World Conference on Human Rights, 1993

At the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, the determined lobbying of a group of about 40 NGOs resulted in the inclusion of some provisions on human rights in the UN Charter, which laid the foundations for human rights concerns in the world body and the post-war era of international law making (UN, 1945). The preamble of the Charter reaffirmed ‘faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small’ and determination ‘to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained’ as well as saving ‘succeeding generations from the scourge of war’ and promoting ‘social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom’. Article 1 of the UN Charter established that one of the four principles of the UN was to promote and encourage ‘respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion’. Two others were to maintain international peace and security and to promote economic and social development. The fourth was to be ‘a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends’.