ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the global variation in the protection of human rights. The defeat of fascism in Europe ushered in a new period of international concern and awareness that a global system of institutions, legal guarantees, and mechanisms should be established to promote and protect individual and collective rights. These desires found expression in the creation of the United Nations system and its key documents for the promotion and protection of human rights: the 1945 United Nations Charter and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These two documents were soon followed by two more legally binding instruments, promulgated in 1966 and entered into force in 1976: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (IESCR) (Donnelly 1989, 1998:18-35; Davidson 1993:39-45; Forsythe 2000:28-52).
