How does the UN work to make the rights contained in the UDHR a reality?
The UN has a three-pronged approach to implementing the Universal Declaration. It helps set human rights standards by developing norms and legislation. It promotes and protects rights through international law and education. And it is at the forefront of delivering rights such as the right to food or shelter through the work of the World Food Programme and UNHCR. How are rights protected in each country? Human rights are protected in the first instance by the UN’s core treaties, which governments commit to voluntarily. By ratifying a treaty, a government pledges to make the rights contained in it a reality. To achieve this, a government is supposed to take legislative and administrative measures to incorporate the rights into domestic law and national policy. This obliges public bodies and service-providers to respect rights, and also enables people whose rights have been violated to seek help, if necessary via the courts. How does the UN monitor to what extent rights are protected in
