Human Rights Universality in Practice

by Baehr, Peter R.

• ISBN13: 9780333968567
• ISBN10: 0333968565
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-12
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Peter R. Baehr discusses the political features and legal aspects of human rights. Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, a great number of international treaties and declarations have seen the light. Non-governmental organizations provide reliable information about violations of human rights. In some parts of the world there are regional supervision mechanisms citizens can turn to when domestic remedies have been exhausted. International criminal tribunals, on the former Yugoslavia and on Rwanda, and truth and reconciliation commissions have been established to implement international humanitarianism and human rights law. However, for many international treaties and declarations, implementation is deficient. Many states, especially in Asia, pay lip service to the universal validity of human rights, but see their supervision as a chiefly domestic affair.

Author Biography

Peter R. Baehr is Professor Emeritus of Human Rights, Utrecht University and Leiden University.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition	viii
Preface	xii
Introduction	1	(8)
Universalism versus Cultural Relativism	9	(11)
Gross and Systematic Violations	20	(12)
Economic and Social Rights	32	(10)
Collective Rights: the Right of Self-Determination	42	(15)
The United Nations Organs	57	(15)
Regional Supervisory Mechanisms	72	(12)
Foreign Policy	84	(18)
How to Deal with Past Violations	102	(12)
Non-Governmental Organizations	114	(16)
Concluding Observations	130	(4)
Appendix: Universal Declaration of Human Rights	134	(6)
Notes	140	(30)
Bibliography	170	(3)
Index	173