UN Human Rights Fact-Finding: Protecting a Protection Mechanism
by Lara Talsma
spect for and observance of human rights. After sporadic use of this mechanism in the 1960s and 1970s through ad hoc missions, a system of both permanent and ad hoc fact-finding missions was developed since the 1980s and is now well estab- lished within the UN framework. Yet, polarized positions from and among governments, UN officials, and human rights orga- nizations on the desired scope and functioning of fact-finding mandates continue to make the instrument of fact-finding a topic of heated discussions within the UN.
H
uman rights fact-finding is considered one of the most effective and most important tools available to the United Nations (UN) in achieving its objective to promote re-
[Fact-finding missions] are consid- ered to be one of the most effective
international peace and security, the development of friendly relations among nations, the achieve- ment of international co-operation in solving inter- national problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fun- damental freedoms. One of the instruments that the UN uses to achieve these aims is the mecha- nism of fact-finding, through which an individual or a group of experts investigates and establishes the facts of a situation that might or does af- fect the aforementioned goals.
mechanisms available to UN organs. Among the recognized results of fact- finding reports are the international distribution of information about human rights situations; the
In contrast, the practical, po- litical and legal ramifications of fact-finding have only recently started to receive more substan- tial attention in the academic arena. Given the strong posi- tive and negative impacts that fact-finding missions can have on human rights situations and the importance that states attach to this mechanism, even more scholarly debate of the fact-finding practice would be welcome. This article highlights some issues for possible further debate by providing an overview of the main criti- cism of human rights fact-finding and by identify- ing unanswered questions and dilemmas.
Human Rights Fact-Finding Within the UN Framework
The main purposes of the UN as defined by Ar- ticle 1 of the UN Charter, are the maintenance of
application of findings by NGOs, judges and other actors with the
potential to influence law and policy; and the compliance by governments with recommendations.
All UN organs are authorized to create fact-finding missions to fulfill their tasks under the purposes of the UN Charter. However, the primary organs dealing with the maintenance of international peace and secu- rity are the Security Council and the Secretary-General, while the principle responsibility for the promotion of human rights lies with the General Assembly and through its delegation with
the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The ECOSOC is explicitly authorized to make recom- mendations in the field of human rights and to set up commissions to promote human rights. In 1946, the ECOSOC established the Commission on Human Rights (Commission), which was a leg- islative body, composed of (eventually) 53 states that were elected for three-year periods on the ba- sis of a predetermined geographical distribution.
Despite much criticism regarding the effective- ness and overall functioning of the Commission,
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