Human Rights

School Library Journal

Gr 7-9Gold traces the evolution of human rights protections, beginning with the efforts of J. Henri Dunant, a Swiss businessman who witnessed and publicized the horrors of war and worked to create the International Red Cross and the first Geneva Convention in 1864. The author then explains how the atrocities and abuses of modern warfare have increased the need for an expanded definition of human rights from the original protections for wounded combatants to fair treatment and opportunity for all people. Numerous treaties to enforce human rights are outlined, as is the formation of organizations to monitor abuses. The efforts of the United Nations to improve human rights are also discussed. The closing chapter concentrates on international initiatives to enforce basic human rights today in countries such as the former Yugoslavia, China, and Rwanda. The texts of the treaty of the first Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are appended. Gold's treatment of this subject is thorough, even though the long stretches of detail about the drafting and ratification of the treaties tend to be dry. Black-and-white and full-color photos, maps, and reproductions add little to the text. This book will have a limited general audience, but it does provide information not often found elsewhere and should be considered by libraries in which report materials on the subject are needed.Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO