ABSTRACT
The international legal protection of human rights has undergone dramatic growth and evolution since the end of the Second World War, the founding of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, and the subsequent adoption, by the UN General Assembly, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)2 on 10 December 1948.3 Although the historical origins of the concept of human rights are often linked with the idea of natural rights4 and there had been legal instruments adopted earlier in different states aimed at acknowledging and ensuring the protection of human rights by the rule of law,5 the proclamation and adoption of the UDHR on 10 December 1948 marked the real beginning of the momentous international journey towards ensuring that human rights are protected universally by the rule of law.6 Thus, the UDHR is considered today as the legal baseline for modern international human rights law, and 10 December 2008 marked the 60th anniversary of the setting of that legal baseline.
