This unique textbook merges human rights law with its practice, from the courtroom to the battlefield. Human rights are analysed in their particular context, and the authors assess, among other things, the impact of international finance, the role of NGOs, and the protection of rights in times of emergency, including the challenges posed by counter-terrorism. In parallel, a series of interviews with practitioners, case studies and practical applications offer multiple perspectives and challenging questions on the effective implementation of human rights. Although the book comprehensively covers the traditional areas of international human rights law, including its regional and international legal and institutional framework, it also encompasses, through distinct chapters or large sections, areas that have a profound impact on human rights worldwide, such as women's rights, human rights and globalisation, refugees and migration, human rights obligations of non-state actors, debt and human rights, and others.

Table of Contents

1 International Human Rights Law and Notions of Human Rights: Foundations, Achievements and Challenges

2 International Human Rights Law: The Normative Framework

3 Human Rights in Practice

4 The United Nations Charter System

5 The UN Human Rights Treaty System

6 Regional Human Rights Treaty Systems

7 Individual Complaints Procedures

8 Civil and Political Rights

9 Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

10 Group Rights: Self-determination, Minorities and Indigenous Peoples

11 The Human Rights of Women

12 Children's Rights

13 The Recognition and Protection of the Human Rights of Vulnerable Groups and Persons

14 The Right to Development and Sustainable Development

15 Victims' Rights and Reparation

16 The Application of Human Rights in Armed Conflict

17 Human Rights and International Criminal Just ice

18 Human Rights and Counter-terrorism

19 Human Rights Obligations of Non-state Actors

 20 Globalisation and its Impact on Human Rights

About the Authors

Ilias Bantekas is Professor of International Law, Hamad bin Khalifa University (Qatar Foundation) and senior fellow at IALS University of London. He has held human rights-related academic posts at leading law schools, including Brunel University, SOAS, Harvard and Trier. He has advised governments, international organisations and NGOs in most fields of human rights and international law, and was a member of the Greek Truth Committee on Debt. His recent books include: Sovereign Debt and Human Rights (with C. Lumina, 2018) and Commentary on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (edited with M. A. Stein and D. Anastasiou, 2018).

Lutz Oette is a Reader in International Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and Director of the SOAS Centre for Human Rights Law. He has pursued human rights cases before several regional and international bodies and engaged with a range of actors in standard setting, comparative research, advocacy and reform projects aimed at developing and implementing international human rights standards, particularly on the prohibition of torture. He is the editor of Criminal Law Reform and Transitional Justice: Human Rights Perspectives for Sudan (2011) and co-editor of Constitution-making and human rights in the Sudans (with M. A. Babiker, 2018).