ABSTRACT
Any evaluation of the contemporary role of the United Nations in protecting human rights must examine its actions (or failures to act) in an historical perspective. Upon joining the UN, every government agreed, pursuant to Articles 55(c) and 56 of the Charter, to promote ‘universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.’ The UN General Assembly began to implement those Charter provisions with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 as well as the promulgation of the remainder of the International Bill of Human Rights through three multilateral treaties in 1966: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and its Optional Protocol. These instruments provide an authoritative definition of the rights which governments have agreed to achieve in the UN Charter.
