A. Dirk Moses is Professor of Modern History at the University of Sydney. He is Senior Editor of the Journal of Genocide Research. Marco Duranti is Senior Lecturer in Modern European and International History at the University of Sydney. He is the author of The Conservative Human Rights Revolution (2017). Roland Burke is Senior Lecturer in World History at La Trobe University. He is the author of Decolonization and the Evolution of International Human Rights (2010).

• Introduction. Human rights, empire, and after Roland Burke, Marco Duranti and A. Dirk Moses; Part I. Anti-colonial struggles and the right to self-determination: 1. Seeking the political kingdom: universal human rights and the anti-colonial movement in Africa Bonny Ibhawoh; 2. Decolonizing the United Nations: Anti-colonialism and human rights in the French Empire Marco Duranti; 3. The French Red Cross, decolonization, and humanitarianism during the Algerian War Jennifer Johnson; 4. Connecting indigenous rights to human rights in the Anglo settler states: Another 1970s story Miranda Johnson; 5. Privileging the Cold War over decolonization: The US emphasis on political rights Mary Ann Heiss; Part II. Post-colonial statehood and global human rights norms: 6. Cutting out the ulcer and washing away the incubus of the past: genocide prevention through population transfer A. Dirk Moses; 7. Codifying minority rights: postcolonial constitutionalism in Burma, Ceylon, and India Cindy Ewing; 8. Between ambitions and caution: India, human rights, and self-determination at the United Nations Raphaëlle Khan; 9. 'From this era of passionate self-discovery': Norman Manley, human rights, and the end of colonial rule in Jamaica Steven L. B. Jensen; 10. Re-entering histories of past imperial violence: Kenya, Indonesia, and the reach of transitional justice Michael Humphrey; Part III. Colonial and neo-colonial responses; 11. The inventors of human rights in Africa: Portugal, late colonialism, and the UN human rights regime Miguel Bandeira Jerónimo and José Pedro Monteiro; 12. 'A world made safe for diversity': Apartheid and the language of human rights, progress, and pluralism Roland Burke; 13. Between humanitarian rights and human rights: René Cassin, architect of universality, diplomat of French Empire Jay Winter; 14. The end of the Vietnam War and the rise of human rights Barbara Keys; 15. Decolonizing the Geneva Conventions: national liberation and the development of humanitarian law Eleanor Davey; 16. Liberté sans frontières, French humanitarianism, and the neoliberal critique of Third Worldism Jessica Whyte.

'Tracing the global debate over human rights from a world dominated by empires to that made up of nation states, this strikingly original collection of essays reveals a rich and unexpectedly innovative history.' Faisal Devji, University of Oxford