Systems for Protection of Human Rights in the Countries of the Global South: A Look at the Interaction between Global and Regional Multilateralism

Abstract

In observing the conditions of adoption and operation of instruments relating to human rights by regional organizations of countries in the Global South, this paper examines the extent to which these texts contribute to the dissemination or redefinition of global standards. Two levels of analysis are employed: at the inter-state level and at the level of the supervisory bodies. Far from confining the countries of the Global South to the role of recipients, or to that of those who disregard so-called universal norms, it is necessary to treat them as agents in the diffusion and reconceptualization of such norms, through the mobilization of the frameworks provided by international relations, and in particular analysis of multilateral negotiations and sociological institutionalism.