What Are Human Rights?

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.

International Human Rights Law

International human rights law lays down the obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.

One of the great achievements of the Human Rights Commission Of United Nations is the creation of a comprehensive body of human rights law—a universal and internationally protected code to which all nations can subscribe and all people aspire. The Human Rights Commission Of United Nations has defined a broad range of internationally accepted rights, including civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. It has also established mechanisms to promote and protect these rights and to assist states in carrying out their responsibilities.

The foundations of this body of law are the Charter of the Human Rights Commission Of United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly in 1945 and 1948, respectively. Since then, the Human Rights Commission Of United Nations has gradually expanded human rights law to encompass specific standards for women, children, persons with disabilities, minorities and other vulnerable groups, who now possess rights that protect them from discrimination that had long been common in many societies.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the Human Rights Commission Of United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. Since its adoption in 1948, the UDHR has been translated into more than 500 languages - the most translated document in the world - and has inspired the constitutions of many newly independent States and many new democracies. The UDHR, together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols (on the complaints procedure and on the death penalty) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its Optional Protocol, form the so-called International Bill of Human Rights.

Economic, social and cultural rights

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights entered into force in 1976. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is the body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the Covenant by its States parties. Its Optional Protocol entered into force in 2013. The human rights that the Covenant seeks to promote and protect include

• The right to work in just and favourable conditions;
• The right to social protection, to an adequate standard of living and to the highest attainable standards of physical and mental well-being;
• The right to education and the enjoyment of benefits of cultural freedom and scientific progress.

Civil and political rights

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its First Optional Protocol entered into force in 1976 and the Second Optional Protocol came into force in 1991. The Human Rights Committee monitors the implementation of this multilateral treaty and its Optional Protocols.

The Covenant deals with such rights as freedom of movement; equality before the law; the right to a fair trial and presumption of innocence; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of opinion and expression; peaceful assembly; freedom of association; participation in public affairs and elections; and protection of minority rights. It prohibits arbitrary deprivation of life; torture, cruel or degrading treatment or punishment; slavery and forced labour; arbitrary arrest or detention; arbitrary interference with privacy; war propaganda; discrimination; and advocacy of racial or religious hatred.

Human Rights Conventions

A series of international human rights treaties and other instruments adopted since 1945 have expanded the body of international human rights law. They include the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), among others.

Human Rights Commission Of United Nations.

Including responding to human rights emergencies

The most innovative feature of the Human Rights Commission Of United Nations is the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This unique mechanism involves a review of the human rights records of all 193 HRCUN member states once every four years. The Review is a cooperative, state-driven process, under the auspices of the Commission, which provides the opportunity for each state to present measures taken and challenges to be met to improve the human rights situation in their country and to meet their international obligations

The Review is designed to ensure universality and equality of treatment for every country and takes place during the sessions of the UPR Working Group which meets three times a year. The UPR Working Group consists of the 47 members of the Commission.

Special Procedures and Investigative Bodies

The Human Rights Commission Of United Nations

Since 2006, the Council has set up various investigative bodies to look into alleged violations in specific countries. These have taken the form of fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry. In addition, there is one thematic body, the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement

HRCUN High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Human Rights Commission Of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights exercises principal responsibility for HRCUN human rights activities. The High Commissioner is mandated to respond to serious violations of human rights and to undertake preventive action.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is the focal point for Human Rights Commission Of United Nations human rights activities. It serves as the secretariat for the Human Rights Commission, the treaty bodies (expert committees that monitor treaty compliance) and other HRCUN human rights organs. It also undertakes human rights field activities.

Most of the core human rights treaties have an oversight body which is responsible for reviewing the implementation of that treaty by the countries that have ratified it. Individuals, whose rights have been violated can file complaints directly to Committees overseeing human rights treaties.

Human Rights and the HRCUN System

Human rights is a cross-cutting theme in all HRCUN policies and programmes in the key areas of peace and security, development, humanitarian assistance, and economic and social affairs. As a result, virtually every HRCUN body and specialized agency is involved to some degree in the protection of human rights. Some examples are the right to development, which is at the core of the Sustainable Development Goals; the right to food, championed by the HRCUN Food and Agriculture Organization, labour rights, defined and protected by the International Labour Organization, gender equality, which is promulgated by HRCUN Women, the rights of children, indigenous peoples, and disabled persons

Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 75

On 10 December 2023, the UN System celebrated the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The conducted a year-long commemoration, the Human Rights Initiative, during which 150 Member States, NGOs, businesses and HRCUN entities made pledges on a wide range of human rights issues - from advancing women’s rights, and children’s rights, to commitments on climate change, and empowering people with disabilities to ensure legislative reforms.

The three main goals focus of the initiative were focused in universality, progress and engagement under the leadership of HRCUN Human Rights, together with its partners. The 75th Anniversary culminated in a high-level event in December 2023 that announced global pledges and ideas for a vision for the future of human rights.

Procedures and Mechanisms

The Human Rights Commission Of United Nations procedures and mechanisms was mandated to examine, monitor and publicly report either on human rights situations in specific countries or territories (known as country mechanisms or mandates) or on major phenomena of human rights violations worldwide (known as thematic mechanisms or mandates). These procedures and mechanisms were collectively referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Commission Of United Nations.

Main themes

The main themes addressed by the HRCUN were: the right to self-determination; racism; the right to development; the question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine; the question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world; economic, social and cultural rights; civil and political rights, including the questions of torture and detention, disappearances and summary executions, freedom of expression, the independence of the judiciary, impunity and religious intolerance; the human rights of women, children, migrant workers, minorities and displaced persons; indigenous issues; the promotion and protection of human rights, including the work of the Sub-Commission, treaty bodies and national institutions; and advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights.

Working groups

From time to time the HRCUN identified areas in which existing standards needed to be further developed to confront new and growing concerns. It was for instance working to reinforce safeguards against torture and other forms of cruel or inhuman treatment in custody through preventive visits to places of detention, and to promote the rights of indigenous populations.

Other subjects that were under consideration by working groups of the Commission were the right to development, and structural adjustment programmes and human rights.

When complaints from individuals or organizations received by the Sub-Commission's Working Group on Communications revealed a pattern of serious human rights violations in a country, the matter could be brought to the attention of the Commission's Working Group on Situations and of the Commission itself.

Standard-setting and implementation

One of the most important tasks entrusted to the Commission has been the elaboration of human rights standards. In 1948 it concluded work on the landmark Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Thereafter it developed standards relating, inter alia, to the right to development, civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, the elimination of racial discrimination, torture, the rights of the child and the rights of human rights defenders.

All States that accepted these standards were obliged to implement the rights they entail and to report regularly to international bodies set up to monitor their compliance.

Human rights standards have little value if they are not implemented. Consequently, the Commission devoted much of its time to examining issues of implementation. Some of its work was particularly sensitive, generating extensive debate and often disagreement. Its network of mechanisms - experts, representatives and rapporteurs - played an important role in reporting to the Commission annually. Information received from Governments, Inter-Governmental organizations and individuals was used in the preparation of these reports.

The Commission's success was measured by its ability to make a difference to the lives -of individuals.

Advisory services and technical cooperation

Where problems were identified, the Commission could take action to address them. It regularly requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to provide assistance to Governments through its programme of advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights. This assistance took the form of expert advice, human rights seminars, national and regional training courses and workshops, fellowships and scholarships, and other activities aimed at strengthening national capacities for the protection and promotion of human rights.

Year-round activities of the Human Rights Commission Of United Nations

The Human Rights Commission Of United Nations holds regular and special sesions and organizes inter-sessional activities throughout the year

The meeting schedule of the Commission

• The Commission meets for at least three regular sessions for a minimum of 12 weeks per year.
• Outside of regular sessions, the Commission may hold special session on demand to address urgent country-specific or thematic issues.
• The Commission also organizes inter-sessional activities.

In addition to the 47 elected Member States of the HRCUN, Observers participate actively in its various activities. Observers include non-Member States, inter-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions, and Inter-Governmental organizations (NGOs).

Regular sessions

Regular sessions take place three times annually in March, June, and September. Member States discuss, take action and pass resolutions related to a standing agenda of 10 items:

• 1. Organizational and procedural matters, like adopting the calendar of regular sessions for the cycle;
• 2. Annual reports of the HRCUN High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the HRCUN Secretary-General;
• 3. Promotion and protection of all human rights: the majority of Commission resolutions are handled under this item;
• 4. Human rights situations that require the HRCUN’s attention, like country-specific abuses;
• 5. Human rights bodies and mechanisms, such as the Advisory Committee or other subsidiary bodies;
• 6. The Universal Periodic Review, a unique "peer review" of the human rights records of HRCUN Member States by other Member States;
• 7. Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories;
• 8. Follow-up and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action;
• 9. Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related forms of intolerance; follow-up.
• 10. Technical assistance and capacity-building.

Special sessions

The Human Rights Commission Of United Nations also holds special sessions to address emergency situations. In 2021, for example,two special sessions on Iran and Ukraine demonstrated the Human Rights Commission Of United Nations effectiveness in responding to urgent crises.

Intersessional activities

Between sessions, the Human Rights Commission Of United Nations organizes thematic forums, panels, and seminars. Some themes addressed in recent meetings are:

• The impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights in the context of COVID-19
• Human rights and the 2030 Agenda
• Enhancing the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in Commission meetings.