business.un.org, Partnering for a better world

The mission of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is to promote and protect all human rights for all people; to help empower people to realize their rights and to assist those responsible for upholding such rights to discharge their responsibilities effectively. In carrying out its mission OHCHR:

• Gives priority to addressing the most pressing human rights violations, both acute and chronic, particularly those that put life in imminent peril.

• Focuses attention on those who are at risk and vulnerable on multiple fronts.

• Pays equal attention to the realization of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, including the right to development.

• Measures the impact of its work through the substantive benefit that is accrued through it to individuals around the world.

OHCHR, a part of the United Nations Secretariat, is guided in its work by the mandate provided by the General Assembly in resolution 48/141, the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent human rights instruments, the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document.

Operationally, OHCHR works with governments, legislatures, courts, national institutions, civil society, regional and international organizations, and the United Nations system to develop and strengthen institutional capacity, particularly at the national level, for the promotion and protection of human rights in accordance with international norms.

OHCHR is committed to working closely with its United Nations partners to ensure that human rights form the bedrock of the work on the wider UN system.