human rights

Eleanor Roosevelt holding a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Mrs Roosevelt was chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 1946-51, and was instrumental in the preparation of the declaration.

Civil and political rights of the individual in relation to the state; see also civil rights. Under the terms of the United Nations Charter human rights violations by countries have become its proper concern, although the implementation of this obligation is hampered by Article 2 (7) of the charter prohibiting interference in domestic affairs. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed by the General Assembly on 10 December 1948, is based on a belief in the inherent (natural) rights, equality, and freedom of human beings, and sets out in 28 articles the fundamental freedoms - civil, political, economic - to be promoted. The declaration has considerable moral force but is not legally binding on states.

UN covenants on human rights In 1966 two covenants on human rights were agreed: one on civil and political rights, and one on social and economic rights. The former includes: freedom of thought and opinion; right to liberty and a fair trial; right to privacy; right to self-determination; freedom from discrimination on grounds of gender, race, religion, nationality, or political orientation; and protection from inhuman punishment. The covenants are legally binding on states that ratify them, and have now received the 35 ratifications they needed to come into being. They include machinery for implementation and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides for the establishment of a Committee on Human Rights to receive complaints. It may also set up conciliation machinery to help sort out the differences on human rights issues between states. This covenant also has an optional protocol permitting individuals to petition for the first time on violations of their human rights. By 1998 140 countries had ratified the covenant on civil and political rights (but these did not include China).

UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) The commission was established in 1946 by the Economic and Social Council. It meets annually for a period of about six weeks. It was responsible for the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the two covenants. The commission functions as a public platform for the discussion of human rights; as a supervising agency for reports submitted by states on progress they have made on human rights, and the difficulties they meet in this respect; and as a body which prepares guidelines for the Economic and Social Council on the protection of human rights. It has no enforcement powers and has to rely on persuasion to achieve its aims. In 1952 it established a subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. A special session of the UNCHR was convened in 1994 to investigate human rights abuses in Rwanda.

Women In 1946 the Economic and Social Council established the Commission on the Status of Women to study the conditions of women throughout the world and recommend improvements. It has drafted a number of Conventions, legally binding on states that ratify them, which have been adopted by UN bodies.

Torture In 1975 the General Assembly adopted a Declaration against Torture and other cruel treatment. This has no legal status but has moral force. At the same time the General Assembly called for further study by the Commission on Human Rights on the subject of torture and for increased efforts to prevent it.

UN commissioners In February 1994 José Aguala Lasso of Ecuador was appointed first UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. In 1997 Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, became UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Other human rights organizations These include Amnesty International, campaigners for the release of prisoners of conscience and for fair trials and humane treatment of all prisoners; the Human Rights Watch, a US non-partisan pressure group; and the Minority Rights Group, an international organization to increase awareness on minority issues. The European Court of Human Rights hears cases referred from the European Commission of Human Rights where an individual's rights have been violated by a member state.