UN General Assembly
1993

of human rights and to alert our authorities to any possible violation. The recent organization in Yaoundé by the United Nations Centre for Human Rights of a training seminar for members of that Committee highlights the role of international cooperation in the promotion of human rights, particularly in developing countries. This cooperation suggests a new approach, necessitating a reversal of the tendency to turn human rights into political tools. This tendency often leads to a selective awareness of human rights violations and discrimination in the application of sanctions. Cooperation also suggests a new type of partnership, allowing the highly publicized activism on human rights to be replaced by calm and constructive dialogue between the various parties in charge of promoting and protecting human rights - States, national institutions, non-governmental organizations and multilateral institutions. In this context, the proposal to establish a post of high commissioner for human rights has its merits. None the less, it gives rise to some questions, the importance of which requires that it be considered attentively and in depth. Forty-eighth session - 8 October l993 9