The field work of those involved in human rights, development, politics, humanitarian action and refugee affairs has become increasingly interlinked and while much more is needed to improve the quality of coordination between them, joint strategies are being developed to coordinate their efforts and support each others work. This chapter looks at some of the milestones in the further integration of human rights into the UN during the year, such as the launch of a UN reform program, initiatives by the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and, in a first for the human rights movement, the address by Amnesty International s Secretary General to members of the UN Security Council. It also explores some of the set-backs and the continuing gap between rhetoric and reality. In July 1997 the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, launched a package of UN reforms. Despite some voices of dissent to the integration of human rights into all the activities of the un, the reform package was endorsed by the UN General Assembly in December.
Integration is a key theme running through the reform program.
UN field presences in a country will come together in a single building UN House under the unified leadership of a Resident Coordinator. The work of the UN Secretariat has been reorganized around the five core areas of work. The work on peace and security, development, economic and social affairs and humanitarian affairs is headed by a high-level Executive Committee for each area, which brings together the agencies dealing with these issues. Amnesty International welcomed the designation of human rights as an issue cutting across all other areas. Most importantly, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is able to participate in each of the four Executive Committees.