During the second half of the 20th century, international treaties, domestic legislation, and active supreme courts have increased awareness and realisation of right in many nations. Even so, this has not prevented human rights disasters in many places like Cambodia, Rwanda, and Bosnia as well as recent erosions of rights’ gains in the West. So where do we go from here?

Rethinking Human Rights brings together practitioners and academics in an attempt to address two crucial issues on the future of human rights in an increasingly integrated global community:

• What kinds of human rights norms are appropriate for the 21st century?
• What are the most effective means of protecting or enhancing those rights and is it desirable to do so?

This volume considers development in rights thoughts and the protection and implementation of human rights norms. It provides an in-depth look at the rights of self-ownership, equality, and citizenship in a global community. Contributors provide contrasting views on the feasibility of bills of rights as well as examinations of the different generations of rights. Cultural and gendered notions of rights are analysed and revisions offered.

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART ONE: DEVELOPMENTS IN RIGHTS THOUGHT
CHAPTER 1: Human Rights: an Agenda for the Future - Michael Kirby
CHAPTER 2: Human Rights Problems: Moral, Political, Philosophical - Alice Erh-Soon Tay
CHAPTER 3: Taking the Gender of Rights Seriously - Hilary Charlesworth
CHAPTER 4: The Four Dimensions of Rights - Charles Sampford

PART TWO: PROTECTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS NORMS
CHAPTER 5: The UN and the International Protection of Human Rights - Anne F. Bayefsky
CHAPTER 6: A Policy for Human Rights in the Asia Pacific - Alice Erh-Soon Tay
CHAPTER 7: Identifying Rights for the 21st Century - Glenn Patmore
CHAPTER 8: Natural Law or Common Law: Human Rights in Australia - D.F.B. Tucker
CHAPTER 9: Citizen and Elite Attitudes Towards an Australian Bill of Rights - Brian Galligan and Ian McAllister
CHAPTER 10: Rights and Reasons: Teaching Tolerance and Rationality - Tom Round

PART THREE: PARTICULAR RIGHTS AND THEIR PROTECTION
CHAPTER 11: Is Self-ownership a Human Right? - J.W. Harris
CHAPTER 12: Some Aspects of Equality Rights: Theory and Practice - Beth Gaze
CHAPTER 13: Globalism, the Regional Citizen, and Democracy - Alastair Davidson

Table of Cases
Table of Statutes
References
Index