Synopsis Human rights are based on respect for the dignity and worth of all human beings and seek to ensure freedom from fear and want. They are rooted in ethical principles and usually inscribed in a country’s constitutional and legal framework. Violations of human rights is one of the most worrying problems of our times for the entire world civilisation. The responses to the worst human rights violations of the twentieth century, to totalitarian oppression have created a veritable human rights culture. The discourse of international human rights has become a medium for the condemnation of local abuses, regardless of how these abuses may otherwise be characterised or rationalised within domestic political schemes. Rights talk can affect local dialogue and in this way structure domestic political developments.