Institutional Partnership or Critical Seepages? The Role of Human Rights NGOs in the United Nations

Abstract

In 1945, international human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were made possible by the United Nations (UN) Charter, which recognized the universality of human rights for the first time1 and introduced the terminology of NGOs, 2 and by the UDHR, 3 which laid the groundwork for the normative and institutional developments that were to follow. Today, six decades after the adoption of the UDHR, the accounts of the role of human rights NGOs in the promotion and protection of universal human rights are manifold. The majority of commentators describe a considerably more expansive role than the consultative function, limited to the economic and social field, which was envisaged in the U..