Normative human rights cascades, North and South

Abstract

This essay submits that events preceding and leading to the establishment of the United Nations, in the 1940s, saw the emergence of foundational human rights ideas that have shaped the international order ever since. While the major wartime powers were the sponsoring actors, there were strong demands for justice and equality in countries of the South. It was a combination of Northern, Southern and NGO contributions that shaped the content of the normative human rights framework. No country came to this with fully clean hands. The leading powers sought to shield themselves from colonialism, gulags and racial segregation but had to agree to principles and norms that would triumph in the end. Southern representatives, some partly educated in the West but mostly taking their essence from their own soils, argued for high principles and norms, and then many proceeded to violate them once they had gained control of their countries. Many Latin American leaders advanced lofty principles while presiding over exploitative feudal societies at home. The gulf between principles and practice continues in our times, with numerous violations of human rights worldwide.