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This article analyses the origin of ius cogens rules through its evolutionary process in the International Law Commission. In particular, the article includes the work of special rapporteurs dealing with the law of treaties project, in which the concept of imperative rules and ius cogens was studied. Some differences between these rules and humanitarian law have also been included. According to Article 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, a peremptory norm "is a norm accepted and recognized by the international community of States as a whole as a norm from which no derogation is permitted and which can be modified only by a subsequent norm of general international law having the same character". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses one of the major legal issues concerning the debate about the legal value of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): Is the UDHR ius cogens? The authors explain legal problems related to the concept of ius cogens in order to show that the Universal Declaration cannot be classified as an imperative rule of law, even though some of the prohibitions that are implied in the UDHR have this nature. The authors present the dangers of the trivialization of the concept of ius cogens and the importance of preserving its essence as a rule that does not support repeal of any kind and under any circumstances. This paper searches to reject all the interpretations that would unduly expand the content of the concept of ius cogens, which is contained in article 53 of the Vienna Convention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]