Human Rights

International human rights law regulates the way states treat individuals under their control. The modern multilateral human rights regime consists primarily of treaties regulating genocide (1951), racial discrimination (1969), civil and political rights (1976), economic, social, and cultural rights (1976), discrimination against women (1981), torture (1987), and the rights of children (1990). (There are also various regional human rights treaties.) Each party to these treaties promises other signatories to protect the human rights of individuals under its control. The treaties also create various monitoring mechanisms that aim to promote compliance. As Table 4.1 shows, the vast majority of states have ratified most of these important human rights treaties.

Cultural rights · Fundamental rights · Genocide · Human rights · International human rights law · Law and economics · Linguistic rights · Political science · Principle of legality · Right to property · Sociology · Torture · Human Rights and Development · International Law and Human Rights · Law