The range of global human rights institutions which have been
created over the past half century is a remarkable achievement.
Yet, their establishment and proliferation raises important
questions. Why do states create such institutions and what do they
want them to achieve? Does this differ from what the institutions
themselves seek to accomplish? Are global human rights institutions
effective remedies for violations of human dignity or temples for
the performance of stale bureaucratic rituals? What happens to
human rights when they are being framed in global institutions?
This book is an introduction to global human rights institutions
and to the challenges and paradoxes of institutionalizing human
rights. Drawing on international legal scholarship and
international relations literature, it examines UN institutions
with a human rights mandate, the process of mainstreaming human
rights, international courts which adjudicate human rights, and
non-governmental human rights organizations.
In mapping the ever more complex network of global human rights
institutions it asks what these institutions are and what they are
for. It critically assesses and appraises the ways in which global
institutions bureaucratize human rights, and reflects on how this
process is changing our perception of human rights.
Tabla de materias
Preface by Conor Gearty.
Acknowledgements.
Abbreviations.
1 Introduction.
2 Institutionalizing human rights: expectations, paradoxes,
and consequences.
Efficiency, legitimacy, power.
Arena, instrument, actor.
Autonomy and dependence.
Form and function.
Bureaucracy: authority and alienation.
Predominance of law.
Exclusion and inclusion.
Guarding the guards.
Remedy and ritual.
3 The rise of global human rights institutions.
A timeline.
A typology.
Functions, activities, and expectations.
4 United Nations human rights institutions.
Commission on Human Rights.
‘Politicisation’: membership and selectivity.
Standard setting.
Advisory services and technical cooperation.
Response to human rights violations: 1235 and 1503.
Special procedures.
The Commission 1946-2006: achievements and legacy.
Human Rights Council.
Membership.
Mandate.
First steps.
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human
Rights.
Membership, mandate, and activities.
Hierarchy, expertise, and politics.
Prospects.
Commission on the Status of Women.
Economic and Social Council.
General Assembly.
A ‘grand debate’ on human rights?.
Leadership, budget, standards, scrutiny.
Third Committee.
Achievements.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
A mandate between servant and shield.
From headquarters to the field.
Treaty bodies.
State reports.
Inter-state complaints.
Individual complaints.
Inquiries.
General Comments.
Achievements.
5 Mainstreaming human rights.
From mandate to mainstreaming.
International Labour Organisation.
United Nations Development Programme.
United Nations Children’s Fund.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
World Health Organisation.
Food and Agricultural Organisation.
World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
World Trade Organisation.
Challenges ahead in mainstreaming human rights.
United Nations Security Council.
Safeguarding international peace and security.
Genocide, the responsibility to protect, and human security.
Peace operations.
Democratic legitimacy.
International humanitarian law and civilians in armed
conflict.
Criminal justice for human rights violations.
Cooperation, transparency, and the role of NGOs.
Prospects.
6 World courts and human rights.
International Court of Justice.
International Criminal Court.
Towards a world court of human rights?.
7 Non-governmental organisations .
Independence between law and politics.
Consultation, co-operation, compensation, competition.
Functions.
Information, definition, mobilisation.
Agenda-setting, norm-making, and policy development.
Accompanying implementation.
Advocacy, education, and operation.
Legitimacy.
Challenges.
8 Conclusion .
References.
Index
Sobre el autor
Gerd Oberleitner is Director of the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy at the University of Graz.
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