Laying the Groundwork: The Definition, Scope and Roles of Human Rights
The 30th Anniversary celebration of the International Day of Peace at UN Headquarters.
The human rights movement, both as a concept and a driving force behind international law, is a major contributor to the structural changes presently occurring in the international system.
In this dossier we first explore what human rights are, where they come from, and where they apply. Second, we look at the impact evolving norms, rights and laws are having on specific institutions and on individuals in the international system. Finally, we examine the drawbacks, limitations and consequences of using international law as a vehicle to promote individual rights and "justice" today. As in our other dossier, International Public Law in Action, hovering over these specific discussions is a general exploration of the the Janus-faced relationship between the expanding concept of rights and the attempts by many – through the vehicle of international law – to make them actually effective.
Additional Content
- Laying the Groundwork: The Definition, Scope and Roles of Human Rights (ISN Blog Post)
Both a cause and a symptom of the structural changes currently occurring in the international system...
- International Human Rights Treaties- Curse or Blessing? (ISN Blog Post)
Both a cause and a symptom of the structural changes currently occurring in the international system...
- ASEAN, Human Rights and the West (Publication)
The common belief that the Western powers are putting pressure on the Association of Southeast Asian...
- Counterterrorism and Human Rights (Publication)
This meeting is the first of a series of workshops and briefings that the Center on Global Counterte...
- The Human Rights Regime in the Americas (Publication)
This policy brief examines context, development and future of the human rights regime in the America...
- Human Rights Watch (HRW) (Organization)
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an independent organization dedicated to investigating and exposing huma...
- The United Nations Human Rights Council (Publication)
On March 15, 2006, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution replacing the Commission on Human Rig...
- International Crisis Group (Organization)
The International Crisis Group is an independent, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization, with abou...
- Reform of the European Court of Human Rights (Publication)
On 18–19 February 2010, a Ministerial Conference on the future of the European Court of Human Rights...
- Russia and the European Court of Human Rights (Publication)
The main news from the Russian judicial system over the past months has been the ratification by the...
- Human Rights and the ATT (Audio)
As the UN continues toward the Arms Trade Treaty, which would enact stricter controls on small arms ...
- European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (ETC) (Organization)
The European Training and Research Centre (ETC) is a nonprofit organization that conducts research a...
