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David P. Forsythe, The Continuing Struggle for Human Rights Protection, International Studies Review, Volume 16, Issue 4, December 2014, Pages 662–664, https://doi.org/10.1111/misr.12164
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Extract
It has been more than 65 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly. Starting with that diplomatic instrument identifying 30 norms whose implementation would arguably guarantee a life with human dignity, states have proceeded to negotiate and often ratify a large number of treaties specifying—and presumably making legally binding—the contents of global human rights law. Why then does real human dignity remain so elusive for so many around the world? The answer by Heather Smith-Cannoy of Lewis and Clark College is that too many states are insincere in their professed commitment to international human rights law.
Her starting point fits with a substantial body of literature proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that most states most of the time elevate other values over protecting human rights. The real trumps in the game of international relations are not human rights but pursuit of national security and national economic advantage—or sometimes just elite convenience, power, and wealth. One might therefore be inclined to say that the plethora of rulemaking on behalf of human rights since 1948 is without merit—a matter of public posturing that does not deserve to be taken seriously.
