Regional protection of human rights

The international protection of human rights is generally recognized as a fundamental aim of modern international law. Even a cursory review of legal systems for the protection of human rights demonstrates the rapid expansion of this field since the end of World War II. During this period, nearly all global and regional organizations have adopted human rights standards and addressed human rights violations by member states. As a consequence, no state today can claim that its treatment of those within its jurisdiction is a mat ter solely of domestic concern.

In this book, Dinah L. Shelton examines the development of regional organizations and the role that human rights plays in them. It examines in particular the question of what human rights obligations states assume upon joining the regional bodies and how regional concern with human rights intersects with the global system elaborated in the context of the United Nations.

This work is the first devoted to the European, Inter-American and African systems for the protection of human rights. It also discusses the prospects for regional systems in the Middle East and Asia. The jurisprudence of the European and Inter-American Courts and decisions of the Inter-American and African Commissions are emphasized, including decisions on the interpre tation and application of various human rights, procedural requirements and remedies. The book exposes readers to the basic documents of each system and their interrelationships, to enable them to apply those documents to ever-changing factual situations, and to alert them to the dynamic na ture of regional human rights law and institutions. It also relates regional systems to national law and to the global system for the protection of hu man rights.