The above quote was taken from "Realising Human Rights: "Take hold of it boldly and duly.......," a speech made at Oxford University, England. To see the full text of this speech, click here.

This site provides an overview to information on human rights around the world as provided by the agencies and sub-agencies of the United Nations which may be of interest to a wide variety of people within the general public. Also included are several documents on this issue, which are available here in full text.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - this office within the United Nations has as its goal a dedication to making human rights a reality world-wide, to prevent human rights violations, to build a global partnership for human rights, and to make human rights, along with peace, democracy, and development the guiding principles of the twenty-first century.

International Labour Organization - the ILO has made much progress in the field of human rights in the workplace, including the drafting of several human rights conventions, which are available in full-text at their homepage.

United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) - this organization promotes women's empowerment and gender equality. It works to ensure the participation of women in all levels of development planning and practice, and acts as a catalyst within the UN system, supporting efforts that link the needs and concerns of women to all critical issues on the national, regional and global agendas. This link takes you directly to UNIFEM's page for Women's' Human Rights.

United Nations Commission for Human Rights - this Commission was established to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and has also drafted a large body of international human rights laws. In recent times, the Commission has increasingly turned its attention to the need of States to be provided with advisory services and technical assistance to overcome obstacles to securing the enjoyment of human rights by all.

United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) - this site links you to information regarding the Convention on the Rights of the Child

MINUGUA - the United Nations Mission for the Verification of Human Rights in Guatemala; this site is also available in Spanish text

Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948.

Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action - adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993.

Press Releases from the High Commissioner for Human Rights - includes latest human rights press releases as well as a comprehensive search engine for all UN press releases.

ILO's Press Release Index - contains full-text of press releases from 1995 to present

ILO's Fundamental Human Rights Conventions - as part of ILO's work towards human rights in the working world, conventions have been drafted on topics such as forced labor and child labor laws and are available in full-text at this site.

ILO - Reports of the Director-General - these reports are available in both full-text or in the executive summary format

ILO - Speeches of the Director-General - full-text versions of addresses from 1996-1997

UNIFEM's Statement to the 53rd Session of the Commission on Human Rights

Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences

UNIFEM's statement to the 52nd session of the Commission on Human Rights

Documents of the Commission on Human Rights - 1997: 53rd Session

Documents of the Commission on Human Rights - 1996: 52nd Session

Documents of the Commission on Human Rights - 1995: 51st Session

Documents of the Commission on Human Rights - 1994: 50th Session

UNICEF's Preamble to the Convention on the Rights of the Child

World Health Organization's Guidelines for the Promotion of Human Rights of Persons with Mental Disorders

UNHCHR List of United Nations Human Rights Publications - from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

"Children's Rights and Habitat: Working Towards Child-Friendly Cities" (UNICEF) - Reports of the Expert Seminar, New York, 1 and 2 February 1996, and the UNICEF Workshop, Istanbul, 5 June 1996

UNIFEM Publications - this link takes you to a listing of all UNIFEM publications including a brochure titled, "Women's Rights are Human Rights," with ordering information

This site was created by Nancy Hughes, a student in the College of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina. Last updated 26 November 1997.