Abstract
Human rights work by the UN for the organization’s first 45 years consisted mostly of creating laws and standards and convening meetings in Geneva. It was only with the end of the Cold War that the UN started to move human rights work to the places where violations were occurring. This new focus on the field required the UN to learn to promote and protect human rights in a completely new and challenging way. Many mistakes were made, but over time the UN has identified several key principles and approaches that can lead to success: improved respect for human rights, prevention of further violations, and ending impunity. Much remains to be done, however, especially in this era where terrorism, national security, and mass forced displacement have generated new challenges for human rights field officers.
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O’Neill, W.G. (2018). The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Field Operations. In: Oberleitner, G. (eds) International Human Rights Institutions, Tribunals, and Courts. International Human Rights. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4516-5_4-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4516-5_4-1
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