Book Series

The concept of universal, indivisible, and inalienable human rights remains a highly contested one. Debates on empowerment, and on the relationships between social diversity and social and economic exclusion, have also influenced current thinking on (human) rights and on (human) development. The cutting-edge of much thinking on such issues necessarily takes place at the level of national organisations that are themselves engaged in the defence and promotion of rights and development. This Bibliography offers a sample of classic and contemporary writings on these broad themes, and lists some of the major international agencies that serve as reference points in the field of human rights. It was compiled and annotated by Caroline Knowles with Deborah Eade, Reviews Editor and Editor respectively of Development in Practice, and assistance from Miloon Kothari.

A systematic presentation of international human rights standards adopted by inter-governmental organisations, international NGOs, and professional associations. A broad range of treaties, declarations, recommendations, codes of conduct, model legislation, ethical, professional, and technical standards are encompassed, grouped thematically, and substantive standards are reproduced rather than full texts. Includes main policy documents (UN and Regional), main global human rights instruments, and thematic chapters including elimination of gender discrimination, labour rights, social rights, the right to health, rights of the girl child, violence against women, women with disabilities, administration of justice, humanitarian law, and refugees.

The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is the worlds most widely ratified treaty. Focusing on such diverse issues as child custody in South Africa, education in Egypt, the evolution from traditional customary law to modern family law in societies such as Tanzania and Burkina Faso, the status of the child in South Asian societies, the interpretation of the childs best interests in the UK and France, and the Japanese education system, papers in this volume edited by a leading authority on human rights, use the Convention as a lens through which to examine the relationship between different cultural values and the aspiration to achieve human rights standards.

The charter (also refered to as the Banjul Charter because it was drafted in Gambia) as adopted by Heads of State and Government of the Organisation for African Unity in 1981, and entered into force in 1986. It is unique in several ways: it deals with civil and political rights as well as with economic, social and cultural rights in one document; it sets out the obligations of human beings as well as their rights; it deals with the rights of peoples as well as those of individuals.

This books presents thirteen essays by philosophers, human rights lawyers, and sociologists. Despite well-documented governmental violations of human rights, the editors maintain that many peoples and cultures worldwide uphold the dignity and worth of the individual and the values and principles of international standards on human rights. They reject, on empirical and normative grounds, the characterisation of human rights as a western concept, find that the tension between relativism and universalism in relation to human rights is a creative one, and argue for cross-cultural fertilisation and mutual reinforcement.

A study of the democratisation processes, and the common vacillation between democratic and authoritarian regimes. Synthesising the theories of modernisation, dependency, and bureaucratic authoritarianism, the author explains this instability in terms of the imbalance between the two groups of rights: civil-political and socio-economic. Arguing against the view that the latter are group rights that can only be maintained at the expense of the individual, civil-political rights, or vice-versa - and that a compromise between liberty and equality is inevitable - the author demonstrates that the stability of democracy requires a balance between the two generations of human rights. A historical review, and empirical analysis of annual measures of 'democracy' in over 150 countries, and case studies of Costa Rica, India, and Turkey support the thesis that nations that recognise civil-political rights and establish democratic systems fail to maintain them if they neglect socio-economic rights.

An authoritative account of the responsibilities of physicians in protecting human rights, this provides a thoughtful ethical commentary, an overview of international law relating to torture and medical experimentation, and practical guidance for medical practitioners and policy-makers. The context in which doctors may commit gross violations of human rights is itself one that is often conditioned by fear, ignorance, or extreme coercion. The Working Party which prepared this book confront controversy and dilemmas head-on, and make a number of challenging recommendations.

The concept of the right to development as a human right was proposed by Keba Mbaye in 1972, and was adopted in 1986 in a UN General Assembly Resolution as an inalienable human right. This study examines the background and substance of its components, and its rationale. The full text of the Declaration is included with a commentary on each article.

A collection of the authors main policy statements made before UN bodies, UN seminars, and in other meetings, while director of the UN Division of Human Rights from 1977-82. The first section includes statements to various UN bodies, and the second section includes seminar and meeting statements on apartheid, new international order, fundamental freedoms, childrens rights, human rights in Africa, unjust international economic order, and discrimination against indigenous populations. The recurring theme is that, in the end, it must always be the people that matter.

An acclaimed scholar of linguistics, Chomsky is more widely known as a relentless critic of all forms of contemporary imperialism, and of US foreign policy in particular. His early indictment of US involvement in Vietnam and Cuba was followed by similar critiques of its role in Central America, the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and as a Cold War superpower. Common to Chomsky's prolific output is a concern with human rights, and with exposing the negative global impact of western notions of liberal democracy in the context of its defence of corporate might, of which this book is a recent example.

This book asks the question how human rights can make a difference in the lives of women, given that the very idea of human rights implies universal application. The authors argue that any attempt to address the human rights of women must consider how these can be protected in the context of womens own culture and traditions. The book looks at how international human rights law applies specifically to women, and seeks to develop strategies to promote equitable application of human rights law at the international, regional and local levels.

The UN Decade for Disabled Persons (1983-92) served as a time for standard setting, and created the need to evaluate the relevant human rights instruments for disabled people. This book offers a collection of in-depth essays, and an extensive compilation of international and regional human rights instruments, guidelines and principles of relevance to disabled people. It aims to serve organisations of disabled persons as well as governments worldwide as a resource and introduction to the issue, to dispel the notion that disability is a welfare issue rather than a human rights issue.

Intended as a practical guide to relief and development workers, this book sets human rights in their international legal context and provides guidance on how to contact and make use of human rights networks, how to monitor human rights and document, investigate and report human rights violations, as well as ideas for how to lobby and apply pressure on governments and international bodies.

Fourth in a series of reports on specific countries' failures to deliver rights to education, abuses of peoples' rights in the educational sector, and infringement of academic freedom and university autonomy. This volume offers an overview of the international standards of academic freedom, and spells out the obligations of states in guaranteeing educational rights. Showing the wide range of obstacles to full realisation of the right to education, several chapters analyse how disinvestment has undermined this right, particularly for women and minorities with structural adjustment programmes going hand in hand with stricter government control (including censorship) of universities and other educational institutions. Other reports show why globalisation and the existence of highly educated refugees demand a wider international recognition of educational qualifications.

In the context of economic globalisation and its political and social consequences, the sovereign state has a diminished role in shaping the history of humanity and so dominating geopolitics. The main market- and capital-driven forces challenging the state remain largely concealed as political actors. In addition, variants of the politics of identity are causing fragmentation and the further decline in governmental capacity in many states. The twenty-first century may witness a form of geo-governance that can be regarded as 'inhumane' in terms of five dimensions of international political life: that 20 percent of the world's population lacks adequate food, shelter, health care, clothing, education, housing; that the most vulnerable are denied full protection of human rights; that there is no tangible, cumulative process towards abolishing war as a social institution; that there is insufficient effort to protect and restore the environment; that there is a failure to achieve transnational democracy and little progress in the extension of primary democratic practices of respect for others, of accountability, and participation in decision-making. The author calls for a commitment to 'humane geo-governance, i.e. a set of social, political, economic, and cultural arrangements committed to rapid progress in these five areas. This will depend on dramatic growth of transnational democracy, the extension of primary democratic processes, an evolving allegiance to global civil society, and on the plausibility of humane governance as a political priority.

Examines the evolution and development of the concept of collective human rights in international relations. Focusing on the tension between the rights of individual members of society and the collective rights of certain groups, the author argues that the protection of human dignity requires an expansion of our understanding of human rights to include those collective group rights often violated by state and global structures. He advocates a move towards a world in which decision-making is based on norms of basic human needs and true equality.

The author examines five areas that are central to all refugees well-being: protection; access to social and material services; economic activity; repatriation and reconstruction; and resettlement in a third country. Challenging the common view that efforts to achieve gender equity are an unaffordable luxury in emergencies, the author offers a range of gender-sensitive policy and practice alternatives for each area.

This book challenges the conventional wisdom that the fate of human rights is determined by economic forces and conditions. The major theme is the space for political choice which determines the implementation of internationally recognised human rights, in the context of historical, social, and economic forces. Different sections and case studies examine work done in the private sector in support of human rights, (with chapters from Mexico, Nigeria, India, Norway, and the USA); the public sector (by authors from the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, and the USA); country studies (Turkey, Sudan, India, and Bangladesh); and an overview of the process of development and human rights.

Best known for his work in peace studies, Galtung argues here that the human rights tradition offers significant means to reduce global violence, although it needs recasting in order to achieve this. The western historical and cultural imprint on the idea of human rights leads to theoretical and political difficulties which Galtung assesses, focusing in particular on the failure of the legal tradition to take account of problems that are rooted in the economic and political structures of society and culture. He develops an accounting approach to human rights based on human needs, analysis of political, economic and social structures, and an examination of social and cultural processes.

Authors provide an overview of theoretical debates about democracy, of the diverse circumstances in which it has developed, and of the conditions which are likely to affect its development. Contemporary interest has often conceived of democracy in terms of liberal democracy, assumed that it can only be applied to governmental affairs and has no place in economic, social, and cultural spheres, presupposed that the nation state is the most appropriate locus for democracy, and assumed that democracy is a western achievement and sustainable only under the cultural conditions of western lifestyles. This book challenges these assumptions and advances the debate on the future of democracy.

A survey of 104 countries and 40 indicators from the major UN treaties, featuring those human rights which can be defined and measured with regional maps of human rights throughout the world. The limited authority of the UN and its inability to impose on its member-states respect for its own treaties and principles means that public knowledge of human rights abuses comes mainly from other sources. Monitoring and dissemination of information is the most effective way of applying pressure to regimes perpetuating human rights crimes. The 1986 edition of this book formed the basis of the Human Freedom Index in the UNDP Human Development Report 1991, which described it as 'the most systematic and extensive coverage' of the classification of human rights.

This book addresses how statistical methods and the statistical profession can contribute to the advancement of human rights, and is intended for a wide readership - government officials, scientists, members of human rights advocacy groups, and others. The authors hold that it is not enough to know that violations occur; one needs to know which rights are being violated, how frequently, and who the victims and violators are. To evaluate efforts to advance human rights, requires knowledge of how patterns of violence evolve. An important function is to let the world community know what the problems are so that deliberate abusers of human rights can be held responsible. Chapters have been selected as illustrations of good statistical practice in the field, and there is a guide to human rights data sources as an appendix.

Twenty-four essays, all by well-known authorities, call attention to the various forms of womens oppression and womens efforts to advance their rights by lobbying, legal reform, and the transformation of social attitudes. The book advances efforts to secure rights for women within the family; to own and inherit property; to reproductive choices; to vote; and to move about freely without male permission.

Explores the meanings of poverty in its economic, social, and political aspects and analyses the role the state and the market play, both nationally and internationally in the deepening of poverty. The author also examines the phenomenon of disempowerment and the declining access of the poor to the power structures of society. The authors concept of humane governance is introduced in this book and its companion Transformation and Survival: In Search of Humane World Order (1988).

A collection of essays by Indian scholars and human rights activists on issues concerning the nature of civil liberties, democracy, and the political and practical challenges facing human rights movements, including an influential paper by Upendra Baxi entitled From human rights to the right to be human: some heresies.

This reference book, compiled by a former deputy-director of the UN Division of Human Rights, includes detailed entries on international instruments having a bearing on human rights and fundamental freedoms; international organisations which promote and protect those rights and freedoms; practical ways by which international, regional, and national bodies promote, monitor, and supervise the implementation of human rights; and reviews of the human rights situation in 165 countries and states. It includes the complete official texts of some 200 international standard-setting instruments, and all entries are cross-referenced.

Abrupt Democratisation does not always result in enhanced human rights. The author argues that human rights in fledgling democracies are most likely to be improved if the transition from authoritarianism is preceded by a process of economic and political Liberalisation, which works as a prelude to a gradual expansion of civil society. The book uses democratisation, liberalisation, and human rights studies to explain the frequency with which democratic processes in the Third World have been aborted. The analysis is supported with a comparative assessment of the progress in Algeria, El Salvador, Pakistan, and Peru.

Contains information about the 50 members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO), created in 1991 to provide a platform for those nations, minorities, and peoples who are not represented in established international fora such as the UN. Its mission is to assist these peoples to advance their interests through non-violent means. The Yearbook provides an overview of UNPO's activities, a review of the history and current positions of UNPO members, a selection of key UNPO documents and annual information, as well 1996 Conference and Mission Reports.

A passionate and scathing account of how, while having the potential to inspire and mobilise people to fight for social justice, the supposedly universal human rights discourse and legislation serve the neo-colonial interests of western capitalism, and are often used both to justify its project for global hegemony and to mask human rights abuses perpetrated by western powers.

The author analyses liberal democracy, participatory democracy, and forms of civic republicanism from a feminist perspective. She looks at different forms of female exclusion from full citizenship, and at the tensions between seeking greater equality within an inegalitarian system versus working for long-term radical change; or between the retreat into 'personal politics' and small group identities as a reaction against concerns about 'false universality'. The author's critique of democracy is as relevant to debates on civil society and 'good governance' as it is to attempts to promote 'gender-sensitive' development and relief work.

A highly diverse compilation of 40 theoretical and bottom-up critiques of development by several generations of political thinkers and activists from around the world including Amilcar Cabral, Arturo Escobar, Gustavo Esteva, Orlando Fals-Borda, James Ferguson, Eduardo Galeano, Rajni Kothari, Serge Latouche, Ashis Nandy, James Petras, Wolfgang Sachs, Marshall Sahlins, Vandana Shiva, and Hassan Zaoual. Extracts and text-boxes are organised in five parts: The Vernacular World; The Development Paradigm; The Vehicles of Development; Development in Practice; and Towards the Post-development Age. The volume is indexed and includes an extensive bibliography.

While violations of human rights continue all over the world, western criticisms and campaigns often present them either in a Cold War context or with what some people in the Third World see as an anti-Third World bias. This not only undermines their political impact, but implies that the human rights record of western societies is almost blameless. Here, Salmi develops a new conceptualisation of human rights which goes beyond the western liberal tradition and provides a broader classification, applicable to any society. Thus it encompasses not only cases of clear and direct violence, such as torture, but also situations where violence is disguised and indirect: environmental threats, racism or sexism, and the alienating effects of unemployment.

Democracy has an important role to play in maintaining a level or rights awareness, and continued efforts must be made for rigorous conceptualisation and analysis. The first section of this study defines a relationship between democracy and development (elements of democratic development, achieving and securing democratic political development, sustainable forms of democracy and development), and the second section looks at democracy in developing countries. Key themes and issues include building civil societies; gender, empowerment, and development; democratic trends in Africa, Asia, and the Americas; case studies from Senegal, Indonesia, Brazil, Guatemala, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, the Philippines; and implications for Canadian aid and foreign policy.

This famous book argues for a universal right to subsistence and for basic rights as everyone's minimum reasonable demand upon humanity. Physical security is the first basic right, since in its absence all others become meaningless. Minimal economic security or subsistence (including unpolluted air and water, adequate food, clothing, shelter, and minimal preventative public health care) is the second basic right, and liberty (the right to social participation, freedom of movement, and due process) is the third. The author then discusses affluence and responsibility, responding to the objection that meeting subsistence rights places too great a burden on others who have the duty to honour them. The role of aid in development is also examined, and the author looks at some priorities and policy changes for US foreign policy which are required by the recognition of basic rights.

When it was launched in 1990, The Challenge to the South (the Report of the South Commission) offered a detailed analysis of the problems facing the countries of the South. This book is a companion volume of 33 commentaries on the Report, corresponding to the South Commission's wish to supplement and expand its work through public comment and debate. It contains a summary of the Report itself, and includes essays by leading intellectuals and activists, as well as senior IMF and World Bank officials.

The author examines the construction and politicisation of ethnic identities and explores the wide-ranging policies suggested by scholars, and implemented by governments, to contain or resolve ethnic tension. The book provides an overview of how the current world situation has changed, the character and evolution of ethnic politics, and points out the dangerous implications of the concept of ethnicity in a world with high levels of migration, globalisation, and multiple identities. It is based on 15 case studies, carried out under the UNRISD research programme on Ethnic Conflict and Development.

(NB: ACCENT OVER THE FIRST S IN TOMASEVSKI) Building on earlier ground-breaking work, the author here reviews human rights policies of individual donor governments and the European Union, through a selection of case studies in three decades: Cuba, Rhodesia, South Africa and Israel in the 1960s; Uganda, Chile and Ethiopia in the 1970s; Turkey, Burma and China in the 1980s. The author concludes that neither sanctions nor elections benefit human rights, because donors' practice has been slanted against vulnerable recipients, and actually undermine human rights' protection by their reliance on external policy and sanctioning. Other books by the same author include Development Aid and Human Rights Re-visited (1993) and Women and Human Rights (1993).

Adopted and proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1948, this represents a major touchstone in human rights discourse and legislation: the belief that all human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms. The UDHR is legally binding on all UN member states. Over the last 50 years, its evolution and enactment has depended on numerous international conventions and treaties, each of which must be ratified individually by each member state. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), for instance, has been fully endorsed by 139 countries but 90 member states have either not signed or have expressed reservations.

Published annually since 1990, this is a unique and comprehensive guide to human development worldwide. The first report, Concept and Measurement of Human Development, introduced the controversial Human Development Index (HDI), against which all nations are ranked in terms of their peoples' basic human capabilities. Fearing that this would be used by donors as a form of conditionality, the G-77 pronounced the HDI 'a very western view of human rights', arguing that it failed to recognise social and economic achievements in countries such as Cuba. However, successive Reports have consistently stressed the synergism between economic performance, political freedoms and representation, and social equity on the one hand, and respect for basic human rights on the other. UNDP also produces documentation on human rights and development in view of its role in mainstreaming human rights issues throughout the UN system.

An annual report on development through its impact on children which offers a critical analysis of development policy and practice from the perspective of children and their needs. Recent issues have focused on the need to eliminate the apartheid of gender, and on the devastating effect of pain now, gain later macro-economic policies on the health and well-being of children and their families. UNICEFs Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1998) is a practical tool for human rights workers which analyses each article of the Convention, gives details of relevant provisions in other international instruments, and examples of implementation from countries around the world.

This bibliography presents works published in English between 1982 and 1993, with extensive annotation for each entry including comments on a book or articles structure and content, intended audience, main thesis or viewpoint, and whether it is supplemented or updated by another source. An introductory essay gives a history of human rights, and the thematic sections include introductory information sources; philosophical foundations of human rights; cultural relativism and cross-cultural perspectives; human rights and religious traditions; basic human needs, development and security; human rights and foreign policy; international law, organisation and human rights; group rights and individual rights; womens and human rights; emerging human rights issues; teaching human rights; researching human rights. The UDHR and the 1993 Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for the Electronic Community of Learners are included as an Appendix.

Exploring ways in which cultural preconceptions and practices influence individuals rights, this book highlights significant human rights issues through case studies in South and South-East Asia. The first section gives an overview of the international and regional context, and the second section examines Asian cultural traditions and human rights, including essays on Islam and universal rights; caste in India; and a Buddhist response to the nature of human rights. The third section discusses conflict, especially issues of ethnicity, class, and gender in the region, and the fourth consists of a selected bibliography.

An annual publication and policy statement on a critical issue in development, which synthesises the thinking of one of the worlds most influential financial institutions and grant-making bodies. Recent reports have taken the themes of poverty, employment and globalisation, and good governance.  

A forum for practitioners, policy makers, and academics to exchange information and analysis concerning the social dimensions of development and humanitarian work. As a multi-disciplinary journal of policy and practice, it reflects a wide range of institutional and cultural backgrounds and a variety of professional experience. Other titles in the Development in Practice Reader series include Development and Patronage which discusses the unequal relationships of power inherent in the development process.

An international journal dedicated to studying the relationships between human rights and health. The journal examines the effects of human rights violations on health; the impacts of health policies on human rights; and the inextricable nature of the relationship between the promotion and protection of health and the promotion and protection of human rights. Human Rights Quarterly published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, ISSN: 0275-0392, Editor-in-Chief: Bert B. Lockwood Jr. A comparative and international journal which aims to help define national and international human rights policy by providing decision-makers with insight into complex human rights issues. Interdisciplinary in scope, the journal presents current work in human rights research and policy analysis, reviews of related books, and philosophical essays probing the fundamental nature of human rights as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Contains scholarly articles on important issues of human rights in the world and the promotion and protection of human rights in international law. The journal also contains news on recent developments in intergovernmental and regional organisations and reprints texts of major international agreements, treaties, and declarations, and once a year features a list of ratifications for all states of the world.