Abstract/Summary

The international human rights project developed as a counterweight to the increasing power of the emerging modern State, establishing limits to State power over individuals. Despite nineteenth-century concern with a few discrete issues that nowadays fall within the human rights matrix, it was the UN Charter that started the modern system of international human rights law. The adoption of the International Bill of Human Rights framed human rights as an issue of general international law and paved the way for the establishment of human treaties and mechanisms to monitor compliance with and implementation of their provisions. From the 1960s onwards a substantial network of treaty-based and UN-Charter-based machinery has been developed to lend international protection for internationally recognized human rights. Three main categories of human rights have developed since that time. The bearers of human rights remain individuals and the duty to safeguard them remains with the State. Human rights are accepted, at least as a matter of law, to represent universal obligations. Foundational principles underlying all human rights include dignity and non-discrimination.