ABOUT UN HUMAN RIGHTS History of the UN human rights programme The UN human rights programme has grown considerably since its modest beginnings almost 70 years ago. Organizationally, the programme started out in the 1940s with a small Division in the UN Secretariat in New York. The Division later moved to Geneva and was upgraded to the Centre for Human Rights in the 1980s. At the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993, Member States decided to establish a more robust human rights institution and later that year, the General Assembly adopted resolution 48/141 to create the post of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Declaration sets out basic civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all human beings are entitled to enjoy. Over time, this unprecedented affirmation of human rights became widely accepted as the standard to which all governments should adhere. The Declaration, together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols, as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its Optional Protocol, form the “International Bill of Human Rights.” International Human Rights Day is now observed around the world, on 10 December. This resolution led to the transformation of the Centre for Human Rights into the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights). The new Office was vested with a wide-ranging mandate and primary responsibility for promoting, coordinating, strengthening and streamlining human rights work and related activities throughout the United Nations system. Twelve years later, at the 2005 UN World Summit, Heads of State from around the world committed themselves to an expansion of the UN human rights programme that recognized the central role and importance of ensuring the application of a human rights-based approach in all aspects of the UN’s work. At the same time, the three pillars of the UN system were recognized as interconnected, namely, peace and security, development and human rights. The growth in the UN’s human rights activities reflects the increasing strength of the international human rights movement since the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on 10 December 1948. Drafted as “a common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations,” the As international human rights law developed, a number of UN human rights bodies were established to respond to evolving human rights challenges. These bodies, which rely on UN Human Rights for substantive and logistical support, are either Charter-based (political bodies with mandates originating in the United Nations Charter that are composed of representatives of Member States) or treaty-based (committees established by international human rights treaties that are composed of independent experts and mandated to monitor the compliance of States Parties with their treaty obligations). The Commission on Human Rights, which was established in 1946 and reported to the Economic and Social Council, was the key United Nations intergovernmental body responsible for human rights until it was replaced by the Human Rights Council, in 2006. In addition to assuming the mandates and responsibilities previously entrusted to the Commission, the Council reports and makes recommendations to the General Assembly on ways to develop international human rights law. Two years after its first session, the Council operationalized the Universal Periodic Review. UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2017 61