Does Limitation Rule in International and Regional Human Rights Law Instruments Restrict Its Implementation?

Provisions regarding limitation in human rights are contained inside international law instruments from UDHR, ECHR to ICCPR. Article 30 of UDHR, Article 17 of ECHR and Article 5(1) of ICCPR stipulate limitation rule, which is almost the same. When UDHR and ICCPR use both “limitation” and “restriction” with the same meaning, ECHR more consistent use restriction in its articles. However, there are several problems about why the rules of limitation are arranged in these written documents which are the critical foundation of universal human rights and justify fundamental freedom. Moreover, those articles are then supplemented by provisions on public morals, which were allegedly a loophole for several states to restrict human rights in their jurisdiction. This qualitative research uses statute and historical approaches which discuss provisions regarding to limitation rule on several global and local human rights written documents as the derivation. Thus, analysis of those instruments and the travaux preparatoires are inevitable to make this article more challenging. The problems such as when the first time and why this concept is adjusted in those instruments will be the primary concern in this research. Furthermore, how the idea is implemented in regional human rights apparatuses, especially in the European Court of Human Rights will complement the discussion in this article.