⁵ In 2000 there were 259, 637 civil cases before the U.S. federal courts; 140,825 dealt with federal questions and only a few dozen with the Alien Tort Claims Act or the Torture Victim Protection Act.

⁶ Bradley, Curtis A., The Costs of International Human Rights Litigation, 2 Chi. J. Int’l L. 457, 458 (2001)Google Scholar (describing developments in the United States).

⁷ Freedom House’s 2001 Freedom in the World Report indicates that Africa and Asia are the regions of the world where human freedom is lacking most, yet these are the regions where few human rights bodies exist or where the existing bodies are not often utilized.

⁸ See Amnesty International, Comité Loosli Bachelard, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and Association of Members of the Episcopal Conference of East Africa v. Sudan, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Comms. Nos.48/90, 50./91, 52/91 and 89/93 (November 1999) (holding that in Sudan the government is “providing for courts whose impartiality is not guaranteed”) ; available at <http://www.I.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/index.html>.

⁹ See, e.g., Report of the Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Mr. Abid Hussain UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/64 (Jan. 29, 1999), at paras. 26-28.

¹⁰ Although this may not be the case according to the commission’s constituent documents, this has long been the view of successive commissioners.

¹¹ Lutz, Ellen L. & Sikkink, Kathryn, International Human Rights Law and Practice in Latin America, 54 Int’l Org. 633-59 (2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹² Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, 2000 O.J. (C 364) 1.

¹³ Pocket Oxford Dictionary 529 (5th ed. 1969).