Is the human rights era drawing to a close?

The challenge that human rights face today have not come out of the blue. Rather they are the result of what from the human rights perspective are three systemic weaknesses in the architecture of the post-World War Two political settlement: the acceptance of national sovereignty; the focus of human rights on governmental rather than private power; and the relative weakness of social and economic rights as compared with more traditional civil and political guarantees. The attacks of 11 September 2001 and the financial collapse from 2008 have exposed these weaknesses and the responses to both have threatened the system in a direct way. At a time when the United States has forsaken any role as defender of international human rights, even on a hypocritical basis, the future might appear bleak. But a reinvigorated Europe may yet operate as an antidote to pessimism.