ABSTRACT

In 1945, international human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were made possible by the United Nations (UN) Charter, which recognized the universality of human rights for the first time1 and introduced the terminology of NGOs,2 and by the UDHR,3 which laid the groundwork for the normative and institutional developments that were to follow. Today, six decades after the adoption of the UDHR, the accounts of the role of human rights NGOs in the promotion and protection of universal human rights are manifold. The majority of commentators describe a considerably more expansive role than the consultative function, limited to the economic and social field, which was envisaged in the UN Charter. Many accounts celebrate human rights NGOs as indispensable to the operation of the UN systems for promoting the domestic implementation of human rights.4 They have been credited with playing a major role in critical global transformations, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ending of apartheid in South Africa.5 Human rights NGOs have also been depicted as part of the vanguard of an emergent international civil society, helping to shape new forms of global governance that are more democratic and inclusive.6 In this role, NGOs have been variously described as bringing ‘the voice of the people’ or ‘the conscience of the world’ to international law and governance.7 There are also less celebratory accounts. Stalwarts of the realist tradition have always maintained that the impact of human rights NGOs is negligible, while others have suggested that they are merely a mouthpiece for ‘global elites’,8 a neo-imperial tool

1 Charter of the United Nations (adopted 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945) (UN Charter), preamble para. 1, Arts. 1(3), 10, 13(1)(b), 22, 55, 56, 58 and 62(2).