How effective is the UN at promoting and enforcing Human Rights?


The United Nations is an intergovernmental organisation composed of sovereign states. It consists of several organs, each focusing on different issues. The General Assembly deals with broad international issues, the Security Council which deals with international peace, sanctions and military actions, the Economic and Social Council which deals with the economic and social work of different UN agencies, the Secretariat which deals with administrative work, the Trusteeship council which deals with administering authority and the International Court of Justice which deals with disputes between states. The UN has effectively promoted human rights through the creation of the UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) by the General Assembly. The UNHRC examines the violations in human rights and makes recommendations which are addressed by resolutions in the United Nations organs. However, it has limited effectiveness in some cases due to conflicts between countries due to differing ideologies. In the Security Council for example, it is common that the United States and Russia will block certain resolutions from passing due to domestic politics and values of state sovereignty. In regards to enforcing human rights, the United Nations can take action to effectively address human rights violations.  For example, the UNHRC was effective in the case of Sri Lanka where there were accusations of breaches in human rights and humanitarian law, where the UNHRC responded by creating the Commission of Enquiry into Human Rights Abuses in Sri Lanka. In cases like Sri Lanka and many others, however, in order for the enforcement of Human Rights to occur there must be a general consensus on human rights violations. Differing ideologies in what constitutes as human rights as well as the importance of sovereignty has meant that certain human rights have limited enforcement under the UN. For example in the case of Syria, the Veto powers of China and Russia blocked a proposal of R2P (right to protect) intervention into the country. Overall the effectiveness of the UN in enforcing and promoting human rights is supported due to its multiple organs and its influence however they are limited by the fact that they can only be brought to a domestic scale depending on the willingness of sovereign states.

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