The Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948 set the standard for international and regional human rights instruments.* For instance, most of the provisions of both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) can be traced to provisions in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Equally, both the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950) and the European Social Charter (1961) are similar in content to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights respectively. Also the American Convention on Human Rights (1969) is in important respects similar to the two International Covenants and European instruments mentioned above. Finally, on 27th June, 1981 at Nairobi, Kenya, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity adopted the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights; and this instrument was also partly inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It should however be noted, as is evidenced by some of the writing in the bibliography at the end of this book, that the idea that human beings should have certain rights had been accepted in Africa and elsewhere long before 1948. Nevertheless the scope and content of such rights varied over time and space.

Author Biography

Dr. Munyonzwe Hamalengwa practiced law in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for twenty-five years. He has been involved in some of the most difficult and high-profile murder cases that have garnered media reports all over the world including that of Police Officer Richard Wills who murdered his mistress and burried her in a barrel in his house; the Johnson Aziga case of double murder by HIV transmission; the Kuldip Singh Samra case of double homicide in a Toronto courtroom and then his fleeing to India which resulted in the agreement to have an Extradition Treaty between Canada and India. Hamalengwa has also prevented the removal from Canada by Canada Immigration of hundreds and hundreds of individuals. Hamalengwa is the father of Class Action Law Suits against Carding and Racial profiling in Canada. Dr. Hamalengwa is the Dean of the School of Law at ZAOU (Zambian Open University School of Law).