Human rights and international relations: Morality, law, and politics

In reassessing the evolution of the post-1945 human rights movement, the paper identifies three .waves. or genres of human rights, generally representing the divisions between the Western and non-Western nations on the subject. A number of serious problems are raised, such as .double standards. maintained by some countries concerning human rights. This is followed by an evaluation of the possible clash between two perspectives: (a) the Third World's advocacy of such collective economic rights as a developing nation's right to sustained development (with its attendant demand that the West has to pay for its past colonization); and (b) the West's obstinancy regarding the individuals' rights to be asserted against their governments. In the age of intensified complex interdependence, a growing feature is the interpenetration of the economies of nations. That by necessity makes the migrant workers an .interface. between rich and poor economies. As economic interdependence deepens, both labor-importing and labor-sending countries have common stakes in the protection of the migrant workers.