International Protection of Human Rights in Africa, Asia and the Middle East

In this special Section of Diritti umani e diritto internazionale, Konstantin D. Magliveras focuses on the protection of human rights in the Middle East. In particular, he outlines the effects of the ‘Arab Spring’ in augmenting the standard of human rights in the Middle East, with an insightful reference to the expected institution of the Arab Court of Human Rights. In his essay, Konstantin D. Magliveras does not forget the role of Islam as the predominant religion in the Arab States and the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam. Yota Negishi examines the protection of human rights in Asia. He goes beyond the typical question of whether a future Asian Human Rights System is possible, more concretely wondering whether the current Asian cooperation on human rights is appropriate. Yota Negishi applies a ‘Foucauldian methodology’ to emphasise the ‘bio-politics’ of human rights, which have been utilised by Asian States to reconcile their traditional developmentalist or socialist mindset with global neoliberal policies. I deal with the African Human Rights System. I underline the great number of monitoring bodies, both continental and sub-regional, which are competent for human rights disputes arisen in the legal frame drawn by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. In particular, I inquire into the effective need to regulate the coexistence of these many bodies, taking into due account the general phenomenon of proliferation of international tribunals.