Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Preface; Introduction; Questions that arise; Scope of this study; Reform of the UN system and judicialisation of human rights; Limitations of the International Criminal Court; Limitations of the powers of reason and persuasion; De-politicising the workings of the UN system of human rights mechanisms; Organisation of this study; Inspiration for this study; 1 The place of human rights in the contemporary and globalised world; 1.1 Introduction; 1.2 Human rights as embracing modernity and redefining democracy
1.3 Human rights as a means of preventing revolutions1.4 Human rights as part of social engineering; 1.5 Human rights as the mantra of the modern world; 1.6 Human rights as a check on the excesses of capitalism; 1.7 Human rights as underpinning democracy; 1.8 Supremacy of human rights; 1.9 Human rights representing a silent revolution led by the UN; 1.10 The UN human rights agenda as an agent of change; 1.11 Promoting a rules-based international society through human rights; 1.12 The corpus of international human rights law; 1.13 The challenge of implementation and enforcement
1.14 Human rights as the third pillar of the UN1.15 UN human rights mechanisms and their effectiveness; 1.16 The impact on the UN human rights agenda by the rise of multi-polarism; 1.17 Pitfalls of the middle path based on dialogue and cooperation; 1.18 The legal status of human rights and the need for their judicialisation; 1.19 Conclusions; 2 The conceptual and international development of human rights; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 The concept of human rights in antiquity; 2.3 Philosophical foundations of human rights; 2.4 The nature and category of human rights
2.5 Evolution of the modern concept of human rights2.5.1 The contribution of Magna Carta to the evolution of human rights; 2.5.2 The common law notions of fairness and justice and the evolution of human rights; 2.5.3 The Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights; 2.5.4 The American Revolution; 2.5.5 The French Declaration of the Rights of Man; 2.5.6 Contribution of the inter-war period to the evolution of human rights; 2.6 Foundations for international human rights law; 2.7 Work of the UN Commission on Human Rights; 2.8 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
2.8.1 The Universal Declaration as a standard-setting instrument2.8.2 Significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; 2.9 Implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; 2.10 The first UN human rights treaty with a mechanism for implementation; 2.11 The International Bill of Rights; 2.12 Other human rights treaties and declarations; 2.13 Momentum towards the universality of human rights; 2.14 Measures for implementation of rights; 2.15 Conclusions; 3 Effectiveness of the UN human rights treaty bodies; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 The rationale for treaty bodies
