Collective Security and Human Rights: How the United Nations' Institutional Design Corrupted Complementary Purposes

That human rights should be viewed as a complementary aim to the international pursuit of collective security was an intention of the drafters of the Charter and the subsequent Universal Declaration and they were correct to stress that functional relationship which exists between the domestic observation of human rights and the achievement of lasting peace and security internationally. Yet, in spite of the United Nations' assertion of the complementary nature of the purposes of collective security and human rights, this essay argues that if we survey the inception of the United Nations Organisation then it will become clear that the organisation was from the onset institutionally impaired in regard to effective human rights proliferation and enforcement. Indeed, the organisation's particular approach to collective security was designed intentionally so as to render any hopes for the effective observation and enforcement of human rights nugatory.