The intersection between culture and human rights have engaged some of the most heated and controversial debates across international law and theory. To what extent should the law permit cultural defences to general rules? What role does human rights law have in the protection of minority cultures? This volume examines such pivotal questions.

First published in 1998, this first volume of The Manual on Human Rights Education for Universities has been prepared in the hope that it will serve as a teaching aid for institutions of higher education, as well as for UNESCO Chairs, and focuses on new dimensions and challenges. UNESCO’s long experience in this field goes back to 1951, when the first guide for teachers on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was published. This formed part of UNESCO’s efforts to create a comprehensive system of human rights education, embracing formal and non-formal education. Issues explored include peace, the environment, education, discrimination and extreme poverty.

The International Dimension of Human Rights includes extracts of judgments, reports and opinions of international supervisory organs and domestic judicial tribunals, as well as the work of scholars in this subject. This casebook has been divided into seven chapters that deal with the following topics: basic notions of international law; the relationship between international law and domestic law; the right to an effective remedy; the right to liberty and security of persons and the right not to be tortured; the right to a fair trial; economic, social and cultural rights; and other aspects of international protection of human rights, such as the rights of women, the rights of indigenous peoples and environmental rights. The casebook also includes the most relevant international treaties on human rights adopted by the Inter-American, universal and European systems.

In this paper our intention is to examine the relationship between culture, human rights, in particular cultural rights, and development and to suggest possible indicators to measure and qualify this relationship. Being fully aware that a lot of material has been produced on this theme, our objective is to build on existing results and materials and study the possibility of producing understandable and quantifiable indicators. In this context we will concentrate on the cultural dimension of several specific human rights as included in international human rights instruments accepted by a large majority of States. Overarching the relationship between culture, human rights and development are the principles of equality, access and participation. These human rights are not only moral issues; they are legal obligations that should guide States in all policy-planning, including the drafting of cultural policies. Cultural policies should not be seen as a 'charity' or as derived from voluntarism; they are based on rights of people and the legal obligations of States. In this paper we plead for an integrated approach, whereby the legal framework provides the basis for the development of policies, giving them more continuity and coherence.

Poverty as a Crime

International human rights law was originally focused on universal individual rights. This book examines the developments which have seen it change to a multi-cultural approach, one more sensitive to the cultures of the people directly affected by them. It argues that this can provide benefits, but that aspects of universalism must be retained.