Antonio-Augusto Cançado Trindade: Tratado International dos Direitos Humanos Volume 1, 486 pp., 1997; Volume 2, 440 pp., 1999, Sergio Antonio Fabris (ed), Porto Alegre, Brazil*
| Published date | 01 June 2001 |
| DOI | 10.1177/092405190101900210 |
| Date | 01 June 2001 |
| Subject Matter | Part D: Documentation |
Part
D: Documentation
Antonio-Augusto Caneado Trindade: Tratado Internacional dos Direitos Humanos
Volume 1,486 pp., 1997; Volume 2, 440 pp., 1999, Sergio Antonio Fabris (ed), Porto
Alegre, Brazil'
Theauthor of this treatise on international
human
rightslaw in Portuguese is oneof the best
representatives ofthe intemationallegal
community
on theLatin-American continent. He is
theauthor of20 booksandover 200othercontributions to publications on international law
andinternational humanrights lawin
Portuguese,
Spanish,
Englishand
French.
Overthelast
25 years he has made a significant contribution to the development of international law in
various
fields.
Inparticularstandsouthis
lecture
atthe
Hague
Academy ofInternational Law
entitled 'Co-Existence and Coordination of
Mechanisms
of International Protection of
Human
Rights' (Collected
Courses
of the
Hague
Academy
of International Law,
Volume
202,
1987).
He is currentlyPresident ofthe Inter-American Courtof
Human
Rightsin Costa
Ricaandhas beenthought-provoking inmanyof hisconcurring anddissenting
opinions
over
the last coupleof years, stimulating
further
the development of itsjurisprudence,
Theauthorin thesetwo
volumes
identifies thebasicprinciples of the international
human
rightslaw
regime,
analyses the
methods
of interpretation and application of its norms and
examines
the operation of its
mechanisms.
He discusses all legal instruments of protection
at the
global
level(conventional and extra-conventional procedures) as well as the
regional
conventions on human
rights.
A clearlink is made
between
humanrights law, international
humanitarian law, the international law pertaining to refugees and its impact on
domestic
public
law.
One of the salient
features
of the treatise is that
it
considers the universality of
international humanrightstobe theoverriding principle. Theauthorpersuades thereaderthat
this universality can only be attained if a
necessary
balance
is struckbetween doctrine and
practice (jurisprudence).
Everychaptercontains a short
summary
at thebeginning, a very detailedbibliography at
the end(particularly impressive is the bibliography at the end of Chapter 14,
Volume
2, pp.
420-427) and the table of
contents
is illustrated with a wealth of literature in
various
languages.
The two
volumes
contain a total of 1960
footnotes.
The authoralso
includes
an
exhaustive list of his own publications
(Volume
1,pp. 449 -486; Volume 2, pp.
429-440).
In
Volume
1(Chapters 1and 2) the authorresearches thehistorical roots to elucidate the
evolutionary processof the
various
human
rights
procedures.
He also indicates the
raison
d'
eireofthe book,namelya contribution to the elaboration, systematisation anddivulgation
of the new corpus of humanrights law directed at the universal culture of observance of
humanrights(p. 28),whileusingthe
fundamental
tenetsof generalinternational law(p. 47).
Thereaderis invitedto ponderuponthe
question
whether
thefounding fathers of the
modern
law of
nations
did indeed consider the human person a subject of international law and
whether the
formation
of the
moderate
State subsequently denied the human
person
this
recognition before the law (p. 71). In viewof the fact that the author participated in three
different capacities inthe workof the
Second
WorldConference on HumanRightsinVienna
in June
1993,
namelyas a
member
of the Brazilian delegation to the Conference, adelegate
ofthe Inter-American Institute of
Human
Rights
andRapporteur of theWorldForumofNon-
Governmental
Organisations,
Chapters
3-7 giveanin-depth and verydetailed
account
ofthe
Dr. Johannes van Aggelen, United Nations, Geneva.
Netherlands Quarterly
of
Human Rights. Vol. 19/2. 215-225. 2001.
eNetherlands Institute
of
Human Rights (81M). Printed in the Netherlands. 215
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