NGO's and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Curious Grapevine [Hardcover]

William Korey (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312162553 | ISBN-13: 978-0312162559 | Publication Date: November 15, 1998 | Edition: 1st

When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted fifty years ago, Eleanor Roosevelt, its principal architect, predicted that a "curious grapevine" would carry its message behind barbed wire and stone walls. This volume tells the extraordinary story of how NGOs became the "grapevine" Mrs. Roosevelt anticipated, sensitizing mankind’s conscience about violations of human rights, "shaming" the most notorious abusers, creating the international machinery and mechanisms to bring about implementation of the Declaration, laying the groundwork for the destruction of the Soviet empire, as well as of the apartheid system in South Africa, and establishing the principle of accountability for crimes against humanity. By no means is the struggle at an end, yet the notion of human rights has progressed from being a marginal part of international relations a half century ago to stand today as a critical element in diplomatic discourse. This book proves that it is the NGOs that have placed human rights at the heart of humankind’s present and future agenda.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“William Korey's valuable study highlights the important role played by a new generation of nongovernmental organizations....” —New York Review of Books

“It is well worth reading.” —American Foreign Policy Interests

About the Author

William Korey is a prolific writer of articles for popular and scholarly journals, and for the op-ed pages of such newspapers as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 652 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (November 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312162553
• ISBN-13: 978-0312162559
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,363,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deftly describes the human rights impact of the NGO's., January 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: NGO's and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Curious Grapevine (Hardcover)

In this book, William Korey deftly describes how NGO's, the Non-Governmental Organizations officially accredited to the United Nations, have had a powerful influence in sensitizing mankind's conscience to the frequent violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the UN fifty years ago. It was the NGO's which laid the groundwork for the destruction of the Soviet Empire, as well as the Apartheid system in South Africa, and established the principle of accountability for crimes against humanity. In this book, William Korey has demonstrated that is the NGO's which have placed human rights at the the heart of humankinds current and future agenda.

4 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars UN Committees, December 5, 1999

By 

Liza J. Morales (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NGO's and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Curious Grapevine (Hardcover)

I had looked forward to reading the book as it looked like a comprehensive coverage of NGO activity in the area of human rights and the UN. While giving substantive coverage on the committees and bodies of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Korey omitted any mention of the work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, or the work of the NGOs in this very important area. The inclusion of this subject would have given the book a more balanced and scholarly appeal.