Human Rights Mean Business

Abstract

At the turn of the century, as at its beginning, the world’s nations are a disparate series of economies varying enormously in their social characteristics. Speaking generally, in the North, countries have passed through an industrial revolution, through a period of progressive and incremental improvements in standards of living and a period of gradual, if imperfect, diffusion of wealth through the ranks of society. In the South, for various reasons, nations evidence fewer of these transformations. In the developed nations, fundamental human rights, including labour rights, have been advanced, codified and, for the most part, observed. In developing countries, even where these standards have been codified, many are often ignored, sometimes egregiousy