The United Nations Creates a Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

1991 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-715
Author(s):  
Reed Brody

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which met from January 28 to March 8, 1991, in the shadow of the gulf war, nevertheless completed what many observers considered its most productive session in recent history. The Commission took action on a record of nineteen country situations—creating new rapporteurs on Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait—began plans for a 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, and set up an intersessional working group to complete a draft declaration on disappearances. The most important long-term accomplishment of the Commission, however, was the creation of a five-member working group to investigate cases of arbitrary detention throughout the world.

1994 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-62
Author(s):  
Susan Marks

The World Conference on Human Rights, which took place in Vienna in June 1993, was convened by the United Nations with three principal aims. The Conference was to evaluate progress made in the field of human rights in the period since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948; to consider the relationship between human rights and other priority concerns of the world community, such as development and democratisation; and to examine ways of strengthening the protection afforded human rights and improving the United Nations' human rights programme. An earlier UN conference on human rights had been held in Teheran in 1968 and the General Assembly decided that, 25 years later, reconsideration was appropriate. This decision, taken in 1989, seemed vindicated as events following the fall of the Berlin Wall opened up new opportunities, as well as new dangers.


1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-23
Author(s):  
Marta Santos Pais

I would first of all like to thank you very warmly for having given me the honour to be here today, in this wonderful and historical city of Jerusalem, to talk about the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In particular, it is an honour for me to share this significant moment of the ratification and entry into force of the Convention in Israel, where its voice is joining so many other countries committed to bringing a better future to all children of the world.The Convention was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in November 1989, after ten years of a long study and consideration by a working group of the Commission on Human Rights. The Convention reflects the spirit of consensus which prevailed during the drafting process, as well as the compromise reached by different legal systems, cultures and traditions with respect to the human rights universally recognized.


Author(s):  
Alice C. Shaffer

Central America has been one of the pioneer areas for the United Nations Children's Fund assisted pro grams. When the United Nations Children's Fund, under a broadened mandate from the United Nations, shifted the emphasis of its aid from emergency to long term and from war-torn countries to those economically less developed, Cen tral American governments immediately requested its assist ance to strengthen and extend services to children and mothers. As one of the first areas in the world to aim at the eradication of malaria and to have engaged in an inten sive campaign against malnutrition on a regional basis, the Central American experiences in these fields have become known, watched, and studied by people from many countries. Against this background, international and bilateral organi zations are working together with governments as they broaden the scope and the extent of their programs. Ten years of co-operative action have highlighted the need for train ing of personnel, both professional and auxiliary. This period has also made clear the value of more integrated programs with wider collaboration both within the ministries of government and between the international organizations.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Gilmour

Ever since the Charter of the United Nations was signed in 1945, human rights have constituted one of its three pillars, along with peace and development. As noted in a dictum coined during the World Summit of 2005: “There can be no peace without development, no development without peace, and neither without respect for human rights.” But while progress has been made in all three domains, it is with respect to human rights that the organization's performance has experienced some of its greatest shortcomings. Not coincidentally, the human rights pillar receives only a fraction of the resources enjoyed by the other two—a mere 3 percent of the general budget.


Author(s):  
Kothari Miloon

This article examines the evolution of the United Nations� (UN) human rights agency from the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) into the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). It explains that UNHRC was created in March 2006 to replace the UNCHR and become the world�s premier human rights body. It evaluates the effectiveness of the UNHRC�s peer-review human rights mechanism called the Universal Periodic Review. This article also offers some suggestions on how to improve the performance of the UNHRC including changes in size and distribution of membership, membership criteria, voting patterns and participation of non-state actors.


Worldview ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-55
Author(s):  
Abraham Yeselson ◽  
Anthony Gaglione

Since there were seventy-one sponsors, it was inevitable that the resolution would be adopted, But debate on the question was inevitably bitter and spilled over to the substance of the Palestinian issue. For many people the debate—and Arafat's subsequent address to the General Assembly—sharpened questions about the United Nations, its purpose, and its long-term value.From its birth the United Nations has been an important weapon in the armory of nations in conflict. When one's national ends are advanced, the U.N. is seen as the expression of man's highest ideals. Victims, however, perceive attacks in the world forum as irresponsible distortions of the Charter. From either perspective the United Nations is an arena for combat.


2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Heideman

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, 10 December 1948, is the international affirmation of faith in fundamental human rights. As the most widely officially adopted creed in the world, it is of great significance for persons engaged in cross-cultural and international missions. As we have recently recognized the fiftieth anniversary year of its adoption, missiologists must continue to struggle with issues it raises, such as the relation of Christian liberty to human rights, the relation of “rights” to “duties,” and the theological basis for a doctrine of human rights.


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