The persistence of human rights violations around the world clearly demonstrates the need to focus more attention on preventive action. Consequently, international organizations are increasingly strengthening the preventive dimension of their human rights activities. Preventive mechanisms have also emerged and continue to gain ground at the national level. These new realities, however, seem to have received little attention by the academic community. Yet they raise many important issues, which need to be further explored. The above considerations prompted the Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights to mark its twentieth anniversary by organizing an International Colloquy on the topic of the prevention of human rights violations. The present Volume contains contributions by the participants, based on the reports they presented at the Colloquy, substantially revised and updated. It constitutes the first attempt at a systematic analysis of the subject of the prevention of human rights violations, focusing on the following five aspects: conventional regimes, non-conventional monitoring mechanisms, international commissioners and Ombudsmen, national Ombudsmen and human rights institutions and the development of a human rights culture. It closes with a theoretical synthesis of the various approaches to the prevention of human rights violations, focusing on the context, the concept and function, as well as methods and techniques of prevention.

Less Than a Roar

This collection of essays critiques human rights field missions that were part of large UN and other multinational peacekeeping operations during the period 1994 through 1997. The authors served as human rights officers for the missions, including those in El Salvador, Haiti, Cambodia, Guatemala, Rwanda, and Bosnia. The several chapters trace the evolution of the missions, the role of human rights within the peacekeeping process, and the relationship between monitoring abuses and rebuilding the institutions necessary for a rights-respecting civil society. Future peacekeeping ventures should benefit from the analysis of these operations and from the recommendations that conclude each of the two sections of the book.

The very concept of human rights implies governmental accountability. To ensure that governments are indeed held accountable for their treatment of citizens and others the United Nations has established a wide range of mechanisms to monitor compliance, and to seek to prevent as well as respond to violations. The panoply of implementation measures that the UN has taken since 1945 has resulted in a diverse and complex set of institutional arrangements, the effectiveness of which varies widely. Indeed, there is much doubt as to the effectiveness of much of the UN's human rights efforts but also about what direction it should take. Inevitable instances of politicization and the hostile, or at best ambivalent, attitude of most governments, has at times endangered the fragile progress made on the more technical fronts. At the same time, technical efforts cannot dispense with the complex politics of actualizing the promise of human rights at and through the UN. In addition to significant actual and potential problems of duplication, overlapping and inconsistent approaches, there are major problems of under-funding and insufficient expertise. The complexity of these arrangements and the difficulty in evaluating their impact makes a comprehensive guide of the type provided here all the more indispensable. These essays critically examine the functions, procedures, and performance of each of the major UN organs dealing with human rights, including the Security Council and the International Court of Justice as well as the more specialized bodies monitoring the implementation of human rights treaties. Significant attention is devoted to the considerable efforts at reforming the UN's human rights machinery, as illustrated most notably by the creation of the Human Rights Council to replace the Commission on Human Rights. The book also looks at the relationship between the various bodies and the potential for major reforms and restructuring.

This book provides innovative thinking from a variety of perspectives on the important human rights, human security, and national security policy issues of today—and how these issues intersect. The issue of human security comes into play in nearly every important policy debate in global politics, and the protection of human rights is now recognized as one of the main functions of any legitimate modern state. How can the international community best ensure that human rights are protected while simultaneously protecting state security? Who should intervene in cases of mass, gross violations, and when are military actions justified? This book seeks to address and explore these difficult and pressing questions by presenting the differing views of commentators from various ends of the spectrum. Human Rights, Human Security, and State Security: The Intersection consists of three volumes, with each focusing primarily on one of the three broad areas while also drawing connections between them. A powerful resource for policy makers and practitioners in national governments, members of international organizations, and scholars, the innovative thinking presented will give readers a deepened understanding of the various international issues and help them to formulate effective policies in today's complex international landscape.

Ever since its creation, the United Nations has sought to protect as well as to promote human rights. Those who campaigned for decades for the establishment of the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights did so in the hope that the High Commissioner would spearhead the efforts of the United Nations and the international community to protect those at risk or whose rights are being violated. How has the High Commissioner contributed to international protection since the establishment of the office in 1993? This book, the first-ever written on the office since its establishment, presents the protection role of the High Commissioner. It argues that limited protection functions are carried out by the Security Council, the Secretary-General, the Commission on Human Rights and its special procedures, and the High Commissioner. However, international protection is still in its infancy and much more remains to be done to bring about a protection system that effectively anticipates and prevents gross violations, contributes to mitigation and cure, and facilitates remedies and compensation. This is a valuable pioneering work in the area of the international protection of human rights.

This four-volume encyclopedia set offers coverage of all aspects of human rights theory, practice, law, and history.

Preface to the first edition