The Impact of the United Nations Human Rights Treaties on the Domestic Level

Abstract

The success or failure of any international human rights system should be evaluated in accordance with its impact on human rights practices on the domestic (country) level. At the beginning of the new millennium, it is clear that the concept of human rights is widely accepted as the "idea of our time." The conceptual battle is over, and the focus has shifted to the implementation of human rights. Universal ratification of the main United Nations (UN) human rights treaties might be appearing on the horizon, but ratification in itself is largely a formal, and in some cases an empty, gesture. 1 The challenge now is to ensure that the promises contained in the treaties [End Page 483] and affirmed through ratification are realized in the lives of ordinary people around the world. A paradigm shift to the true "customers" of the system is necessary.