Written by a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2003–4), this book has been fully updated for a second edition and continues to provide a much needed, short and accessible introduction to the foundational human rights ideas of our times and shows that every government is under international obligation to respect and uphold universal human rights.

Updates include:

Discussion of the recent intellectual challenges to the international human rights movement

Examination of the establishment and functioning of the Human Rights Council and the Universal Review Process

Evaluation of the developments in the area of the Responsibility to Protect and continued efforts to implement the right to development

Inclusion of issues such as the push for compensation for slavery, experiments with democracy in a number of countries and the decisions of international judicial and human rights organs on conceptual and protection issues

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Global Institutions, International Law and Human Rights.