ABSTRACT
In 1958, on the 10th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt gave a speech to the United Nations (UN) in which she was at pains to stress that human rights were not abstract principles but were to be found: 1
in small places, close to home … they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination.
In the 60 years that have since elapsed, the foundations laid by the UDHR have come to support an ever-growing body of national and international human rights law, together with equality and non-discrimination legislation and voluminous associated jurisprudence. Despite the varying national recognition given to human rights, and the enormous social changes that have occurred in the intervening years, the above observation of Mrs. Roosevelt remains accurate. As will become evident in the jurisdiction-specific chapters of Part II, it remains the case that human rights issues continue to arise with most frequency in everyday settings such as the workplace, high street or classroom. What she could not have foreseen, is the sheer volume and variety of such issues now impacting upon courts and regulators in all those jurisdictions.