The document summarizes the United Nations' role in promoting and protecting human rights. It describes how the UN was formed after WWII to prevent future wars and affirm human rights. It established institutions like the Commission on Human Rights and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to monitor rights and provide support. Key documents adopted include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and core human rights treaties. However, the UN has faced challenges in addressing all human rights violations due to limitations of its member states.

1. UNITED NATIONS
&
Human Rights
Presented By:
Jefin Shaji

2. UNITED NATIONS
❑ The consequences of World War II and the damages sustained there
from can undoubtedly be said to be the reason behind the creation
and formation of the United Nation Organization.
❑ Representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco April-June 1945
to complete the Charter of the United Nations.
❑ The United Nations came into existence on October 24, 1945, after
29 nations had ratified the Charter.

3. HUMAN RIGHTS
❑ Human rights are rights we have simply because we exist as human
beings - they are not granted by any state. These universal rights are
inherent to us all, regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic
origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. They range
from the most fundamental - the right to life - to those that make life
worth living, such as the rights to food, education, work, health, and
liberty.

4. THE CORE SYSTEM OF HUMAN RIGHTS
PROMOTION AND PROTECTION UNDER THE
UNITED NATIONS HAS A DUAL BASIS:
⮚ The UN Charter, adopted in 1945
⮚ The class of treaties subsequently adopted by UN members.

5. THE UN CHARTER
❑ The Charter of United Nations lays down guiding principles with
regard to the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
❑ The Preamble reads as :
“we the peoples of the united nations determined to save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has
brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in
fundamental human rights, ”
❑ The Preamble describes four areas that are the pillars of the UN: *
*Peace and Security *Human Rights *The Rule of Law
*Development

6. UN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
❑ The Commission’s original mandate was to place reports regarding: an
international bill of rights the protection of minorities, the prevention of
discrimination on grounds of race, sex, language or religions; and any other
matter concerning human rights. In 1979, a new function was added: to assist
the Economic and Social Council in the coordination of activities concerning
human rights in the United Nations system.
❑ The main accomplishment of the Commission was the introduction of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the latter two
adopted in 1966.
❑ Together, the UDHR, ICCPR, and ICESCR are known as the International
Bill of Human Rights.

7. ❑ 1235 Procedure: allows the Commission on Human Rights to
create an ad hoc working group of its own members for public study
of gross violations of human rights. Based on its own study the
Commission makes recommendations to the Economic and Security
Council.
❑ The 1503 Procedure: as amended in 2000, allows the complaints to
remain confidential, unless the national government indicates that
they should be made public.
❑ The Commission did not consist of independent experts, but was
made up of 54 governmental representatives elected by the
ECOSOC.

8. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
❑ The Universal Declaration was adopted by the General Assembly of the
United Nations on 10 December 1948. Motivated by the experiences of the
preceding world wars, the Universal Declaration was the first time that
countries agreed on a comprehensive statement of inalienable human
rights.
❑ The Universal Declaration is not a treaty, so it does not directly create legal
obligations for countries.
❑ The core principles of human rights first set out in the UDHR have been
reiterated in numerous international human rights conventions,
declarations, and resolutions.

9. INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS
▪ The ICESCR protects social, economic and cultural rights. The
ICESCR focuses on food, education, health and shelter.
THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC,
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
▪ The ICCPR protects civil, political rights and freedoms. The ICCPR
focuses on issues such as the right to life, freedom of speech,
religion and voting.

10. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
❑ In 2006, the General Assembly created the Human Rights Council
as a replacement to the Commission on Human Rights.
❑ The major reason for replacing the Commission was the very
selective way in which it exercised its country-specific mandate, due
mainly to the political bias of representatives and the ability of more
powerful countries to deflect the attention away from themselves
and those enjoying their support.
❑ The Human Rights Council retained most of the special procedures,
including the confidential "1503" (now called the "compliant
procedure"), and introduced the Universal Peer Review (UPR).

11. ❑ The Universal Periodic Review (UPR): a unique process which
involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN
Member States.
❑ The Human Rights Council consists of 47 UN member countries meet
regularly to conduct a Universal Periodic Review
❑ The Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council: These are
made up of special rapporteurs, special representatives, independent
experts and working groups that monitor, examine, advise and publicly
report on thematic issues or human rights situations in specific countries.
❑ Advisory Committee: Human Rights Council Advisory Committee is
composed of 18 experts, has been established to function as a think-tank
for the Council to provide it with expertise and advice on thematic
human rights issues

12. ❑ Complaint Procedure:
1. Addresses communications submitted by individuals, groups, or non-
governmental organizations that claim to be victims of human rights
violations or that have direct, reliable knowledge of such violations.
2. There will be an initial screening phase were Manifestly ill-founded and
anonymous communications are screened out.
3. Communications not rejected in the initial screening are transmitted to the
State concerned to obtain its views on the allegations of violations. Both
the author of a communication and the State concerned are informed of
the proceedings at each stage.
4. Two distinct working groups - the Working Group on Communications
and the Working Group on Situations – are responsible, respectively, for
examining & bringing consistent patterns of gross and reliably attested
violations of human rights to the attention of the Council.

13. ❑ The OHCHR is the centre of most human rights activities of the United
Nations. It coordinates UN action to protect and promote human rights and
includes country and regional offices that work with local partners to ensure
implementation of and education about human rights standards.
❑ OHCHR is part of the Secretariat of the United Nations and is led by the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, a position created in 1993.
❑ The Human Rights Council and Treaties Division of OHCHR ensures the
smooth functioning of the Human Rights Council and a number of its
mechanisms, and the human rights treaty bodies.
❑ OHCHR has identified four priorities that it seeks to integrate into peace
missions: *Ensuring justice and accountability in peace processes; *Preventing
and redressing human rights violations; *Building capacities and strengthening
national institutions; and *Mainstreaming human rights throughout all United
Nations programmes.
OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

14. HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES
❑ There are nine core international human rights treaties. Each treaty
establishes a committee of experts to monitor implementation of the
treaty provisions by countries that have ratified the treaty. Treaty
Monitoring Bodies.
❑ The human rights treaty bodies are committees of independent
experts that monitor implementation of the core international human
rights treaties.

15. 1. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) is the
body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by its State parties.
2. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) is the body
of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by its States parties.
3. The Human Rights Committee is the body of independent experts that monitors
implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by
its State parties.
4. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) is the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women.

16. 5. The Committee Against Torture (CAT) is the body of 10 independent experts that
monitors implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by its State parties.
6. The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the body of 18 Independent
experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by its
State parties.
7. The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members
of their Families (CMW) is the body that monitors implementation of the International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of
Their Families by its State parties.
8. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) is the body which monitors the
implementation of the Convention for the Protection of all persons against Enforced
Disappearance by the States parties.
9. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the body which
monitors implementation of the Convention by the States Parties.

17. 1. The UN’s human rights institutions, principally the OHCHR, have been
supportive and have provided technical assistance for building human rights
institutions. However, massive violations continue to occur in the course of
internal armed conflict, especially when fed by xenophobic nationalism and
religious fanaticism. For instance, in 1994 the UN failed to act to halt the
genocide perpetrated in Rwanda, resulting in 800,000 deaths.
2. Despite frustrations with the UN as a large bureaucracy that moves slowly and
sometimes is unresponsive to urgent human rights problems, or is constrained by
the conflicting interests of the member states that provide political supervision. In
summary, the Charter-‐based and treaty-‐basedprocedures have evolved to the
point of forcing governments to address a remarkable range of human rights
problems, sometimes with real results.
CONCLUSION