ABSTRACT
The end of World War II and the forming of the United Nations opened a floodgate for human rights and their impact on international law. More elaborate statements, and more important, clearer commitments on human rights took shape than ever before. These trends were amplified by the formation of a growing array of private groups, or International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), bent on identifying human rights violations. They also included a growing range of regional commitments to human rights principles—for example, in Japan. And they embraced expansions of the lists of human rights themselves, not only to include firmer statements on women and children but also to add other groups, such as people defined by particular sexual orientations.
