Introduction

Human rights law is not a static body of rules and principles. Rather, human rights standards are in an ongoing process of development, and understanding how this process occurs is one of the fundamental themes of human rights theories. This book asks one major question: How do new human rights standards emerge in the human rights debate? To answer this question, the book focuses on nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and on the case study of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) issues. LGBTI human rights are one of the issues that underwent a major revolution in the past 20 years, and they are at the centre of an often heated diplomatic and political debate. This chapter introduces the book by defining key concepts, and briefly describes the legal and historical context of the transnational LGBTI advocacy. Moreover, this chapter exposes research questions and arguments.