HUMAN RIGHTS AND STATE RESPONSIBILITY

The first 50 years of the human rights movement were hindered by the Cold War. With that hindrance removed, the 1990's were a period of growth and improvement in human rights law and institutions. Since 2001, the period has been marked by preoccupations regarding terrorism : the latter has taken much attention and energy away from other human rights problems. We live a world order in which some sovereign states beat primary powers and responsibilities in the life of their populations. Success in promoting human rights requires hard-to-achieve success in other areas including building more capable, responsive, efficient, and non-corrupt governments, dealing with failed states, increasing economic productivity, improving the power and states of women, improving education, and managing international tensions and conflicts. Even if there are some grounds for optimism, making sure that human rights are respected worldwide will take centuries, not decades... How to think through and implement human rights and individual sovereignty imperatives ? How to address the demands of international justice and the rights associated with them ? How to implement a multilateral culture without having it become a tool of Western extension and colonization ? How to handle the effects of the paradox of contemporary democratic culture ? Dealing with such Human rights and State responsibility problematics, Nasser Zammit signs a major reflexion about the globalized post-2001 world.