UK's Commitment to UN Convention on Rights

Introduction

In the UK police grapple to reconcile the demands of Human Right regimes with the practicalities and vagaries of real life whereas the lawyers and the judges choreograph intellectual pantomimes where short term aims of dismantling prosecution cases are put ahead of the rights of the general community.

The present regime of adherence to human rights by law enforcement in the UK has its origins in the setting up of the European Convention on Human Rights, which was prepared by the allies after the atrocities of World War II and The Holocaust. In fact the UK played a major role in the drafting of the European Convention but did not incorporate its provisions into domestic law as it considered that the protection of individual rights and liberties was already safeguarded by the British common law.

As a result of multiple changes in the political map, shift in military strength and new economic realities since 1945, the United Nations (UN) is confronted at the beginning of the twenty-first century with a new political dynamic and balance of power.

Since the end of the Cold War, and with the enlarging of the organization by the creation of new member states, its membership increased in the last 15 years by 30 percent. The UN, as a structure, had to adapt to absorb these newcomers and further, it had to respond to confrontations and unprecedented movements of population mostly in the southern hemisphere.

We must acknowledge that there is no other organization at the universal level, such as the UN, capable of dealing with such matters as peace and security, refugees, health, world trade, intellectual property, education, labor and human rights.

Faced with these realities, the Secretary General launched an appeal to the international community and stressed the need to reform the organization to respond effectively to the challenges. But reform is not easy to attain and the international community has no time to wait for the new structure to be put in place. Time is running out. Immediate enforcement mechanisms must be put in motion, in accordance with the UN Charter, to put an end to the existing conflicts, to prevent others from emerging, to set up the basis for economic and social development, to enforce the rule of law and above all, the observance of human rights.

How can the UN be strengthened? First, we need to recall the initial aims and principles of the UN. In the second part, it is important to address and recognize the UN's successes and strengths since its creation. The third section analyzes the various new challenges and today's evolving world, in order to finally attempt to see what needs to be adapted and strengthened within the UN so it can play a central role in the twenty-first century.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children (UNCRC) is a comprehensive document in which 42 articles describe the civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights of children. There are three different types of rights outlined in the ...