The Rights of Peoples

Apart from individual rights, claims have long been made for collective (minority) rights. Now a "third generation" of rights is appearing, the rights of peoples, exemplified by the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights of 1981. This volume discusses the new generation of rights.

Human rights are an important and popular subject. Since 1948 the international human rights movement has become a major force, and has produced important changes in international law. But apart from individual human rights, claims have long been made to collective rights, for example, minority rights, the rights of peoples under colonial rule, aboriginal rights. More recently claims have been made to a number of ''rights of peoples'', including rghts of an economic kind - the ''right to development'', for example, or to permanent sovereignty over natural resources. Some claims are even more ambitious - for example, the right to peace, or to a healthy environment.It has been argued that these ''peoples rights'' form a ''third generation'' of human rights. This development is expressly recognized in the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights of 1981. The essays in this volume discuss, from a variety of perspectives, the claims made for a ''third generation'' of peoples rights. Is this a desirable development in human rights? Or an attempt to undermine established individual rights? What is the status of these rights against governments and states? The volume also includes a documentary appendix with details of relevant texts, and a comprehensive bibliography, making the collection the most balanced and informative account of the ''peoples rights'' movement yet produced.