In the intersection of politics and law: A study of Terje Wold’s human rights engagement 1945-1968

Abstract

By studying individual actors in human rights history, we get a deeper conceptual understanding of what human rights encompassed on an individual level. After the Second World War, the period where human rights norms were developed and institutionalised internationally, regionally and nationally, the Norwegian politician and jurist Terje Wold began to engage himself in matters of human rights. This master thesis analyses Terje Wold’s engagement for human rights matters from 1945 to 1968. It follows his commitment to human rights in various transnational, international, regional, and national contexts. Although Terje Wold used human rights as a symbolic token as Cold War rhetoric in the opposition against totalitarianism in the late 1940s, I trace a continuity of his engagement for supranationalism as a concept. To argue for supranational institutions was a manner to oppose totalitarianism and to support international peace. The support was further intensified throughout the 1950s and well into the 1960s. Terje Wold emphasised how the upholding of the rule of law, herein the due process right and judicial review of the legislature, was a prerequisite in order for human rights to function. In his opinion, human rights had little effect without proper guarantees from the state. What he wanted was more robust measures in the protection of individual rights in meeting with public administration. Terje Wold was an ardent advocate for further European integration in Norway. Behind his support was the understanding that cooperation in Europe represented means for securing protection against human rights violations on the individual level. Wold was a supporter of the Council of Europe’s binding convention, and he held high prospects for the European Economic Community. As international human rights norms were gaining traction on the international arena further into the 1960s, I trace a development and widening of Terje Wold’s human rights engagement as well. This included commitment against racial discrimination, support for minority, cultural and economic rights in addition to social rights.