Human Rights in the Administration of Justice

A/RES/56/161View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 119b Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, published in 2002.

What else is in this group?

28 documents · 1972–2024

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2024).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2024	A/RES/79/172	Human rights in the administration of justice	5,084	–
2023	A/RES/77/219	Human rights in the administration of justice	4,516	–
2020	A/RES/75/185	Human rights in the administration of justice	4,229	–
2019	A/RES/73/177	Human rights in the administration of justice	3,780	–
2017	A/RES/71/188	Human rights in the administration of justice	3,318	–

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15 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms the importance of the full and effective implementation of all United Nations standards on human rights in the administration of justice;

Reiterates its call to all Member States to spare no effort in providing for effective legislative and other mechanisms and procedures, as well as adequate resources, to ensure the full implementation of those standards;

Invites Governments to provide training, including gender-sensitive training, in human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justice, to all judges, lawyers, prosecutors, social workers, immigration and police officers, and other professionals concerned, including personnel deployed in international field presences;

Invites States to make use of technical assistance offered by the relevant United Nations programmes in order to strengthen national capacities and infrastructures in the field of the administration of justice;

Appeals to Governments to include in their national development plans the administration of justice as an integral part of the development process and to allocate adequate resources for the provision of legal-aid services with a view to promoting and protecting human rights, and invites the international community to respond favourably to requests for financial and technical assistance for the enhancement and strengthening of the administration of justice;

Encourages the regional commissions, the specialized agencies and United Nations institutes in the areas of human rights and crime prevention and criminal justice, and other relevant parts of the United Nations system, as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, including national professional associations concerned with promoting United Nations standards in this field, and other segments of civil society, including the media, to continue to develop their activities in promoting human rights in the administration of justice;

Invites the Commission on Human Rights and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, as well as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Centre for International Crime Prevention of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention of the Secretariat, to coordinate closely their activities relating to the administration of justice;

Calls upon mechanisms of the Commission on Human Rights and its subsidiary bodies, including special rapporteurs, special representatives and working groups, to continue to give special attention to questions relating to the effective promotion and protection of human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justice, and to provide, where appropriate, specific recommendations in this regard, including proposals for advisory services and technical assistance measures;

Calls upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to reinforce, within her mandate, her activities relating to national capacity-building in the field of the administration of justice, in particular in post-conflict situations;

Encourages the Office of the High Commissioner to continue organizing training courses and other relevant activities aimed at enhancing the promotion and protection of human rights in the field of the administration of justice, and commends the Office for its work on the development of a human rights manual for judges, prosecutors and lawyers within the framework of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, 1995–2004;

Welcomes the increased attention paid to the issue of juvenile justice by the High Commissioner, in particular through technical assistance activities, and, taking into account that international cooperation to promote juvenile justice reform has become a priority within the United Nations system, encourages further activities, within her mandate, in this regard;

Calls upon the coordination panel on technical advice and assistance in juvenile justice further to increase cooperation among the partners involved, to share information and to pool their capacities and interests in order to increase the effectiveness of programme implementation;

Underlines the importance of rebuilding and strengthening structures for the administration of justice and respect for the rule of law and human rights in post-conflict situations, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure system-wide coordination and coherence of programmes and activities of the relevant parts of the United Nations system in the field of the administration of justice in post-conflict situations, including assistance provided through United Nations field presences;

Stresses the special need for national capacity-building in the field of the administration of justice, in particular through reform of the judiciary, the police and the penal system, as well as juvenile justice reform, in order to establish and maintain stable societies and the rule of law in post-conflict situations, and in this context welcomes the role of the Office of the High Commissioner in supporting the establishment and functioning of transitional justice mechanisms in post-conflict situations;

Decides to consider the question of human rights in the administration of justice at its fifty-eighth session under the item entitled “Human rights questions”.

Human Rights in the Administration of Justice

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