The United Nations and Human Rights

Recent events have thrust human rights into the world spotlight. They have now become, as the UN Secretary-General recently noted, 'a dominant concern' of international discourse. The pre-eminent human rights challenge for the 1990s is to provide effective procedures and mechanisms both for sustained monitoring and for rapid and constructive responses to violations. Over the past twenty years the United Nations human rights regime has developed very rapidly. Various new treaties have entered into force and many new procedures and monitoring bodies have been created. The complexity of the system is now such that even specialists are sometimes lost in the resulting maze. The time is thus ripe for evaluation, streamlining, and further development of the regime. These essays critically examine the functions, procedures, and performance of each of the major UN organs dealing with human rights. They also look at the relationship between the various organs and the potential for major reforms and restructuring. The contributors have all been close and active participants in the regime and all are ideally placed to evaluate its achievements and shortcomings.