The rise of the theme of Human Rights in post-cold war: the Conference of Vienna (1993)

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna (1993) as a milestone in human rights. The central idea is to show two movements. First, that the Conference had an important role in the universalization of human rights as a central point on the agenda of states and as an issue-area in international relations. The second one refers to the Conference as a contribution to the process of flexibility of sovereignty. The article is divided into three areas: first we discuss the background surrounding the Vienna Conference in the 1990s; next we discuss the relationship between human rights and state sovereignty in the international system and, finally, a third section that aims to relate the two movements from the debates of the Conference.

Keywords

• Direitos Humanos. Relações Internacionais. Conferência de Viena. Soberania.