ABSTRACT
In relation to a discussion of the basic sources of human rights regulation within any system, the starting point will be to clarify the question of terminology. In relation to human rights promotion and protection the regional institutions would often supply the mechanisms of enforcement lacking in the international systems, while they would at the same time apply the principles adopted on a global scale through such instruments as the Universal Declaration and the two International Covenants. The term international is used as a common denominator for global and regional regulation in general, while the term national refers to all law without distinction within a given national state. The global regulation of human rights does not necessarily have a status superior to the decisions and legal provisions from the regional bodies. Cultural priorities and values can be expressed in a tacitly, and therefore often unnoticed or unquestioned, way through the limits in scope of an otherwise general human rights instruments.
