Developing Human Rights Jurisprudence:
The Eighth Judicial Colloquium on the Domestic Application of International Human Rights Norms
INTERIGHTS and the Commonwealth Secretariat, 2001

Price �25, available from INTERIGHTS and the Commonwealth Secretariat

This publication contains papers presented at the Eighth Judicial Colloquium on the Domestic Application of International Human Rights Norms, held in Bangalore, India in December 1998. The Colloquium was organised by INTERIGHTS and the Commonwealth Secretariat and hosted by the National Law School of India University. The authors are distinguished senior judges and jurists of the higher courts of several South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), from other parts of the Commonwealth (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom) and from the United States.

This Colloquium marked the culmination of a series of judicial colloquia started a decade earlier in 1988, also in Bangalore, followed by other meetings in Zimbabwe, the Gambia, Nigeria, England, South Africa and Guyana. The Bangalore Principles relating to the domestic application of human rights norms, propounded in the first Colloquium, were subsequently developed and have been cited in a number of courts across the globe.

The Bangalore Principles are now widely accepted in many jurisdictions, in no small measure due to the Colloquium discussions over the years. As a consequence, national courts have developed liberal interpretations of constitutional standards, thus enabling more effective protection of human rights. The papers in this volume, written by eminent judges many of whom have been involved in ground-breaking decisions, provide an invaluable insight for practitioners and activists alike who are committed to harnessing the law to bring change in their societies.

The volume contains papers on the broad theme of the domestic application of international human rights norms in national courts. They address the nexus between issues of human rights, law enforcement and state security, as well as the role of national courts in protecting economic, social and cultural rights, addressing issues of equality and poverty, and securing women�s human rights. It also discusses their role in giving effect to the Bangalore Principles, directly or indirectly, in applying international norms. It includes an authoritative re-statement and development of the original Bangalore Principles, 'The Challenge of Bangalore: Making Human Rights a Practical Reality'.

The Colloquium and publication were made possible through the support of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Canadian International Development Agency, the Ford Foundation and the Human Rights Policy Fund of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.