3 The Approaches (1955)

This chapter describes the various approaches adopted by the Commission on Human Rights—and later by the Human Rights Council—to support implementation processes, starting with the introduction of Advisory Services in 1955. These were to serve as a support for the Commission’s work in implementing its programme of work, notably the follow-up to its work on the International Bill of Human Rights. These services were to be provided at the request of Governments and to consist of: ‘(i) Advisory services of experts, (ii) Fellowships and scholarships, (iii) Seminars’. In 1956, the Commission opened up yet another approach. The Yearbook on Human Rights had introduced a system of ‘Annual Reports on human Rights’ whereby governments shared information on measures taken at the domestic level. The chapter traces the development of other approaches by the Commission including investigations, regional commissions, national institutions (including the Paris Principles) and voluntary funds. It also looks at the emergence of international (or hybrid) criminal tribunals, all of which included crimes against humanity (or human rights crimes) in their jurisdiction.

9 The Great Enterprise Today (2006)

This chapter studies the arrival of the Human Rights Council. The idea of a Human Rights Council was raised in 1976, as the Great Enterprise entered a new phase. The documentation in 1976 on this issue is comprehensive, consisting of no less than five informative reports. In addition, the Commission on Human Rights had before it the analysis of the observations received from some Member States. They included an analysis of the deliberations at the Assembly that had taken place in November of 1975, which covered a range of topics, including ‘the possibility of transforming the Trusteeship Council into a Human Rights Council’. In 2005, the Secretary-General announced his plans to propose the establishment of a Human Rights Council to the Commission. A few months later, the World Summit decided on the establishment of a Human Rights Council. The Human Rights Council inaugurated its work with the adoption of two international human rights instruments, which had reached completion in the Commission on Human Rights: the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It also extended the mandate of the Working Group formed under the Commission to elaborate an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and of the Commission’s Working Group on the Right to Development.

1 The Great Enterprise Gets Underway (1946–1955)

This chapter describes the formation of the Commission on Human Rights following the coming into force of Charter of the United Nations. It then discusses the developments immediately following the launch of the Commission on Human Rights, notably the unsuccessful attempt to maintain an integral, holistic concept of human rights. It describes the role of the Commission in drafting the International Bill of Human Rights during the first seven years of its existence. It dwells on the challenge of maintaining a unitary Convention and the eventual separation of civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights into two Covenants, and the related challenge of implementation. It describes the initial setting up of Sub-Commissions, followed by the emergence of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, and its fluctuating relations with the Commission in the years that followed.

4 Managing the Agenda: Coordination (1955) and Rationalization (1992)

This chapter assesses the organizational and managerial underpinning of the work of the Commission on Human Rights. Managing the agenda was not a mere logistical exercise whereby a given set of issues was fitted into a determined breadth of space and time. It was also influenced by the prevailing international climate; different states and/or groups of states had different priorities. Inter-state (and often inter-regional) relations necessarily found their way into the chambers of the Commission. Within this complex process, three factors emerged that affected the management of the agenda: the ongoing emergence of new issues; the differences among states (or groups of states) as to their urgency, relevance to the International Bill of Human Rights and to their political priorities; and the effect that these differences have on the actual treatment of the human rights issues involved. The chapter then considers how the Commission took up the issues described in the previous chapters through a process of ‘coordination’, ‘programming’ and eventually ‘rationalization’, so that they became a part of the agenda.

5 The ‘Incubation’ of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1968–1992)

This chapter focuses on the ‘incubation’ of economic, social and cultural rights. The implementation of human rights presented challenges to the Commission on Human Rights from its first years of existence. It was the main reason invoked to separate civil and political rights from economic, social and cultural rights, and to have two Covenants instead of the unitary convention, as originally decided by the General Assembly. Once the two Covenants were adopted and opened for signature and ratification in 1966, the international community would face the real test of the implementation processes. Whereas the implementation of civil and political rights presented relatively little question, the implementation—or better still, ‘realization’—of economic, social and cultural rights, both in substance and in procedure, gave rise to much debate and took several years to reach the current level of understanding and acceptance. The formal focus on the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights was launched in 1968 when PE Nedbailo (Ukrainian SSR), outgoing Chairman of the Commission, proposed the inclusion of ‘Study of the question of the realization of the economic and social rights’ in the agenda of the twenty-fourth session. It was to remain on the agenda of the Commission for the rest of the Commission's existence, and thereafter on the agenda of the Human Rights Council.

10 ‘All human beings …’ and the Great Enterprise

This chapter explores the relevance of the developments in the Commission on Human Rights to the individual—the ultimate measure by which to assess the priorities in the coming years. The introduction of respect for human rights among the fundamental principles of the organization and the establishment of an International Bill of Human Rights were major distinguishing features between the UN Charter and the Covenant of the League of Nations. These provisions placed the individual at the table where only governments sat in matters of international relations. This ‘third dimension’ of international relations gave the Commission on Human Rights a role and responsibility like no other UN body, of dealing directly with individuals. The chapter then addresses the relationship of the Commission with the individual and civil society. Communication from individuals and groups emerged on two principal channels, almost concurrently. One was the handling of communications whose substance was deemed to be relevant to the work of the Commission as it undertook its drafting responsibilities. The other was the right of individuals and groups to petition as an integral component of the measures of implementation. This was the start of the treaty-based complaints mechanisms.

Putting the Great Enterprise into Context

The Introduction explains the origin and relevance of the description ‘a very great enterprise’ as a theme which runs through the book. The term marked the very first moments when the setting up of a Commission on Human Rights was discussed, as the United Nations was taking shape in 1946. It sets out the author’s involvement in the development of the human rights programme and the hands-on experience in various countries, gained over the decades at the United Nations since 1966 and in other capacities during this century. The book aims ‘to let the historic and actual reality speak for itself’, and thus it covers each session since the first one in 1947, up to 2019. It is followed by a description of the structure of the book, which is intended to provide a solid basis to improve efforts in the years to come.

8 The Great Enterprise Enters the Modern Era (1987–2005)

This chapter describes how a new era emerged in the evolution of the Great Enterprise starting in the 1990s as a consequence of the expansion in the number of conventions and of special procedures. These implied a closer need for monitoring in substance and with it, the outreach that was a necessary corollary. This era was marked by the creation of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights in 1987, the adoption of the World Public Information Campaign on Human Rights in 1988, the decision in 1990 to convene the World Conference on Human Rights, and the establishment of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in 1993. It was also beginning of the ‘mainstreaming’ of human rights across the programmes and activities of the UN system, including the introduction of human rights to the work of the Security Council in 1994, and the outreach to business with the Global Compact in 1999. Indeed, the Global Compact on human rights, labour, and environment was in the wider context of the involvement of ‘relevant partners, in particular the private sector’ in UN activities.

6 The Emergence of Ad Hoc or Special Procedures (1966)

This chapter traces the origins of ad hoc or special procedures, and the evolution that led to one of the two main systems of implementation of international human rights norms—alongside the treaty system. Although the initial work on human rights had not taken up situations in specific countries, it was a matter of time until the Commission would find itself having to do so. The Commission added ‘the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms including policies of racial discrimination and segregation and of apartheid, in all countries’ to its agenda in 1966. The power to investigate was thoroughly discussed in 1966 and 1967. As the Commission added the study of violations of human rights as a standing item on its agenda, it came up with an interesting range of proposals, some of which served to enhance its role and responsibilities in the future. Following the International Conference on Human Rights in 1968, the Commission decided ‘to prepare model rules of procedure for ad hoc bodies of the United Nations entrusted with the study of particular situations alleged to reveal a consistent pattern of violations of human rights’. The chapter then describes the Commission’s action in respect of human rights situations in countries and thematic procedures and mandates.

7 The Emergence of International Human Rights Law (1969)

This chapter addresses the emergence of International Human Rights Law. International Human Rights Law consists of international norms set out in instruments adopted over the years. These consist of binding instruments, which carry obligations (such as ‘covenant’, ‘convention’ and ‘protocol’) and non-binding instruments (such as ‘declaration’, ‘guiding principles’, ‘basic principles’ and ‘standard minimum rules’, also described as ‘soft’ law). They are all related, directly or indirectly, to the rights in the International Bill of Human Rights, which may be considered as the substantive canopy of International Human Rights Law. As the International Bill of Human Rights was reaching completion in the mid-1960s, a process developed that complemented the International Bill with conventions on specific rights, protecting (vulnerable) groups, such as the child, women, persons with disabilities and migrant workers, and conventions protecting against the violation of specific rights, such as freedom from racial discrimination, freedom from torture and from involuntary disappearance. The conventions which envisage a system by which an expert body (treaty body) monitors the implementation by States Parties of their treaty obligations came to be referred to as ‘core’ conventions. The chapter also looks at non-core conventions, as well as declarations and other norms.