Human Rights: Universality in Practice

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.