Reinventing the Human Rights Idea: An Universal Perspective
Reinventing the Human Rights Idea: An Universal Perspective

Summary/Abstract: From an international legal perspective the idea of the universality of human rights appeared to be in the ascent long before the end of the Cold War. In 1981 Louis Henkin wrote: "Today, the human rights idea is universal, accepted by virtually all states and societies regardless of historical, cultural, ideological, economic, or other differences.... The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly in 1948 has been accepted by virtually all of today's 150 states... Every state has adhered to at least one human rights agreement; and more than a third of the world's states have accepted the comprehensive agreements, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights,... no government dissents from the ideology of human rights today or offers an alternative".

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