Human right Provision under United Nation

Human Rights provisions in U.N. Charter:

            The inclusion of human rights provisions in the U.N. Charter also reveals that the promotion and protection of human rights constitute one of the vital objectives to be realized by the U.N. and its member states. The term human rights and fundamental freedoms are referred to the preamble and seven other provisions of the Charter of the U.N. Such inclusions of human rights provisions in the Charter have, in fact created the very basic foundation of the contemporary international human rights jurisprudence. The preamble to the Charter in its first paragraph lays down that “we the people of the United Nations determined to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity, and worth of human person, in the equal rights of men and women”. Unlike the Covenant of the League of Nations, the term “we the people of the United Nations,” as mentioned in the preamble to the Charter of U.N., is found to be very meaningful as it has given the ultimate source of powers of the world organization. Despite those meaningful words used in the preamble of the Charter, the framer of the Charter also went on to emphasis on numerous provisions pertaining to human rights, elimination of colonialism, economic and social co-operation and non-self governing territories, among others.

 

            The basic purposes of the United Nations are laid down in article 1 of the Charter which aims at developing friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples and taking other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace and security. It further states that one of the purposes of the U.N. is to achieve international co-operation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion etc. The Charter explicitly recognizes that the U.N obligations for maintenance of international peace and security and its obligation to protect human rights are found to beinterrelated and interdependent, if not identical. Therefore, the task for promotion and protection of human rights has been one of the major objectives of the global organization, and interestingly, the entire globe has also been taken as a big family in this regard.

 

            The U.N. General Assembly is empowered under article 13 (1) ( b) of the Charter to initiate studies and make recommendations for the purpose of assisting in the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without any distinction among the individuals. The General Assembly, as a part of its obligations, has adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 and also many other international human rights documents. Eventually both the United Nations and its member states do have the global human rights obligations to achieve  such mandate, as provided in articles 55 and 56 of the Charter. Hence such inviolable mandate, laid down in the provisions of the Charter, indicates the binding nature of the obligations both to the U.N. and its member states to observe and respect human rights irrespective of all the differences between and among the individuals. However, there are different views about the binding nature of such human rights provisions of the Charter. Some authors of the subject are of the view that such provisions essentially contain merely the moral obligation but not the binding legal obligation for the U.N. and its member states. On the other hand, some authors are of the view that those provisions not only impose moral obligation but also create legal obligation for both of them. Whatever the case it may be, it is quite apparent that there is always a negative obligation on the parts of the U.N and its member states not to act so as to undermine the human rights at any cost and at any level. On theother hand, the literal experiences and contributions of the U.N. and its member states during the last 67 years have undoubtedly proved the actual implications of such provisions of the human rights laid down in the Charter.

 

            The Economic and Social Council has the obligation under article 62 (1) and (2) of the Charter to initiate steps, study, recommend and to respect for observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. The Council also has the mandate under article 68 of the Charter to set up commissions on different fields, such as economic, social and cultural and human rights, and among others. Accordingly, the Council began to establish the Commission on Human Rights in 1946 and the Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in 1947. The another important part of the Charter is the Trusteeship System of the U.N. in which the main objective for the system is to encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in the dependent territories. It is, basically to maintain equality among the individuals, irrespective of various inequalities and to encourage recognition of interdependence in the world. It stresses on the importance of international co-operation and co-ordination for the promotion of economic and social welfare of the people of the world. Apart from these provisions of human rights, enshrined in the U.N. Charter, it also interestingly refers to the concept of human rights, dignity, worth of human person, equal rights, fundamental freedoms, liberty and justice, among others, in different parts of it. Therefore, the inclusion of such provisions in the Charter has, undoubtedly created a dynamic and dimension towards the progressive development of positive international human rights law and system, where individuals have virtually occupied afocal point of such international system and rule. In other word, the U.N. Charter has universalized the concept of human rights