Monitoring
Mechanisms

United Nations

Missions

Bodies

General Assembly

Economic and
Social Council

Human Rights Council

High Commissioner

International
mechanisms

Conventional

Extra-conventional

Complaint procedures

The human rights protection mechanism of the United Nations

The promotion and protection of human rights has been a major preoccupation of the United Nations since 1945, when the Organisation's founding nations resolved that the horrors of the Second World War should never be repeated.

The General Assembly declared three years later in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the respect for human rights and human dignity "is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world". Over the years, a whole network of human rights instruments and mechanisms has been developed to ensure the primacy of human rights and to confront human rights violations wherever they occur.

Although the idea of creating a post of High Commissioner for Human Rights dates back to the 1960's, the United Nations General Assembly did not establish the post until December 1993. The High Commissioner's mandate has four essential components: building global partnerships for human rights; preventing human rights violations and responding to emergencies; promoting human rights, together with democracy and development, as the guiding principles for lasting peace; and, co-ordinating the system-wide strengthening of the United Nations human rights programs.The following chart, though not exhaustive describes the functioning of the United Nations system in the field of human rights. Emphasis is given to those bodies and programmes with major human rights responsibilities.
The blue (black when printed out) areas indicate six principle organs of the United Nations, whereas the yellow (grey) ones indicate bodies or programmes serviced by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.