Human Rights Protection and Democratic Governance: An International Legal Perspective

Authors

  • Kuntadi Kuntadi Universitas Jendral Soedirman, Purwokerto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54518/ldi.3.1.2025.1318

Keywords:

Human Rights, Democratic Governance, ICCPR, UDHR, Political Rights, International Law

Abstract

Human rights protection is a fundamental element of democratic governance because it promotes participation, accountability, equality, and institutional legitimacy. This study examines the relationship between human rights protection and democratic governance through a qualitative Systematic Literature Review (SLR) based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Using the PRISMA 2020 framework, relevant literature published between 2020 and 2025 was reviewed. The findings indicate that international human rights law strengthens democratic governance by protecting political participation, supporting accountability, promoting equality before the law, and enhancing democratic resilience. However, challenges related to digital rights, artificial intelligence governance, surveillance, and democratic backsliding continue to affect democratic institutions. The study concludes that effective human rights protection remains essential for sustaining democratic governance and democratic values.

References

Arato, A., & Cohen, J. L. (2021). Populism and civil society: The challenge to constitutional democracy. Oxford University Press.

Bakiner, O. (2023). The promises and challenges of addressing artificial intelligence with human rights. Big Data & Society, 10(2), 20539517231205476.

Bernhard, M., Hicken, A., Reenock, C., & Lindberg, S. I. (2020). Parties, civil society, and the deterrence of democratic defection. Studies in Comparative International Development, 55(1), 1–26.

Boulianne, S. (2020). Twenty years of digital media effects on civic and political participation. Communication Research, 47(7), 947–966.

Butt, A. (2024). International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Available at SSRN 4856071.

Fjeld, J., Achten, N., Hilligoss, H., Nagy, A., & Srikumar, M. (2020). Principled Artificial Intelligence: Mapping Consensus in Ethical and Rights-Based Approaches to Principles for AI. Berkman Klein Center Research Publication No. 2020-1.

Halder, D. P., & Campbell-Phillips, S. (2020). A review on political participation. Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies, 7(2), 1–15.

Kangdim, D. M., Ilemore, O., Yorgancıoğlu, C., & Bakyil, N. R. (2022). Democratic governance and human rights violations in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: Its implication on international human rights law. Uluslararası Beşeri Bilimler ve Eğitim Dergisi, 8(18), 467–486.

Linnenluecke, M. K., Marrone, M., & Singh, A. K. (2020). Conducting systematic literature reviews and bibliometric analyses. Australian Journal of Management, 45(2), 175–194.

Meireles, A. V. (2024). Digital rights in perspective: The evolution of the debate in the Internet Governance Forum. Politics & Policy, 52(1), 12–32.

Merrills, J. G., & Robertson, A. H. (2022). Human Rights in Europe: A Study of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mozeleski, A. (2023). Democracy dies in broad daylight: How the Philippines halted media speech despite its commitment to the ICCPR. American University International Law Review, 38(2).

Nowak, M. (2021). Introduction to the International Human Rights Regime (Vol. 14). Brill.

Oakley, A. A. (2022). “Politics is more difficult than physics”: Complexity and the challenge of democracy, human rights, and governance program evaluation. New Directions for Evaluation, 2022(176), 15–32.

Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., et al. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, 372, n71.

Regilme Jr, S. S. F. (2021). Contested spaces of illiberal and authoritarian politics: Human rights and democracy in crisis. Political Geography, 89, 102427.

Rovny, J. (2023). Antidote to backsliding: Ethnic politics and democratic resilience. American Political Science Review, 117(4), 1410–1428.

Sander, B. (2021). Democratic disruption in the age of social media: Between marketized and structural conceptions of human rights law. European Journal of International Law, 32(1), 159–193.

Scobie, M. R., Milne, M. J., & Love, T. R. (2020). Dissensus and democratic accountability in a case of conflict. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 33(5), 939–964.

Sellers, J. M., Lidström, A., & Bae, Y. (2020). Multilevel Democracy: How Local Institutions and Civil Society Shape the Modern State. Cambridge University Press.

Snyder, H. (2019). Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104, 333–339.

Stern, E. (2024). Human Rights and Democratic Resilience: An Analysis of Regional Human Rights Instruments as Safeguards for Democracy.

Stubbs, A. (2023). Digital participatory democracy: A normative framework for the democratic governance of the digital commons. Journal of Social Philosophy, 54(3).

Sunga, L. S. (2021). Individual Responsibility in International Law for Serious Human Rights Violations (Vol. 21). Brill.

Tauchnitz, E., & Ahmed, S. (2024). Framing ethical e-governance: A plaidoyer for a human-rights based digital democracy approach. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (pp. 22–27).

Van Dijk, P., & Van Hoof, G. J. (2023). Theory and Practice of the European Convention on Human Rights. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Vodiannikov, O. (2020). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and post-war constitutional democracy: Common origins. In The Global Politics of Human Rights: Bringing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into the 21st Century.

Zunnuraeni, Z., Nurbani, E. S., & Jannah, A. W. (2023). Participation of women in shaping international law: A manifestation of women civil and political rights. Diponegoro Law Review, 8(2), 209–225.

Downloads

Published

2025-06-30

How to Cite

Kuntadi, K. (2025). Human Rights Protection and Democratic Governance: An International Legal Perspective. Law and Democracy Insight, 3(1), 50–76. https://doi.org/10.54518/ldi.3.1.2025.1318

Issue

Section

Articles