The notion of human rights finds grounding in principles dating back to Greek philosophy and various world religions. Other well-known landmarks were the Magna Carta in 1215 and the Bill of Rights in 1689 in England. Yet it was not until the Age of Enlightenment that persons were regarded as being endowed by nature with inalienable fundamental rights that could be invoked against their respective governments and that must be safeguarded by those governments. The Bill of Rights incorporated into the American Constitution in 1791 and the famous French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 contained for the first time a principled and systematic presentation of human rights in the sense of fundamental freedoms. Since then, virtually every nation's laws contain legal guarantees for human rights.

Nevertheless, it only has been since the end of World War II that the legal protection of individuals by their respective governments has been made an obligation under international law. There were some antecedents, for instance, in the areas of anti-slave trade treaties, humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts, labor conventions, and the League of Nations mandate system, protection of minorities in various post-World War I treaties, and humanitarian intervention; but the United Nations Charter in 1945 marks the first explicit entry of human rights into international law. With the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, by the United Nations General Assembly--often referred to as the international Magna Carta--a new and significant body of law developed at the universal and regional levels. Treaties relating to such topics as genocide, racial and gender discrimination, refugees, rights of children, civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights have been promulgated over the past 50 years, and attention to human rights continues to be a major agenda item before the international community. The Council of Europe, the Organization of African Unity and the Organization of American States are three key regional organizations that have established bodies and procedures for the promotion and protection of human rights.

Responding to the growing importance of this body of law, courses in international human rights are now offered at the major American law schools, and the legal literature in this area has grown rapidly. It is with this background that the University of Cincinnati College of Law established in 1979 the first endowed institute at an American law school devoted to the study of international human rights law. The Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights was made possible by a generous grant by William J. Butler, Trustee of the Urban Morgan Educational Fund. Mr. Butler is a distinguished member of the New York Bar who has been active in human rights causes for many years.

The establishment of the Institute gives recognition to the fact that the primary movers, both in terms of sources of new ideas and strategies for implementation, in the international human rights field are private organizations acting in domestic and transnational arenas. In that the majority of the developing law in this field represents limitations upon the actions of governments, it is understandable that the record of governments often has been checkered in its observance and promotion of the rights guaranteed. Such a reality underscores the critical need for private efforts such as the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights to take the lead in the promotion and protection of human rights, particularly as it relates to the education of tomorrow's leaders.