I think it's great that academics and intellectuals are trying to come up with educated and informed human rights recommendations, but that's all they are: recommendations. Like you said yourself, their recommendations are often ignored. That's because there is an inherent power dynamic to human rights. Rights must necessarily be given by the powerful to the less powerful, and only when and if the powerful decide it is in their interests to give them. Many times, it takes prolonged, organized, often violent rebellion to convince the powerful that it is in their interest to grant rights to the people.