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Ukraine and the Rebirth of Human Rights

While rights and their legal underpinnings have gone underappreciated in recent years, the past 12 months have created an impetus for revival. Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and the mass atrocities that followed are a stark reminder why human rights were enshrined in international law in the first place.

NEW YORK – As democracy has receded in many parts of the world, “human rights” – and the language, institutions, and framework of laws to which the concept has given rise over the past 75 years – have increasingly attracted criticism.

Of course, realities on the ground have always fallen short of the lofty aspirations enshrined in our patchwork global human-rights system, from the first initiatives under the League of Nations to the 1945 United Nations Charter and the treaties subsequently adopted by UN members. But defenders of human rights can hardly be blamed for the rise of populist authoritarianism. Autocrats are on the rise not because the human-rights regime has failed, but because power dynamics in many countries stifle economic opportunity and block political alternatives, enabling authoritarian strongmen to flout democratic rules.

But while rights and their legal underpinnings have been eroded in recent years, the past 12 months have created an impetus for their resurrection. Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and the mass atrocities that followed have reminded us that human rights – and the international legal architecture that gives them substance – still matter. In fact, the war underscores three fundamental lessons about the state of human rights today.

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