The United Nations, an international organization of universal scope, has become the main assembly dealing with issues that transcend national borders and cannot be resolved individually by a single country.
Since its inception in 1945, the United Nations has aimed to maintain international peace and security, protect human rights and achieve a framework of international cooperation and justice to achieve progress economic and social crisis.
Conflict resolution and peace-building remain the most visible aspects of the Un’s work, but the Organization, as well as its funds, institutions and programmes, is engaged in a range of actions aimed at improving conditions of peoples around the world.
The main bodies of the United Nations with significant decision-making power are the Security Council, the General Assembly and the International Court of Justice.
Contrary to popular belief, the law of the United Nations is not a distant right that would have little or no impact on ordinary people.
Some of the Decisions of the Security Council (e.g. : the order to freeze the assets of members of the family of former dictator Saddam Hussein), rulings by the International Court of Justice (e.g. : bakassi Island case in which the Court grants the island sovereignty to Cameroon while the sovereign in place, until then, was Nigeria) or resolutions taken by the General Assembly (e.g. Resolution 1514 (XV) on granting independence to colonial countries and peoples) has an impact on the daily lives of many individuals around the world.
The promotion and protection of human rights is a priority objective and a guiding principle of the Organization. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, is generally recognized as the foundation of international human rights law. Since then, the Organization has been actively protecting human rights with legal instruments and fieldwork.
The LAW OFFICE THUAN Dit DIEUDONNÉ is able to guide you, assist you and represent you before the organs of the United Nations to defend your rights.
International human rights law sets out the obligations of states to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals and groups of individuals.
One of the great achievements of the United Nations is to have created a comprehensive set of human rights standards—a foundation of universal and internationally protected standards to which all nations of the world can aspire and subscribe. These are widely accepted rights, which include civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. The United Nations has also implemented a mechanism to promote and protect these rights, which also helps states to shoulder their obligations in this regard.
The foundations of these standards are the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1945 and 1948 respectively. Since then, the United Nations has gradually expanded the human rights base to include specific standards for women, children, people with disabilities, minorities and the most vulnerable groups who are now protected. discrimination that has long prevailed in many societies.
Based on the achievements of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols, as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and cultural groups came into force in 1976. Together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, these Covenants and their optional protocols constitute the so-called International Charter of Human Rights.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights came into force in 1976 and included 165 States Parties in August 2017. It promotes and protects, among other things:
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its first Optional Protocol came into force in 1976. It included 169 States Parties as of August 2017. Its second optional protocol came into force in 1989.
The international pact deals in particular with the free movement of persons, the equality of individuals before the law, the courts and the courts, as well as the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence. The Covenant also addresses the issue of freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It states that every person has the right to freedom of expression. It recognises the right to peaceful assembly, the right to freely associate with others, to take part in public affairs, to vote and to be elected, and recalls that people belonging to minorities cannot be excluded from these rights. Finally, no one may be arbitrarily detained, subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Slavery and trafficking in all its forms are prohibited, as are any pro-war propaganda, as well as any call for national, racial or religious hatred.
Since 1945, a series of instruments have complemented the corpus of international human rights treaties, including the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), the International Convention on elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (1965), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women – CEDAW (1979), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) or the Convention on the Rights of the Child Disability Rights (2006), among others.
The Intergovernmental Body of the United Nations System, the Human Rights Council was established by the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006, with the main aim of assessing situations of human rights violations and making recommendations to remedy it. Comprised of 47 states, it has a responsibility to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights around the world. He succeeded the Commission on Human Rights, which was established in 1946 to establish the international legal framework to protect our fundamental freedoms and rights.
One of the most innovative aspects of the Human Rights Council is its Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a unique process. It is a review of the human rights achievements of all UN Member States. It is a state-led process under the auspices of the Human Rights Council. It provides each State with the opportunity to present the steps it has taken to improve the human rights situation in its territory and fulfil its obligations in this regard. The central mechanism of the Human Rights Council, the UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for each country.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights is the main human rights officer at the United Nations. He heads the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which is at the forefront of United Nations human rights efforts. It offers leadership, works objectively, studies and takes steps to empower individuals and help states defend human rights.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) represents the world’s commitment to the universal ideals of human dignity. The international community has given it a unique mandate to promote and protect all human rights. It thus supports the activities of United Nations human rights mechanisms, such as the Human Rights Council and key treaty bodies, created to oversee the way States Parties implement international treaties. human rights issues. It also promotes the right to development – which is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals – and coordinates human rights education. Finally, it strengthens human rights throughout the United Nations system.