About Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nations that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The office was established by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 December 1993 in the wake of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights.
The office is headed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who co-ordinates human rights activities throughout the United Nations System and acts as the secretariat of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.
OHCHR Mandate:
The mandate of OHCHR derives from Articles 1, 13 and 55 of the Charter of the United Nations, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and General Assembly resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993, by which the Assembly established the post of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In connection with the programme for reform of the United Nations (A/51/950, para. 79), the OHCHR and the Centre for Human Rights were consolidated into a single OHCHR on 15 September 1997.
The objectives of OHCHR are to:
- Promote universal enjoyment of all human rights by giving practical effect to the will and resolve of the world community as expressed by the United Nations
Play the leading role on human rights issues and emphasize the importance of human rights at the international and national levels
Promote international cooperation for human rights
Stimulate and coordinate action for human rights throughout the United Nations system
Promote universal ratification and implementation of international standards
Assist in the development of new norms
Support human rights organs and treaty monitoring bodies
Respond to serious violations of human rights
Undertake preventive human rights action
Promote the establishment of national human rights infrastructures
Undertake human rights field activities and operations
Provide education, information advisory services and technical assistance in the field of human rights
