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.

Review

"What is clear is that this is a seminal book on a key issue of our times. It has been well worth the wait. We must just hope that if the next edition is nearly 30 years in the coming, it will have a somewhat happier story to tell." -- Malcolm Evans, International and Comparative Law Quarterly

Book Description

Fully up-to-date coverage of the standard-setting role of the UN in the field of human rights

Table of Contents

Part I: The Human Rights Mandate of the Principal Organs

1. The Security Council

2. The General Assembly

3. The Economic and Social Council

4. The International Court of Justice

Part II: Subsidiary Human Rights Organs

5. The Human Rights Council

6. A Critical Appraisal of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee

7. The Commission on the Status of Women

8. The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Part Ill: Organs Monitoring Treaty Complianoe

9. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

10. The Human Rights Committee

11. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

12. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

13. The Committee against Torture and the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture

14. The Committee on the Rights of the Child

15. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

16. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances

17. The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

18. Reform of the UN Human Rights Treaty Body System

Part IV The Governanoe of Human Rights

19. The High Commissioner for Human Rights

20. Human Rights Co-Ordination Within the UN System

About the Authors

Frédéric Mégret is a Full-Professor and Dawson Fellow at the Faculty of Law of McGill University. He holds a Phd in international law from the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne and the Graduate Institute of International Studies of the University of Geneva. He is a graduate of Sciences Po Paris and the author of many articles on international human rights law, public international law, international criminal law and the laws of war.

Philip Alston is an international lawyer whose teaching focuses primarily on human rights law and the law of international organizations. He directs the recently-established NYU Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, part of the Institute for International Law and Justice. He is currently John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, NYU School of Law.