Strategies for the International Protection of Human Rights in the 1990s

Abstract

The 1990s opened with the international human rights movement seriously in need of innovation in the methods and modalities of international protection. After a creative period from 1977-1981, a consolidation period from 1982-1987, and a public relations period from 1987-1989, the stage is set for new forms of action to prevent, stop and remedy gross violations of human rights that continue to be prevalent around the world. The moment is ripe, therefore, for strategic choices in the next phase of international efforts for the protection of human rights. The strategic landscape for the international protection of human rights in the 1990s presents unprecedented opportunities alongside hidden dangers. From 1945 to the closing years of the 1980s, the international human rights movement was fraught with ideological contestation between capitalism and communism and by fissiparous tendencies represented by Eastern, Western, and third world policies and doctrines on human rights. The closing years of the 1980s have seen the victory of doctrines of democratic pluralism, the rule of law, and respect for inalienable human rights. Whereas, in the past, the Eastern European countries strenuously opposed almost every effort to entrust competencies of international protection to international organizations, they now openly embrace and advocate such competencies. But simultaneously, the newly independent countries, or Group of 77, increasingly feel threatened by the efforts of the United Nations to investigate and act on violations of human rights, in spite of their actions in the 1970s that sought to develop the international protection role of the United Nations