The United Nations and Human Rights A Critical Appraisal

These essays critically examine the functions, procedures, and performance of each of the major UN organs dealing with human rights, including the Security Council and the International Court of Justice as well as the more specialized bodies such as the Commission on Human Rights and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. They also look at the relationship between the various bodies and the potential for major reforms and restructuring. Most of the contributors have been key participants in the United Nations Human Rights regime and all are ideally placed to critically evaluate its achievements and shortcomings.

Philip Alston is Professor of Law at New York University Law School, external Professor at the European University Institute in Florence, and has been Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of International Law since 1997. He chaired the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for eight years (1991-98). Between 1989 and 1997 he presented a series of studies on the long-term evolution of the human rights treaty monitoring system in his capacity as an 'independent expert' appointed by the UN Secretary-General and reporting to the General Assembly. He was also elected Chairman of the first ever meeting of the Presidents and Chairpersons of all of the UN and regional human rights commissions and courts which took place during the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.
Frederic Megret is a research associate at the European University Institute (Florence), and a PhD candidate at the University of Paris I and the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Geneva). He is a graduate of King's College (London) and laureat avec les felicitations du jury of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. He has worked as a blue helmet for UNPROFOR in Sarajevo in 1995, for the French delegation at the Rome Conference for an International Criminal Court, and for the International Committee of the Red Cross. He is the author of Le Tribunal penal international pour le Rwanda (2002).