The International Human Rights Movement

During the past several decades, the international human rights movement has had a crucial hand in the struggle against totalitarian regimes, cruelties in wars, and crimes against humanity. Today, it grapples with the war against terror and subsequent abuses of government power. This book offers a comprehensive and authoritative account of this global force, from its beginnings in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to its essential place in world affairs today. The book combines analysis with personal experience, and gives a unique insider's perspective on the movement's goals, the disputes about its mission, and its rise to international importance. Discussing the movement's origins, the book looks at the dissenters who fought for religious freedoms in seventeenth-century England and the abolitionists who opposed slavery before the Civil War era. It pays special attention to the period from the 1970s onward, and describes the growth of the human rights movement after the Helsinki Accords, the roles played by American presidential administrations, and the astonishing Arab revolutions of 2011. The book argues that the contemporary human rights movement was, to a large extent, an outgrowth of the Cold War, and it demonstrates how it became the driving influence in international law, institutions, and rights. Throughout, the book highlights key figures, controversies, and organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and considers the challenges to come.