Sub-Fonds SO - Human Rights (2nd Series)

Zone d'identification

Cote

SO

Titre

Human Rights (2nd Series)

Date(s)

  • 1956-1974 (Création/Production)

Niveau de description

Sub-Fonds

Étendue matérielle et support

181 boxes, 118 microfilm reels.

Zone du contexte

Nom du producteur

UN NY Registry

Histoire administrative

As part of the Department of Social Affairs, the Division of Human Rights was headed by John Humphrey from 1946 to 1966. The Division was responsible in the Secretariat for the work of the Commission on Human Rights, which had been given a clear mandate by the Economic and Social Council to draft the international bill of rights. It was responsible as well for the Commission on the Status of Women, the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination, the Sub-Commission on Freedom of Information and the Ad Hoc Commission on Questions of Prisoners of War.

In 1962, the Division was composed of 5 units manned by 49 staff members. Due to lack of office space, United Nations New York approached United Nations Office Geneva to explore the possibility of housing the Division in Geneva, to which UNOG expressed its willingness. In April, the Acting Secretary-General decided that it would not be advisable to move the Division to Geneva at that time. Eventually, the Division was relocated to Geneva in 1973 (ref G.IIA 5/36). From 06.1974 the Division of Human Rights was officially transferred from United Nations Headquarters to United Nations Office Geneva.

In 1982 the Division of Human Rights (DHR) became the Centre for Human Rights (CHR) and shortly thereafter (01.1983) the Head of the CHR was reclassified to the level of Under-Secretary-General. In 1987, the Secretary-General designated the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva as the head of the Centre for Human Rights. In 1992 the Assistant Secretary-General was appointed as head of the Centre, reporting directly to the Secretary-General.

In 1994 the first High Commissioner for Human Rights was appointed and in 1997 the Centre for Human Rights and the Office of the High Commissioner were consolidated into a single Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Dépôt

UNOG Registry, Records and Archives Unit

Histoire archivistique

In 1973, Geneva Registry, Archives and Mailing Unit was informed by the Headquarters Registry Section of the relocation of DHR to Geneva and proposed to send to Geneva the Headquarters Registry classification series so that the Geneva Registry could become operational immediatly upon the move (ref G.IIA 5/36).

Headquarters Registry offered that as they maintained periodic files for four years cycle, all files opened during the current cycle which started in 1970 would be sent to Geneva for reference purpose. The first transfer of Human Rights files from the Headquarters to Geneva was in June 1974.

In order to allow for continuity of the classification of the human rights records, the Geneva Registry decided to adopt the NY file classification system and with time expanded it to accommodate new subjects which were not covered by the original system. To avoid confusion with Headquarters records, special prefix "G/" was added on files created by Geneva.

With the continuing requests from the Division of Human Rights to have closed files for reference in Geneva, in 1975 the DHR requested the entire collection of records be sent to Geneva.

In 1976, for reason of space, the Geneva Registry undertook the microfilming of the records with the approval of UN NY Registry. The microfilming operation produced 131 reels of microfilms for these records. Some paper series were destroyed after microfilming. There are still over 20 linear meters of paper records of these files.

NY Archives still holds some records relating to the Human Rights Divison covering the period from 1942 to 1953.

Source immédiate d'acquisition ou de transfert

UN NY Registry

Zone du contenu et de la structure

Portée et contenu

Records of the Division of Human Rights from 1956 to 1974.

Évaluation, élimination et calendrier de conservation

Accroissements

Mode de classement

Numeric file code.

Zone des conditions d'accès et d'utilisation

Conditions d'accès

Archive Employee

Need declassification from OHCHR.

Unrestricted

Conditions de reproduction

Langue des documents

  • anglais
  • français
  • allemand
  • italien
  • russe
  • espagnol
  • zz

Écriture des documents

    Notes de langue et graphie

    Caractéristiques matérielle et contraintes techniques

    Instruments de recherche

    Finding aid available

    Zone des sources complémentaires

    Existence et lieu de conservation des originaux

    Existence et lieu de conservation des copies

    Microfilm reference number: ARR 1157/Reels 1 - 119

    Unités de description associées

    Papers of John Peters Humphrey, McGill University Archives; Archives René Cassin (382 AP), Archives nationales de France; Papers of Charles Malik, Library of Congress; Papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park NY; Bora Laskin Law Library, University of Toronto.

    Descriptions associées

    Zone des notes

    Note

    Protection period to: 1974-12-31

    Identifiant(s) alternatif(s)

    Scope ID

    1600

    Mots-clés

    Mots-clés - Sujets

    Mots-clés - Lieux

    Mots-clés - Noms

    Mots-clés - Genre

    Zone du contrôle de la description

    Identifiant de la description

    Identifiant du service d'archives

    Règles et/ou conventions utilisées

    Statut

    Final

    Niveau de détail

    Dates de production, de révision, de suppression

    Langue(s)

      Écriture(s)

        Sources

        Note de l'archiviste

        Protection period duration: 0

        Note de l'archiviste

        Protection period note:

        Note de l'archiviste

        Permission:

        Note de l'archiviste

        Physical usability: Without limits

        Note de l'archiviste

        Term of protection: UN Classified (20)

        Zone des entrées