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The effectiveness of United Nations human rights institutions
Abstract
Over the years member states of the United Nations have created various UN mechanisms to influence states to respect human rights. This study assesses their effectiveness and concludes that international human rights standards, institutions and procedures constitute a still-evolving multilateral human rights regime that in some cases has had positive impact. UN effectiveness is rooted in fact that states are members of a community, within which they pursue goals whose achievement depends significantly on avoiding political isolation. This need has permitted the gradual development of community mechanisms that can bring steady, year-round pressure on a state to reduce abuses. After examining the conceptual and legal foundations of this emerging regime, the study compares the structural and operational advantages of treaty-based and Charter-based UN institutions, concluding that the latter are more effective. Four Charter-based mechanisms are then analyzed: two thematic agents--the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on the Elimination of Religious Discrimination--and two country-specific agents--the Special Rapporteurs on Chile and on Iran. The study concludes that both Charter-based types have been significant secondary factors in contributing to improved human rights practices, at least temporarily. While domestic economic and political developments, bilateral pressures, and international economic factors normally weigh more heavily in states' policy deliberations, UN human rights mechanisms have become part of the external political environment within which states make choices. Effectiveness of any UN human rights mechanism depends importantly on how much a government desires to maintain or restore an international image of civilized and humane behavior and to avoid political isolation. In a deteriorating human rights situation, a government is more likely to cooperate with a thematic than a country-specific mechanism. The reverse is true in an improving situation, since the country-specific procedure can generate more positive publicity. Also enhancing effectiveness are simultaneous pressure by two UN mechanisms, the international community's willingness to sustain its efforts, a prudent balance between public criticism and praise, and the personality and energy of individual UN human rights agents.
Subject Area
International law|International relations
Recommended Citation
Flood, Patrick James, "The effectiveness of United Nations human rights institutions" (1995). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9541105.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9541105