FOREWORD Human rights as a concept are normative in essence, capturing a bundle of rights reflecting the interests most fundamental to any human being. It is not without reason that the understanding of human rights has become a critical component of modern legal systems. Human rights have experienced momentous growth during the post-World war II era. At the international, state and local levels, human rights laws, declarations, charters, and covenants have multiplied and endorsed a recurring core of rights and obligations linked to the protection of fundamental human dignity, equality and justice. Nevertheless, there has been a growing concern that simply ratifying or legislating human rights conventions and laws does not lead to the effective enjoyment of human rights in the daily lives of millions of individuals. What really is necessary are initiatives that would translate these broad and abstract human rights norms and standards into the vernacular of everyday life, transplanting these norms into ordinary human relations where they can truly achieve their transformative potential. Human rights, in the way they have been classically captured in legal standards, protect the individual against oppression by the state. Built on the painful experiences of abuses at the hands of governments, human rights thus correspond to a series of obligations imposed upon the state, including