Librería Portfolio

The development of human rights norms is one of the most significant achievements in international relations and law since 1945, but the continuing influence of human rights is increasingly being questioned by authoritarian governments, nationalists, and pundits. Unfortunately, the proliferation of new rights, linking rights to other issues such as international crimes or the activities of business, and attempting to address every social problem from a human rights perspective risk undermining their credibility. Rescuing Human Rights calls for understanding ´human rights´ as international human rights law and maintaining the distinctions between binding legal obligations on governments and broader issues of ethics, politics, and social change. Resolving complex social problems requires more than simplistic appeals to rights, and adopting a ´radically moderate´ approach that recognizes both the potential and the limits of international human rights law, offers the best hope of preserving the principle that we all have rights, simply because we are human.

Creates a better and more realistic understanding of human rights in the world
Distinguishes human rights from other elements of both foreign policy and social change
This book is accessible to a wide audience, not just human rights lawyers and activists



Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of abbreviations
1. Introduction: assumptions and principles
2. Crime and (occasional) punishment
3. The importance of government, for better or worse
4. Human rights and . whatever
5. Undermining old rights with new ones: you can´t always get what you want
6. Women, sex, and gender
7. The flexibility of human rights norms: universality is not uniformity
8. Human rights hawks
9. The indispensable state? The United States and human rights
10. The way forward: less is more
Index.