The draft International Convention on Human Rights is an ongoing dialogue through a document. Following models of the International Law Commission and the American Law Institute, the International Convention is being compiled by a reporter, Dr. Kirk Boyd. The reporter reviews all comments made about the draft document, and in consultation with others, makes changes to the wording of the draft Convention that are appropriate based upon insights gained through comments.

The existing draft International Convention is an amalgam of many documents and comments from participants internationally, however, a careful record as not been kept of each change. Rather, it has been a brainstorm producing a draft document that no one individual or group is responsible for.

Beginning on January 1, 2008, this generalized brainstorm is being carefully memorialized. A record is being kept of all changes made to the draft Convention as of January 1, 2008. No changes are made that are not recorded in this history section on the website. In addition, every comment submitted is kept for future review.

In this way, the reporter can present all of the comments and changes that have been made to a group of drafters, a much larger, international, group of people who have agreed once a year to review comments and changes as presented by the reporter. The drafters then vote on whether to accept the changes made by the reporter, to delete changes made, or to make changes of their own.

All changes made as of January 1, 2008 are listed below. The reporter also sometimes includes explanations for comments that raise significant questions, yet changes to the document were not made.

Once again, it should be emphasized that the Draft International Convention on this website is only a starting point — not a finished document. It is one example of possible wording for an International Convention, and ultimately it is up to the drafters to decide what the text will be.

The goal is to facilitate focused conversation, including opposition to an International Convention, and to collect suggestions for rewording the draft document. People and organizations are also encouraged to prepare their own drafts and add their work.

Hopefully, with time, the International Law Commission, at the request of the United Nations General Assembly, will engage in writing its own draft International Convention on Human Rights. If they do so, the work done on this draft Convention will be useful to them. Should these drafting efforts come to fruition, it is possible they may then be considered by countries for drafting a treaty creating an International Civil Court in a process similar to the creation of the International Criminal Court.