Human rights - UN Commission, Council, 1946-2006

human rights

Table of Contents

Introduction
Historical development
- Origins in ancient Greece and Rome
- Natural law transformed into natural rights
- “Nonsense upon stilts”: the critics of natural rights
- The persistence of the notion
Defining human rights
- The nature of human rights: commonly accepted postulates
- The content of human rights: three “generations” of rights
  - Liberté: civil and political rights
  - Égalité: economic, social, and cultural rights
  - Fraternité: solidarity or group rights
- Legitimacy and priority
  - Liberté versus égalité
  - The relevance of custom and tradition: the universalist-relativist debate
  - Inherent risks in the debate
International human rights: prescription and enforcement
- Developments before World War II
- Human rights in the United Nations
  - The UN Commission on Human Rights (1946–2006) and the UN Human Rights Council
    - The UN Commission on Human Rights and its instruments
    - The UN Human Rights Council and its instruments
  - Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
  - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  - The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
  - The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Its Optional Protocols
  - Other UN human rights conventions and declarations
- Human rights and the Helsinki process
- Regional human rights systems and developments
  - Human rights in Europe
  - Human rights in the Americas
  - Human rights in Africa
  - Human rights in the Arab world
  - Human rights in Asia
- International human rights in domestic courts
Human rights in the early 21st century

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Between 1946 and 2006 the UN Commission on Human Rights, created as a subsidiary body of ECOSOC, served as the UN’s central policy organ in the human rights field. For the first 20 years of its existence, however, the commission believed itself to be unauthorized to deal with human rights complaints. During its first two decades, therefore, and together with other UN bodies such as the ILO, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and the Commission on Human Rights Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, it concentrated on setting human ...(100 of 15274 words)

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