Human Rights: The Essential Reference

(Hardback)

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Description

The United Nations has declared the years 1995-2005 the Decade of Human Rights, and the study of these basic rights is becoming an increasingly important part of the social studies, history and civics curricula. This text covers a broad range of human rights issues that are central to an understanding of world history and current affairs. It is divided into four main sections. Part 1 traces the evolution of the concept of human rights from the classical world to the 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Part 2 provides a detailed explanation of all 30 articles of the Universal Declaration, the document that defines the understanding of human rights. Part 3 offers an overview of the post-1948 human rights movement and its key players, including: descriptions of UN, governmental and non-governmental organizations throughout the world along with their addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail and Web addresses; and biographical sketches of individuals who have had significant impact on the human rights movement, such as Peter Benenson, the founder of Amnesty International, Aung San Suu Kyi, democracy activist in Myanmar, and Jody Williams, American coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Part 4 outlines the major issues in human rights movement, including such key topics as: asylum for refugees; child soldiers; the death penalty; female genital mutilation; genocide; child labour; conscientious objection; extra-judicial detentions; gender-related persecution; and land mines.

Reviews

The contributors to this volume have built a sturdy bridge that allows interested readers easy access to the main body of human rights law and practice. As a work of reference, the volume is handsomely edited, readable, and visually attractive. . . . Much more straightforward and readable than Human Rights in Political Transitions, this book merits inclusion in most reference collections on international affairs. * Library Journal *
[T]he book is an excellent source of information on the many facets of human rights. It should be valuable not only for human rights workers and activists but also for teachers, students, journalists, and anyone interested in the subject. * ARBA *
High school and college students will find this one-volume encyclopedia easy to use because of its logical organization and clear writing. . . . All of the authors write clearly and without emotional overtones. The book's physical appearance is also attractive, with good use of columns and bold type. Most collections will place this resource in the Reference section, but the book as so well written that it will hold interest when read like a textbook. * VOYA *
Human Rights offers balanced views and useful information on myriad issues about human rights throughout the world during the latter half of the 20th century. * Reference & User Services Quarterly *
[H]elpful resource for high school and college students who are researching human rights issues, or for researchers and librarians in need of a handy reference resource. * SLJ *

Author Bio

Carol Devine is a Canadian human rights professional. She has worked for national and international nongovernmental organizations such as Voices of Positive Women (Canada), the Diplomacy Training Program (Australia), and Medecins Sans Frontieres (international). Devine is the author of Determination: Tibetan Women and the Struggle for an Independent Tibet (1994). In 1995, she served as executive director of the VIEW Foundation, a Canadian nongovernmental organization that led the first civilian volunteer clean-up expedition to Antarctica. Carol Rae Hansen is an international affairs and education consultant in the Washington, D.C. area. Her extensive government experience includes service with the U.S. Departments of State, Defense, Commerce and Agriculture, as well as with the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the National Security Council, and the C.I.A. She has also been a fellow at the Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute and an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Hansen received her PhD in government from Harvard University, and her MA in international relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Ralph Wilde is an English barrister who is working as an academic and a practitioner in international law and human rights law. He has worked in this field for Senator Edward Kennedy in the U.S. Congress, at the UN in New York, for UNHCR as a human rights monitor in Kenya, and for the law firm Shearman & Sterling. He was recently the Henry Fellow at Yale University and a visiting scholar at Yale Law School. Hilary Poole is a writer and editor specializing in the social sciences. Most recently she coauthored History of the Internet: A Chronology, 1843 to the Present. She served as managing editor for Sexuality and Cyberspace: Performing the Digital Body. Poole also served on the editorial board of the journal Women and Performance and was a frequent editor and contributor. She is a graduate of Brown University.