ABSTRACT
The demand for human rights law has been a cornerstone in the international movement to empower disadvantaged groups and individuals since the middle of the twentieth century. Women’s groups, social justice organizations, the human rights community and other progressive movements have all fought for the recognition of human rights in the legal arena at the domestic as well as international level. These movements have challenged laws that discriminate against or exclude individuals and groups, such as women, blacks, sexual and religious minorities, and have made demands for the protection of human rights through law central to the pursuit and realization of justice, freedom and emancipation. In many ways these demands for human rights have given human rights law a political character. Many of the political campaigns for human rights have been successful in so far as states have been forced at times to respond by enacting new legislation to support and promote the human rights of a diverse array of communities and individuals. The Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), has been directed at the eradication of discrimination against women and the promotion of the right to equality for all, regardless of sex and gender. Similarly, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Discrimination (CERD), has been adopted by some nation states to eradicate racial discrimination in all its forms, again in the name of pursuing the right to universal equality. While specific laws have been enacted by different states pursuant to these conventions, the important fact is that law has been reformed in response to the demand from the human rights community for change.
