The prevention of violations of human rights must become the dominant protection
strategy of the twenty-first century, nationally, regionally, and globally. This book
clearly identifies the need for preventive human rights strategies, maps what exists by
way of such strategies at the present time, and offers policy options to deal with the
world of the future.
Written by a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the book suggests
the future lies in strong national protection systems backed up by regional and
international organs and an international criminal justice system. The book explores the
future of preventive human rights through a wide range of contemporary issues, including:
- climate change
- pandemics
- mass migration
- global poverty and pervasive inequality
- inter-state conflicts
- terrorism, including WMD terrorism
- gross violations of human rights
- the financial and economic crisis
We are already in a quite different world in the 21st century, and human
rights thinking will need to evolve to meet its needs. This important and contemporary
volume calls for the modification of current preventive human rights strategies, and is
essential reading for all those concerned with the future of international relations and
human rights.
Bertrand G. Ramcharan
is a Barrister-at-Law of Lincoln’s Inn and Senior
Fellow at the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, CUNY, USA. His
publications include Contemporary Human Rights Ideas (2008)
Table of Contents
1. Threats, Challenges and the Responsibility to Prevent
2. Obligations to Prevent Under International Human Rights Treaties
3. The Preventive Role of National Human Rights Institutions
4. Regional Preventive Strategies
5. Global Preventive Strategies
6. Preventive Human Rights Diplomacy
7. The Preventive Roles of Peacekeepers, Observers, and Human Rights Monitors
8. Preventive Strategies of NGOs
9. The Preventive Role of International Criminal Tribunals and the
International Criminal Court
10. Conclusion
152 pages, Paperback