Human Rights Training for United Nations Peace-Keepers: Lessons from Mozambique

1995 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-235
Author(s):  
Cees de Rover ◽  
Anne Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Training Programme ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Effective Performance ◽  
International Diplomacy ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
Central Tool ◽  
Site Training

Peace-keeping by the United Nations has become a central tool of international diplomacy and conflict resolution. In contrast to its previous emphasis on providing a passive buffer between antagonists, modern-day United Nations peace-keeping is increasingly directed towards establishing the conditions under which respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms can be maintained or restored. This shift in emphasis is reflected in the tasks which are assigned to peace-keepers. Military and civilian police components of United Nations peace-keeping operations are now called upon to perform a variety of specialized tasks including monitoring of the human rights situation, investigation of allegations of violations and even provision of guidance and training to local authorities. The effective performance of such tasks presupposes a sound knowledge of the relevant international human rights standards as well as the necessary skill to translate these standards into practical behaviour. An understanding of human rights is also essential to guide the personal and professional behaviour of peace-keepers themselves, and to provide a measure against which this behaviour can be evaluated. In June and July, 1994, the United Nations Centre for Human Rights conducted, in Mozambique, the first-ever on-site training programme in human rights for peace-keepers. This article provides an overview of that Programme and evaluates its success relative to its stated objectives. The experience in Mozambique is then used as a starting point from which to examine the place which human rights training could or should have in the preparation of United Nations peace-keepers.

The United Nations and Human Rights

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 17-34
Author(s):  
Gudmundur Alfredsson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
Fundamental Freedoms ◽  
International Human ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
Rights Issues

International cooperation for the promotion and encouragement of human rights and fundamental freedoms is one of the very purposes of the United Nations, according to article 1 of the Organization's Charter. The mandate is clear. In order to live up to this purpose, much work has been undertaken by establishing international human rights standards and by encouraging and persuading states to comply with these same standards.This presentation, by way of an overview, briefly describes the international human rights instruments and the classification and contents of the standards contained therein. The methods employed by the United Nations and non-governmental organization (NGOs) for the realization of the standards are also outlined, including monitoring procedures, technical assistance and other activities concerned with the protection and promotion of human rights. Finally, the presentation identifies UN institutions where human rights issues and procedures are debated and decided upon.

Deeming Laws and Practices as Violations of the Rights of People With Work-Acquired Disabilities in Canada

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 536-544
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Hilgert ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
General Meeting ◽  
Injured Worker ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Work Related ◽  
International Labor ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Standards

The Ontario Network of Injured Workers’ Groups in Canada is leading a multiyear campaign called Workers’ Comp is a Right to reform the provincial workers’ injury compensation system and to fight back against regressive changes made to the system over several decades. At their Annual General Meeting in Toronto held in June 2019, delegates voted unanimously to make this submission to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a part of the regular supervisory process under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The subject is income deeming “phantom jobs” to injured worker claimants with income replacement benefits. The document illustrates how Canadian injured worker groups have activated a human rights lens and references international labor and human rights standards concerning social insurance and income replacement benefits for work-related injury and illness.

The Civilian Side of Peacekeeping: New Research Avenues

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Otto
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Data Limitations ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
New Research ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
Systematic Knowledge

AbstractAlmost three decades ago the United Nations (UN) entered an era of multi-dimensional peacekeeping operations, in which civilian and uniformed personnel work together. At the same time, human rights promotion became an integral part of such missions. Due to data limitations, there is little systematic knowledge about how civilian staff impacts human rights standards in the countries UN peacekeeping operations are deployed. I address this lacuna in two ways. First, I briefly outline the importance of civilian staff in UN peacekeeping operations and their roles in promoting human rights. Second, I provide explorative descriptive statistics on the number of civilian personnel in UN peacekeeping operations and the occurrence of violence against civilians committed by state forces.

When Do-Gooders Do Harm: Accountability of the United Nations toward Third Parties in Peace Operations

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 86-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin C. Chang
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Standards

The United Nations’ mandate in a peace operation can be multi-dimensional, ranging from ceasefire monitoring to investigating human rights abuses to post-conflict stabilisation and recovery. The exercise of wide-ranging powers comes with risks of failure and unintended consequences. Like any organisation, the un is subject to flaws in decision-making that may result in harmful impact to the local population. Until recent times, international lawyers have paid scant attention to the un’s potential to inflict harm in the pursuit of its noble aims. The expansion of the un’s role over the decades has given rise to greater awareness of its accountability gap under international and municipal laws. The organisation’s response to recent claims from third parties illustrates the challenges that lie before victims in attaining accountability in a manner consistent with international human rights standards. This article examines the multifarious questions of accountability of the un toward third parties in peace operations. It argues that greater accountability is most practically achieved not through attempts to close gaps in international law, but through giving effect to existing mechanisms by applying a balancing approach to immunity and strengthening internal oversight and redress mechanisms.

Part I The Human Rights Mandate of the Principal Organs, 1 The Security Council

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mégret Frédéric
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Human Rights Regime ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Standards

This chapter discusses the Security Council, which may be the least obvious organ within the United Nations to have a human rights role, yet may also be one of those that can make the most difference when it comes to the upholding of human rights standards internationally. For a human rights regime that is notoriously devoid of much enforcement power, the Security Council comes with a much sought after resource, in the form of the ability to use coercive means against states. Ultimately, the Security Council’s practices provide rich terrain for analysing prospects for human rights at the United Nations, as well as the evolving role of human rights not only as something that is promoted by the United Nations but which shapes, and even constitutes, its authority going forward.

scholarly journals The United Nations Security Council Sanctions and International Human Rights

ICL Journal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irène Couzigou
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Security Council ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Human ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
United Nations Charter

AbstractThis article assesses whether the United Nations Security Council must respect human rights under international law when acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. It argues that the Security Council has to respect human rights enshrined in those human rights treaties drawn up under the United Nations’ auspices and in non-peremptory customary international law, when this is not incompatible with the Security Council’s objective of maintaining or restoring international peace and security. The analysis also argues however that the Security Council must comply with peremptory international human rights, with no exception. The paper concludes that Chapter VII action by the Security Council is limited only to a small extent by international human rights standards.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pace John P
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
International Human ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
Complete Account

This book provides the most complete account to date of the UN human rights programme, both in substance and in chronological breadth. The author worked at the heart of this programme for over thirty years, including as the Secretary of the Commission on Human Rights, and Coordinator of the World Conference on Human Rights, which took place in Vienna in 1993. The book traces the issues taken up by the Commission after its launch in 1946, and the methods undertaken to enhance absorption and domestication of international human rights standards. It lays out the special procedures carried out by the United Nations, and the emergence of international human rights law. It then turns to the establishment of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the mainstreaming of human rights across the UN system, eventually leading to the establishment of the Human Rights Council to replace the Commission in 2006. Many of the problems we face today, including conflict, poverty and environmental issues, have their roots in human rights problems. This book identifies what has been done at the international level in the past, and points towards what still needs to be done for the future.

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

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