Human rights has become a main feature of present-day international politics. This book is about the role of human rights in foreign policy. In the first part a number of problems and dilemmas which confront policy-makers in the field of human rights are discussed. The second part is about the place of human rights in the foreign policy of a number of selected states.

At a time when the United Nations demonstrates new vitality, this book provides essential background of nearly 50 years of the world organization's experience. It sets out the fundamental features of the structure of the UN, and traces the political developments around such topics as maintaining international peace, protecting human rights and improving economic welfare.;Peter Baehr is the author of "Policy Analysis and Policy Innovation", "The Role of National Delegation in the General Assembly" and "The Netherlands and the United Nations: Selected Issues" and Leon Gordenker is the author of "Refugees in International Politics", "International Aid and National Decisions", "The United Nations in International Politics" and "The UN Secretary-General and the Maintenance of Peace". He co-edited "The Challenging Role of the UN Secretary-General".

Attempts to explain the United Nation's first 45 years. It sets out the fundamental features of the structure of the United Nations and traces the political developments around such topics as maintaining international peace, protecting human rights and improving economic welfare.

This volume contains the papers which were presented at a symposium on human rights, held in September 1994 in Beijing and organized within the framework of an academic programme of co-operation between the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. The focal point of most of the papers is the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action - adopted during the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights - which, from the perspective of particularly the Chinese participants, is considered as marking a new beginning in the field of human rights. Taking the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action as a point of departure the following main themes were the subject of discussion at the symposium and are more or less similarly reflected in the present volume: universality "versus" particularity; individual rights "versus" collective rights; national sovereignty and matters of international concern; ratification of international treaties.