Mr Zenawi says that groups such as Human Rights Watch interpret human rights too narrowly.
Claims that the UK should be given a greater "margin of appreciation" – or discretion to interpret human rights according to the specific situation within the UK – have been at the root of many arguments in favour of a British bill of rights.
But other countries have been critical of the UK's Brighton Declaration, opposing its emphasis on expanding the so-called margin of appreciation – allowing national courts to interpret human rights in different ways – and, in particular, introducing stricter criteria to reduce the number of cases reaching the court in Strasbourg.
"We constantly lecture China about international norms over its behaviour in the South China Sea, but when it comes to the findings of the committee, Australia just responds, 'We disagree … we interpret human rights differently.' "If you're making up your own version of international law, it shows a complete disrespect, even a contempt, for the international system".
This is reflected in contemporary narratives about sex workers' rights and the ways in which different actors interpret human rights law.
We know how the European Parliament and the European Union interpret human rights from Yugoslavia and elsewhere.
Ministers have highlighted the massive backlog of cases building up in Strasbourg and implied that the "margin of appreciation" allowed to each country in interpreting the human rights convention in different national ways is too narrow.
Nor is it easy to understand what the prime minister, the home secretary and their advisers mean when they threaten to legislate to limit the judges' role in interpreting international human rights obligations or to "restore the primacy of parliament".
But the appeal judge believes that domestic courts are interpreting the human rights convention in a way that "may not be as restricted as hoped, or feared (depending on your point of view)".
Together, these three instruments and the Optional Protocols constitute what has come to be known as the International Bill of Human Rights, serving as touchstones for interpreting the human rights provisions of the UN Charter.
