Human Rights and the United Nations: Paradox and Promise (Routledge Explorations in Development Studies)

This book considers the complex and contradictory role of the United Nations when it comes to human rights around the world.It depicts the United Nations as a global arena in which state and non-state actors continuously contest issues around human rights.This ongoing contestation simultaneously produces both advances and setbacks when it comes to the rights of stateless populations, women, Indigenous peoples, and racialized people, as well as rights related to health and the environment. Since the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and throughout various subsequent expansions, conventions and declarations, the United Nations has been central to the development and advancement of human rights as a primary, stated goal of global governance.However, there are various inherent contradictory tensions and challenges embedded in the United Nations promise for human rights.This timely collection investigates the United Nations’ role as knowledge producer, its relation to non-state act