
saw nothing natural or inalienable about human
rights. Concepts such as law, justice, morality,
democracy, and freedom are considered historical
categories whose contents are determined by the
material conditions of and the social circumstances
of a people. As the conditions of life change, so the
content of notions and ideas may change” (Shestack,
1998: 210). While the focal point of Marxism is
to recognize the contextuality of human rights
in terms of the conditions of a society, conceiving
human rights chiefly in a materialistic frame has
been one of its significant weaknesses.

Article 8bis defines the crime of aggression as “the planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations”.

It has been the duty of the UN General Assembly to initiate studies and make recommendations for “the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion” (Art. 13).

Diplomatic protection is the procedure employed by the State of nationality of the injured person to secure protection of that person, and to obtain reparation for the internationally wrongful act inflicted. Such protection extends to both natural and legal persons. The correct answer is B.

The European Court of Human Rights was
set up at Strasbourg on 21 January 1959. The
number of judges of the Court is equal to that
of the members of the Council of Europe. The
Court’s formation should be reflective of the
contracting parties’ different legal systems. To
consider a case, the Court sits in single-judge
formation, in committees (consisting of three
judges), chambers of seven judges, and Grand
Chamber of seventeen judges. The state party’s
judge sits as an ex-officio member of the Court,
other judges are appointed by the President.
“The judges are elected by the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe from lists of
three candidates proposed by each State. They
are elected for a non-renewable term of nine
years” (www.echr.coe.int). There is no bar on two
judges having the same nationality.

Under customary international law, diplomatic missions have three functions to perform:

• to protect the interests of the sending state and its nationals,

• to negotiate with the government of the receiving state, and

• to report about the conditions of the receiving state.