The New Human Rights Culture

Abstract

Since the end of the Second World War, the concept that individuals have certain basic and inalienable human rights has developed, expanded and come to attract widespread support in modern societies (Klug 2000). There has been a wide-reaching embrace of ‘rights talk’ by international organisations, academics and civil society, while international human rights instruments have grown in complexity, scope and impact. The majority of states across the globe now incorporate legally binding human rights requirements into their written constitutional texts, following the example originally set by the inclusion of a Bill of Rights within the US Constitution.