Religion and the United Nations

2021 ◽  
pp. 419-434
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Security Council ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Cultural Organization ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Religious Actors

This chapter is concerned with religion at the United Nations (UN), and in particular how it relates to the activities of the UN at its Geneva office. In recent years, the UN has experienced growing concern about religion, including a higher profile in the General Assembly, the Security Council, and several of the UN’s specialized agencies, among them the Human Rights Office, the Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, the Population Fund (UNFPA), and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. For many, this was unexpected given that it followed decades of religion’s apparent marginalization at the UN. The increased presence of religious actors at the UN reflects a wider phenomenon: the deepening problems of global governance and increased calls for the UN to be ‘democratized’ by drawing on an array of, mainly non-state voices, both secular and religious, to supplement those of states.

The Dangers of the United Nations' “New Security Agenda”: “Human Security” in the Asia-Pacific Region

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Ben Saul
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Asia Pacific Region ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
The United Nations

AbstractAmidst the understandable enthusiasm for enlarging the traditional state-centred view of security and embracing a “human security” agenda, little scholarly attention has been paid to the implications of this shift for international law. This article first charts the scope and genesis of “human security,” including within the United Nations and in the Asia-Pacific region, and traces the views of key Asian governments on the concept. It then analyses the relationship between human security and human rights and highlights the likely adverse impacts on human rights law. The remainder of the article considers how the human security agenda may destabilize the constitutional distribution of powers among UN organs under the UN Charter, especially by transferring power away from the more participatory General Assembly and towards the less representative and less accountable Security Council. In line with the position of some Asian States, this article reasserts that UN organs other than the Security Council, along with other major international institutions, are the appropriate bodies within which to pursue and address human security issues. In particular, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council require revitalization to avoid the trap of securitizing issues that are better framed as developmental and social concerns.

scholarly journals Accountability and opposition to globalization in international assemblies

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 823-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter de Wilde ◽  
Wiebke Marie Junk ◽  
Tabea Palmtag
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

Advocates of a global democratic parliament have expressed hopes that this would not only legitimize global governance in procedural terms, but also bring about more cosmopolitan policies. They point to the European Parliament as an example of a successful real existing democratic parliament beyond the state with cosmopolitan intent. We analyse plenary debates in the United Nations General Assembly and the European Parliament about the issues of climate change, human rights, migration, trade and European integration between 2004 and 2011 to study the nature of opposition to cosmopolitanism within these two assemblies. We find more vocal and better-organized opposition to cosmopolitanism in the European Parliament than in the United Nations General Assembly. We demonstrate the plausibility that direct and more proportional mechanisms of delegation and accountability in the case of the European Parliament account for this observed difference. Should further research confirm these initial findings, advocates of a global democratic parliament may find that an empowered democratic World Parliament would support less cosmopolitan policies than the current United Nations General Assembly.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1996 ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Editorial board Of the Journal
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

GENERAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Adopted and proclaimed in resolution 217 A (III) of the General Assembly of the United Nations of 10.12.1948

Chinese Representation in the United Nations

1952 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert W. Briggs
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
National Government ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Enforcement Action ◽  
The Mainland Of China ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Republic

The state of China — a nation of possibly 460,000,000 people — has been a Member of the United Nations since the foundation of that organization in 1945. As a Member, China is legally entitled to representation in United Nations organs unless and until, pursuant to preventive or enforcement action taken by the Security Council, the exercise of the rights and privileges of membership may be suspended by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the Security Council. The representatives of China in United Nations organs from 1945 to the present have been accredited by the National Government of the Republic of China. By the end of 1949 control over the mainland of China and over perhaps 450,000,000 people had passed from the National Government to the (communist) “Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China,” the effective control of the National Government having been reduced largely to the island of Formosa.

scholarly journals Designing Work with People Living with Dementia: Reflecting on a Decade of Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 11742
Author(s):  
Paul A. Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Right To Work ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Right

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is widely acknowledged as a landmark document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives from all over the world, the declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard for all peoples and all nations. The declaration sets out a series of articles that articulate a number of fundamental human rights to be universally protected. Article 23 of the declaration relates to the right to work and states that people have a human right to work, or engage in productive employment, and may not be prevented from doing so. The right to work is enshrined in international human rights law through its inclusion in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, where the right to work emphasizes economic, social and cultural development. This paper presents ongoing research that highlights how a disruptive co-design approach contributes to upholding UN Article 23 through the creation of a series of innovative working practices developed with people living with dementia. The research, undertaken in collaboration with several voluntary and third sector organizations in the UK, looks to break the cycle of prevailing opinions, traditional mindsets, and ways-of-doing that tend to remain uncontested in the health and social care of people living with dementia. As a result, this research has produced a series of innovative work opportunities for people living with dementia and their formal and informal carers that change the perception of dementia by showing that people living with dementia are capable of designing and making desirable products and offering much to UK society after diagnosis. In this ongoing research, the right to continue to work for people living with dementia post-diagnosis in creative and innovative ways has clearly helped to reconnect them to other people, helped build their self-esteem, identity and dignity and helped keep the person with dementia connected to their community, thus delaying the need for crisis interventions. This paper reports on a series of future work initiatives for people living with dementia where we have used design as a disruptive force for good to ensure that anyone diagnosed with dementia can exercise their right to work and engage in productive and rewarding employment.

The Significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The record so far and future prospects

1966 ◽  
Vol 6 (63) ◽  
pp. 287-296
Author(s):  
Albert Verdoodt
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Social Council ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Condition Of Women

On the 10th December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which had been drawn up by a series of meetings of the Commission of Human Rights and the Commission on the Condition of Women as well as major discussions which took place during the first seven sessions of the Economic and Social Council. The General Assembly presented this Declaration “as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education … and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance …”

The Rôle of the General Assembly of the United Nations in the Admission of Members

1949 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Stuart Klooz
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The Third ◽  
The United Nations

The effort of the delegate from Argentina to press the admission of certain states into the United Nations despite the negative vote of one of the five permanent members of the Security Council was denounced by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Poland, Belgium, Pakistan, The Netherlands, and France as being contrary to the provisions of the Charter in the discussion on the adoption of the agenda during the Third Session of the General Assembly. These states held that even discussion of such an item by the Assembly was illegal.

More Organizational Changes at the United Nations

1994 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-202
Author(s):  
Robert W. Schaaf
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Organizational Changes ◽  
The United Nations

As noted in the last column (IJLI, v. 22, no. 1) a number of organizational changes occurred in major United Nations organs in the summer of 1993 prior to the opening of the 48th session of the General Assembly, September 21, 1993. Even minor changes are likely to affect the Organization's documentation and details are provided to help explain. The preceding column concentrated on changes in the Security Council, but this time concentration is on the General Assembly, the only organ in which all 184 states are members.

Tibetans Wait for China's Next Move

Worldview ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 36-39
Author(s):  
Kesang Tseten
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Right ◽  
American Civil Liberties Union ◽  
The U.S ◽  
International League

AbstractIt has been twenty years since the Tibetan uprising. Last March, Tibetans and their American supporters rallied outside the United Nations building to commemorate that uprising against Chinese troops occupying the Tibetan homeland.Roger Baldwin, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union and honorary president of the International League for Human Rights, was there calling for support of resolutions passed three times by the U.S. General Assembly, in 1959, 1961, and 1965. The U.S. called “for respect for the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people and for their right to self-determination.” The rally, Baldwin said, was to protest the “subjection of six million people to foreign rule” and to uphold “the right to live in your own house.” The nonagenarian champion of civil liberties expressed some hope: “It may be that autonomy, semi-independence in Tibet, may be granted when China settles down into the modernization it seeks.”

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