Which idea of human rights will prevail: Western notions of freedom from fear or poorer nations' insistence on freedom from want?

As Martti Ahtisaari receives the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, it is clear that the hard work of peacemaking does not guarantee universal acclaim.

Its airports shut, Thailand is now ungovernable, as an educated elite attempts to overthrow the populist government it couldn't defeat at the ballot box.

Quiet relief, an undercurrent of caution and hope for a new approach to human rights, the environment and the problems of the poor.

As the UN meets today to assess its plan to heal a suffering world, the billions of women who still lack fundamental rights--especially reproductive rights- must be heard.

Despite the Bush Administration's scramble to scuttle her nomination because she is--gasp!--a feminist, a South African judge is named high commissioner for human rights.

Pressured by the Bush Administration, the United Nations issues a ringing declaration and solicits pledges that decry rape as a weapon of war. How about actually doing something?

The UN resolution designating rape as a weapon of war is historic, but provides no legal remedy for wartime victims of sexual violence.

One of the world's most prominent critics of US interventionism talks about his new post as UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories.

From the archive: A book by a former ICTY official offers a vivid insider's account of realpolitik at the Milosevic trial.