The international human rights movement has become firmly established in global politics since the UN's 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and principles of human rights now have a major impact on international diplomacy and lawmaking.

This major five-volume encyclopedia set offers comprehensive coverage of all aspects of human rights theory, practice, law, and history. The set provides country profiles, and full coverage of the development of the movement, of historical cases of abuse, of the key figures, of major organizations past and present, and of a range of other issues in economics, government, religion, journalism, etc., that touch on human rights theory and practice.