Description: Global consciousness of human rights grew dramatically during the second half of the twentieth century. Today many more human rights are recognized by international law, and far more people are involved and interested in human rights. This book tells the amazing history of this revolution in global thinking and discusses all the critical issues now facing the human rights movement. Father Robert F. Drinan, a highly respected activist in human rights events of the past several decades, reflects on both the progress of and obstacles to the movement.

Father Drinan discusses the development of a consensus to establish the United Nations in the 1940s and follows the human rights movement through to such recent events as the indictment of Milosevic and the ad hoc tribunals relating to the Balkans and Rwanda. Among the topics the author considers are:
-- women's worldwide struggle for equality
-- the performance of the United States in adhering to customary international law
-- the declarations and covenants on human rights issued by the United Nations
-- the global revolution in the rights of children
-- the right to food
-- the right to religious freedom
-- the human rights of prisoners and the legitimacy of the death penalty
-- protections against torture and other cruel or inhuman treatment
-- South Africa's and other nations' commissions on truth and reconciliation

As a priest, a lawyer, and a former U.S. Congressman, Father Drinan provides a unique perspective on -- and an unflinching appraisal of -- the human rights movement today and its prospects for the future.

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