Vol. 9 No. 11 (November 1999) pp. 538-540.

A HANDBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS TERMINOLOGY by H. Victor Cond‚. Lincoln: NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. 200 pp. $35.00 cloth.

Reviewed by John C. King, School of International Service, American
University. Email: jcking@american.edu

The goal of this fourth volume in the Human Rights in International Perspective Series is to help meet the challenge put forth by the United Nations in 1995. The challenge was to create a decade of expansion in the dialogue of international human rights, and more particularly, an expansion in the teaching and learning activities and tools to facilitate the dialogue. The importance of this goal cannot be underestimated as the prominence of human rights issues and concerns have obviously risen to the forefront of international dialogue in the wake of the demise of the Cold War. This book meets the challenge squarely in several ways. It is a teaching tool,
targeted primarily, but not exclusively, for those beginning their exposure to the language, issues, and literature of human rights. More specifically, it is a reference work, which, in the aspiration of the author, is to provide greater understanding of "the meaning of terms used in the field of international human rights and the words that will unlock the meaning of concepts and theories, law and procedures, institutions and means of interpreting human rights."

The main body of the book consists of some 800 terms and definitions, arranged in alphabetical order, drawn from a mosaic of disciplines, such as international law, domestic civil rights, common law, legal philosophy, religious studies, political science, and other academic disciplines, and reference works, such as legal dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, and glossaries). Assembling them under one roof is clearly a contribution to the overall U.N. challenge. For students, teachers, lawyers, and practitioners in the human rights field, it makes for easy access to the language of human rights. The obvious attention to directness and clarity in the definitions helps to overcome the often difficult and sometimes excessive legalistic language in the field. Many will appreciate these strengths. In addition, the methodology of presentation is helpful, particularly to scholars and others who might want to go beyond the definitions provided. For example, many of the terms are accompanied by what might be called a "signal acronym" given in parenthesis. It defines the main theoretical context from which a given term is drawn, and any foreign roots of the term are provided in italics followed by a literal translation of the foreign phrase. For example, the entry "Ratione Conditionis (LOAC), Latin, lit: by reason of the circumstances," we are informed, is used primarily in the context of the Law of Armed Conflict wing of the human rights literature, is derived from Latin, and so forth.

Two appendices are provided which anchor the book. Both are important instruments that help to frame the human

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rights dialogue. The first is a list of all rights protected by the International Bill of Rights, such as the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin; and other rights that are clearly consistent with the U.S. Constitution. The second is the full text of each of the four documents that comprise the International Bill of Rights: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of1948; the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights of 1966; the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966; and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights of 1966.

In short, the handbook is a timely and practical contribution to teachers and students of international human rights particularly at the undergraduate level. It could also be useful to practitioners and international human rights lawyers, but to a lesser degree. It is of less utility to empirical scholars and political philosophers. The reason is found in the author's choices of terms to include in the handbook. While acknowledging that his choices were based on personal judgment and are limited
in scope, they almost exclusively reflect the familiar individual and collective claims for rights based on citizenship, liberalist political tradition, philosophy, and institutions. And, of course, this is an appropriate point of view in a volume that is designed to facilitate the dialogue of international human rights, but it falls short of the proposed goal.

By contrast, there is a rapidly growing normative and empirical literature focused on group rights based primarily on ethnocultural group conflict, identity and membership (see for example, Shapiro and Kymlicka: 1997; and the ongoing Minorities At Risk Project directed by Ted R. Gurr at the University of Maryland). These lines of inquiry have emerged because serious questions have been raised about the adequacy of liberalist political philosophy and institutions to provide solutions to the many ethno-nationalistic inspired conflicts and abuses of human rights in the former communist states of East European and elsewhere. Although many termsrelevant to the group rights perspective are included in this volume, such as ethnocentrism, cultural rights, marginalized, ethnic cleansing, tolerance,
many others are overlooked, including multiculturalism, irredentism, partition, cultural rights, bigotry, and group identity. Such overlooked terms, of course, are also needed to help "unlock the meaning of concepts and theories, law, and procedures" (and behavior) that create abuses of international human rights and also create solutions to those abuses. To facilitate the dialogue of contemporary international human rights and thereby to meet the challenge put forth by the United Nations, such terms, ideas, and concepts need to be included in a reference work of this type.

Despite this shortcoming, there is much to be appreciated in this handbook. The focus and range of terms included is impressive overall. Cross-referencing them to appropriate legal, philosophical, historical, or policy contexts adds depth to the definitions and invites further scholarly inquiry. The definitions are clear, free from jargon, and typically informative. The handbook's utility as an easy and accessible reference tool, particularly in many international human rights teaching contexts, is obvious and timely. It is a good start toward making the language and instruments

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of international human rights plain to a large audience as well as to a specialized audience. Casting the net wider and toward the group rights perspective in a second edition would strengthen this important task. That is the next step.

REFERENCE:

Shapiro. Ian and Will Kymlicka, editors. 1997. ETHNICITY AND GROUP RIGHTS.
New York: New York University Press.