The United Nations and international oversight of human rights

Abstract

Chapter 2 looks at the development of the UN after World War Two and the subsequent development of the UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the various Covenants, Conventions and monitoring committees particularly since the end of the Cold War and increased international oversight of rights. It looks at the geopolitical, ideological and cultural factors that have influenced the development of UN Human Rights mechanisms as well as providing a critical analysis of human rights enforcement and realisability. It introduces some of the debates around the articulation of rights - cultural relativism vs universality, individual vs collective rights, socio-economic vs civil and political rights, etc.