PREAMBULAR HISTORY

THE VIEW OF THE PAST IN KEY HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS

Antoon De Baets

History and Theory 65, no. 1 (2026)

This article claims that the preambles of foundational human rights instruments, taken together, articulate a consistent view of the past. This view is firmly rooted in historical processes, embedded in metaphysical truths, and enacted in service of the future. Part 1 assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the “preambular approach to history” and selects four instruments from a group of twenty-two: the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Genocide Convention, and the International Criminal Court Statute. Part 2 reconstructs the discussions during which the historical recitals in the preambles of these instruments emerged. Part 3 analyzes these findings. In writing the historical recitals, the drafters of these key instruments opted for either the approach of the contemporary historian (the “recent history approach”) or the approach of the philosopher of history (“the holistic approach”). Both approaches are explained and compared. The conclusion contains a thought experiment in which the human rights view of the past embedded in these historical recitals is articulated.

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