The analysis of human rights to date has lacked a truly deep and complex awareness of the historical context in which they developed. Examining the 'humanness' of rights, this book redresses the balance by demonstrating how the characterization of this humanity from a Euro-American perspective shapes the content and implementation of international human rights law. Covering a diverse range of topics, case studies and theories, the author undertakes a critique of the principal assumptions on which the existing international human rights regime has been constructed. She argues that the decolonization of human rights, and the creation of a global community that is conducive to the well-being of all humans, will require a radical restructuring of our ways of thinking, researching and writing. In contributing to this restructuring she brings together feminist and Indigenous approaches as well as postmodern and post colonial scholarship, engaging directly with some of the prevailing orthodoxies, such as 'universality', 'the individual', 'self-determination', 'cultural relativism', 'globalization' and 'civil society'. The book will be essential reading for professionals, policy-makers and academics involved in the study and implementation of human rights within international law.