The Movement

Abstract

This chapter begins with an account of Natalya Estemirova, a Russian human rights organization Memorialand former history teacher who was abducted and murdered in Chechnya in 2009. It focuses on the international human rights movement that is made up of men and women who gather information on rights abuses, lawyers and others who advocate for the protection of rights, and medical personnel who specialize in the treatment and care of victims. It also points out how human rights was recognized in international agreements such as the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights since the end of World War II. The chapter highlights the widespread agreement on the international human rights movement that include a prohibition on the arbitrary or invidious deprivation of life or liberty. It also recounts the emergence of the international human rights movement as a force in world affairs in the late 1970s.