The traditional view on international law considers nation-states as primary subjects of international law. Indeed, public international law is a complex body of treaties, international custom, and legal principles that cover relations between states in various areas and contexts. Relatively recently, the scope of international law has departed from the strict state-to-state relationship to involve other actors of international law, for instance, international organizations, transitional corporations, terrorist organizations, and individuals.

The expansion of the personal scope of public international law has brought new challenges connected to the very operation and enforcement of this enormous body of law. The concept of sovereignty of nation-states is the cornerstone for building an effective system of international relations based on law. At the same time, sovereignty limits the capacity of international organizations to act as enforcers of international law when nation-states fail to adhere to their direct obligations. Consequently, to this day, there is no universal institutional framework that would be able to enforce all binding international law and impose sanctions for its violations.

International law has largely emerged from the need to agree on matters of war and peace, currently known as international humanitarian law and the use of force. Nation-states needed to set rules that would bind them based on their consent. Through international treaties and international custom, states have been able to agree on mechanisms of punishment for international wrongful acts. Wrongdoings by states always face the danger of retaliation from another state, which is a powerful mechanism of operation of international treaties and other sources of international law.

Human Rights
The international relation between a state and an individual has an entirely different legal nature. Until the emergence of international human rights law, such relationship had been believed to be an exclusive matter of national law with no other country or international community able to have an influence on this relationship. The concept of sovereignty has long been used (and still is to a certain extent) as a shield for oppressive and violent governments. The body of international human rights law, starting from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the creation of powerful regional human rights courts, has been able to pierce the veil of sovereignty and male the rights of an individual a concern for the international community as a whole.

Human Rights are global legal guarantees that aim to protect individuals and groups against activities that compromise its essential freedom and entitlements. Human rights matter because they are the values that keep society fair, just and equal. The primary responsibility for ensuring and protecting human rights lies on states. Despite all nation-states being equal according to the basic international law principle, they face very different challenges and possess very different means for enforcing international law. Human rights are proclaimed to be “universal”, meaning that all people on Earth possess the same inalienable and natural rights. Unfortunately, however, the conceptual universality of human rights does not mean that they are equally well enforced. Most significantly, the lack of institutional capacity of developing countries leads to a limited commitment to international treaties and custom, and, therefore, to a poor performance in enforcing international human rights.

Children’s Rights
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is the central instrument of international protection of children’s rights. The Convention aims to guarantee the civil, political, cultural, social, and economic rights of the child in their entirety as an indivisible body of rights. This international law instrument is an ambitious codification of existent human rights that concern specifically children. The biggest challenge related to this and other international sources of children’s rights is enforcement.

Children enjoy an especially high standard of human rights protection, thus urging the state to take far-reaching obligations of enforcement. In particular, the meaningful realization of cultural, social, and economic rights necessitates the proper allocation of significant human, institutional, and financial resources. Quite often, the existent institutional and legal framework in a nation-state is too weak to support the ambitious agenda of children’s rights according to international standards.