High Commissioner

The High Commissioner

The High Commissioner is the principal UN official with responsibility for human rights and is accountable to the Secretary- General. The post of High Commissioner was created in 1993. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is based at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland, with an office at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

There are different UN human rights institutions and agencies. All have the common aim of promoting and protecting internationally agreed human rights - civil, cultural, economic, political and social. These rights were first proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Every person on the globe is equally entitled to enjoy them and the task given to the High Commissioner is to strengthen the efforts of the United Nations to implement all of them.

Leadership

The High Commissioner seeks to lead the international human rights movement by acting as a moral authority and voice for victims. The High Commissioner makes frequent public statements and appeals on human rights crises and travels widely to ensure that the human rights message is heard in all parts of the globe.

At the same time the High Commissioner engages in dialogue and builds constructive cooperation with Governments to strengthen national human rights protection. The Office seeks to work with an ever wider range of actors, including NGOs, academic institutions and the private sector, to instil commitment to human rights as widely as possible.It promotes human rights education and seeks to stimulate thinking on prevention as well as on new challenges such as trafficking in people, HIV/AIDS, biotechnology and the effects of globalization.

Mainstreaming human rights in the United Nations

The High Commissioner has been given the task of integrating human rights thinking and standards throughout the work of the Organization. OHCHR works with other parts of the UN to achieve this goal and participates fully in each of the UN's programmes - peace and security, economic and social affairs, development cooperation and humanitarian affairs.

Making the UN human rights programme more effective within countries

The High Commissioner seeks to bring together different institutions and organizations working for human rights throughout the world and to encourage them to combine with the UN system in advancing human rights. OHCHR encourages links between national, regional and international groups and organizations to ensure practical implementation of the findings and recommendations of international human rights bodies.To foster those links, OHCHR has working agreements with many organizations, has appointed regional representatives and advisers, and has set up field offices.

Supporting international human rights bodies

The High Commissioner seeks to offer the highest quality research, expertise, advice and administrative services to the main UN human rights bodies. OHCHR provides support for the meetings of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and its Sub-Commission and follow-up to their deliberations. Its staff assist the numerous experts appointed by these bodies in investigating and reporting on human rights issues. It also prepares the work of the UN committees that monitor how States fulfil their human rights obligations. OHCHR ensures a communication flow between these international bodies to maximize the impact of their efforts.

Providing access to human rights information and promoting human rights education

The High Commissioner disseminates information on human rights and promotes human rights education worldwide. Working with the UN Department of Public Information, OHCHR ensures that records of the meetings of human rights bodies are available to the media. It publishes extensively and maintains a web site that makes all official documents and information on international human rights developments accessible to millions.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is to protect and promote all human rights for all.

OHCHR is guided in its work by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent human rights instruments, and the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. The promotion of universal ratification and implementation of human rights treaties is at the forefront of OHCHR activities.

OHCHR aims to ensure the practical implementation of universally recognized human rights norms. It is committed to strengthening the United Nations human rights programme and providing the United Nations treaty monitoring bodies and special mechanisms established by the Commission on Human Rights with the highest quality support.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights is the official with principal responsibility for United Nations human rights activities. OHCHR is committed to working with other parts of the United Nations to integrate human rights standards throughout the work of the Organization.

OHCHR bases itself on the principle that human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. All rights civil, cultural, economic, political and social - should be given equal emphasis, and promoted and protected without any discrimination. The realization and enjoyment of all rights for women and men must be ensured on a basis of equality.

OHCHR is committed to promoting the realization of the right to development and to strengthening a rights-based approach to development.

OHCHR engages in dialogue with governments on human rights issues with a view to enhancing national capacities in the field of human rights and towards improved respect for human rights; it provides advisory services and technical assistance when requested, and encourages governments to pursue the development of effective national institutions and procedures for the protection for human rights.

A number of OHCHR field presences have been established with a view to ensuring that international human rights standards are progressively implemented and realized at country level, both in law and practice. This is to be accomplished through the setting up or strengthening of national human rights capacities and national human rights institutions; the follow up to the recommendations of human rights treaty bodies and the mechanisms of the Commission on Human Rights and the creation of a culture of human rights.

An essential condition for the success of field presences is that governments, national institutions, non-governmental organizations, as well as the United Nations country teams, are increasingly empowered to take on human rights related activities on their own, within the context of regional or sub-regional strategies.

OHCHR seeks to play an active role in removing obstacles and meeting challenges to the full realization of all human rights and in preventing the occurrence or continuation of human rights abuses throughout the world. To achieve this OHCHR will work closely with governments, United Nations bodies, regional organizations, international and non-governmental organizations and civil society.