In 1947, when the Commission on Human Rights met for the first time, its sole function
was to draft the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. That task was accomplished within a year and the Declaration was adopted by
the General Assembly on 10 December 1948 (since then 10 December is celebrated annually as
"human rights day").
For the first 20 years (1947-1966), the Commission concentrated its efforts on
standard-setting. Using the Universal Declaration as the basis, the Commission set about
drafting an impressive body of international human rights law, culminating in the adoption
by the General Assembly in 1966 of the two human rights covenants, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Together, the Universal Declaration and the two
Covenants are commonly referred to as the International
Bill of Human Rights.
The standard-setting character of the first 20 years is illustrated by a statement
adopted by the Commission in 1947 (and endorsed that year by the Economic and Social
Council) to the effect that it "recognized that it had no competence to deal with any
complaint about violations of human rights". It was only 20 years later, in 1967,
that the Commission was specifically authorized (by the Economic and Social Council, with
the encouragement of the General Assembly) to start to deal with violations of human
rights. Since then, the Commission has set up an elaborate machinery and procedures,
country-oriented or thematic (operating through Special Rapporteurs and working groups),
to monitor compliance by States with international human rights law and to investigate
alleged violations of human rights, inter alia by dispatching fact-finding
missions to countries in all parts of the world, rich and poor, developing and developed
countries alike. (It may be of interest, for example, that in 1994 the Special Rapporteur
on religious intolerance visited China and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of
racism visited the United States of America). During the 1970s and 1980s these
implementation and fact-finding machinery and procedures became the focus of the
Commission's attention.
In the 1990s, the Commission has increasingly turned its attention to the need of
States to be provided with advisory services and technical assistance to overcome
obstacles to securing the enjoyment of human rights by all. At the same time more emphasis
has been put on the promotion of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right
to development and the right to an adequate standard of living. Increased attention is
also being given to the protection of the rights of vulnerable groups in society,
including minorities and indigenous people and to the protection of the rights of the
child and of women, including the eradication of violence against women and the attainment
of equal rights for women.
This new emphasis finds eloquent expression in the the final document of the held in Vienna in 1993, which highlights democracy and
development as an integral part of human rights.
Adapted from the UN CHR web-site

