Human rights at the UN : the political history of universal justice / Roger Normand and Sarah Zaidi ; foreword by Richard A. Falk.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Normand, Roger, 1964-

Contributor:

Zaidi, Sarah.

Series:

United Nations intellectual history project (Series)

United Nations intellectual history project

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United Nations--History.

United Nations.

Human rights--History--20th century.

Human rights.

History.

Physical Description:

xxxii, 486 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2008]

Summary:

Human rights activists Roger Normand and Sarah Zaidi provide a broad political history of the emergence and development of the human rights movement in the twentieth century through the crucible of the United Nations, focusing on the hopes and expectations, concrete power struggles, national rivalries, and bureaucratic politics that molded the international system of human rights law. The book emphasizes the period before and after the creation of the UN, when human rights ideas and proposals were shaped and transformed by the hard-edged realities of power politics and bureaucratic imperatives. It also analyzes the expansion of the human rights framework in response to demands for equitable development after decolonization and organized efforts by women, minorities, and other disadvantaged groups to secure international recognition of their rights.

Contents:

First expressions of human rights ideas

The decline of human rights between World Wars

The human rights crusade in World War II

Human rights politics in the United Nations charter

Laying the human rights foundation

The universal declaration of human rights

The human rights covenants

The human rights of special groups

The right to development

Human rights after the Cold War.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 343-458) and index.

ISBN:

9780253349354

0253349354

9780253219343

0253219345

OCLC:

144227960