The international legal framework that sustains human rights has been long in the making. Over several centuries nations and the international community as a whole have progressively set human rights standards, created binding legal duties for governments, and used monitoring bodies to hold governments accountable. 

Important milestones along the way stretch back to the Magna Carta (1215), the English Bill of Rights (1689), the US Declaration of Independence (1776), the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) and the US Bill of Rights (1791).

In the wake of two world wars an ambitious international system was launched beginning with the adoption of the UN Charter (1945), the establishment of the International Court of Justice (1945), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Genocide Convention (1948) and the Geneva Conventions (1949), soon followed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), and eventually the creation of the International Criminal Court in 2002.  

Each of these instruments followed immense effort, sacrifice and the loss of countless lives. Yet, this century has not been kind to human rights. The actions of governments, political and military elites, private security firms, weapon suppliers, and irregular armed groups have combined to create an environment increasingly oblivious and often positively hostile to human rights standards and obligations. 

We now run the danger of dismantling the foundational pillars of the human rights architecture so painstakingly built over the years. 

We may be only a half-step down the slippery slope. We may have no sensation of sliding. But let’s not forget we don’t appreciate the full impact of the descent until we’re hurtling down at breakneck speed. 

It may be time to take stock. The human rights forum on 30 September is an opportunity to do that.