Human Rights Law Meets Climate Change and Global Pandemics
Human rights law rarely operates the way the textbooks describe it. Behind the treaties and the formal mechanisms sits a layer of power, diplomacy and tactics that determines what actually gets enforced — and what doesn't. Few people are positioned to write about that layer with real authority. Kriangsak Kittichaisaree is one of them: a professor, former ambassador, and international judge with more than three decades in the field.
The second edition of his book, International Human Rights Law and Diplomacy (Edward Elgar), has been thoroughly revised to bring that experience up to date. It covers how human rights are treated across major cultures, religions, ideologies and global regions, and assesses the competence of the international institutions meant to protect them — from the UN human rights system through regional mechanisms.
What's new in this edition is where it gets genuinely current: Kittichaisaree examines emerging and contested dimensions of human rights — the changing geopolitical landscape, the sea, and cyberspace — and, notably, brings to the fore the interconnectedness of human rights with global pandemics and climate change. That's not a minor addition; it reflects where the human rights conversation has actually moved in the years since the first edition.
The book's structure moves from foundational questions (is human rights universalism myth or reality?) through the UN system, regional mechanisms, and treaty obligations, to compliance and enforcement — grounded throughout in Kittichaisaree's direct diplomatic and judicial experience rather than purely doctrinal analysis.
Q&A
Q: What's new in the second edition?
A: Updated coverage of human rights and the changing geopolitical landscape, the sea and cyberspace, plus new material on the interconnectedness of human rights with global pandemics and climate change.
Q: What is the author's background?
A: Kriangsak Kittichaisaree has more than three decades of experience as a professor, ambassador and international judge.
Q: Does the book cover regional mechanisms?
A: Yes — alongside the UN human rights system and international treaty obligations.
Q: Is this a purely doctrinal text?
A: No — it explicitly examines how power, diplomacy and tactics operate within the human rights system in practice.
Q: Who should read this?
A: Students and scholars of human rights, international law academics, government officials, and NGO practitioners.