Global News

This might sound grim but one thing that I have learned over the years is that secular "human rights" do not really exist. The entire concept of human rights was borne primarily out of the trauma of WWII and a sense that legal protections for the weak needed to be enshrined to avoid another apocalypse. 

Yet the idea never really took hold globally. Or at least it did not supersede other ideas of how the world is best organized. The U.S. as the world's only superpower worked to weaken those few enforceable international law mechanisms that were built, out of belief that they would unacceptably constrain its power.

We can see that even countries that made human rights part of their brand do not take them seriously when they have other interests or beliefs at play. What really matters is power. 

This does not mean that there is no way to defend the weak. But the best way is to find means to help them level the balance of power, rather than appealing to abstract concepts in which few really believe.

Writer, podcaster, and commentator on foreign affairs and politics. Runs /dropglobalnews

Clanker Broadcasting Service /cbs

Are you thinking specifically of international cases?
Orherwise, while no country is perfect, there are still parts of the world where basic human rights are mostly respected, and where there are legal recourses against violations.