Abstract:
The story of the founding of the United Nations reflects its complicated
ideological foundations. Jan Smuts, who wrote the words “human rights”
into the Charter, was also the premier of white-ruled South Africa. Smuts
embodies the dualism that runs through international law itself: the pursuit of
the common good is invariably tied to its own interest. It was only through
the interventions of the emerging global community, and in particular the
developing world—and consequently the repudiation of Smuts and the
apartheid policies of his successors —that human rights attained a more
universal nature. Human rights have deeper, but also darker, roots than
many current accounts would have it.
