Human Rights in the Administration of Justice

A/RES/60/159View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 71b Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, published in 2006.

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	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

What’s in this document?

19 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;

Affirms that States must ensure that any measure taken to combat terrorism, including in the administration of justice, complies with their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law;

Invites Governments to provide for training, including anti-racist, multicultural and 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, United Nations institutes active 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 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, to closely coordinate 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 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to reinforce, within their respective mandates, their activities relating to national capacity-building in the field of the administration of justice, in particular in post-conflict situations and, in this context, in cooperation with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the Secretariat;

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 welcomes the publication of the Manual on Human Rights Training for Prison Officials;¹³

¹³United Nations publication, Sales No. E.04.XIV.1.

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

Encourages the Inter-Agency Coordination Panel on Juvenile Justice to further increase cooperation among the partners involved, to develop common indicators, tools and manuals, to share information and to pool their capacities and interests in order to increase the effectiveness of programme implementation, and takes note with appreciation of the publication entitled “Protecting the rights of children in conflict with the law”;¹⁴

¹⁴Available from www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/Protecting_children_en.pdf.

Welcomes the adoption by the Economic and Social Council of the Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime, set out in the annex to its resolution 2005/20 of 22 July 2005, and encourages all relevant actors to draw upon the Guidelines where appropriate;

Encourages the independent expert for the United Nations study on violence against children to address in his final report the prevalence of violence in the juvenile justice system;

Invites Governments, relevant international and regional bodies, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations to devote increased attention to the issue of women in prison, including the children of women in prison, with a view to identifying and addressing the key problems;

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, including through the proposed Peacebuilding Commission and the Rule of Law Assistance Unit, 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 sixty-second session under the item entitled “Human rights questions”.

Human Rights in the Administration of Justice

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