Hector Constant Rosales 

 

Venezuela 

 

Since 1945, in the post-World War II period, the need arose to redefine the scaffolding that would support new multilateral international organizations in the field of human rights. From then until the present, multilateralism in the field of human rights has evolved with the proliferation of international structures that have emerged in the regional framework at the same time and in parallel to the universal human rights system of the United Nations, with the promise of giving effect to the precepts of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948. In this study, we will focus our attention on the current dangers that we believe are looming in the field of human rights multilateralism, particularly in its evolution in the universal human rights system in the context of the changes reported in the so-called Global Governance, citing clear examples of how actions have been taken in this framework that, far from tending to the promotion and protection of human rights, have generated death and destruction in the name of such rights, as the imposition of unilateral coercive measures by hegemonic countries against the peoples of the South. In this sense, we will analyze in concrete terms the notions and concepts under discussion that have been coined in recent times to justify the actions of the developed North in this field, targeting the countries of the Global South and which are intended to be linked to the promotion and protection of human rights in multilateral bodies. We will also address the negative repercussions of unilateral coercive measures in the enjoyment of human rights, which violate the UN Charter and international human rights and humanitarian law, and in their essence, deny multilateralism and are opposed to a more just, equitable, reasonable and inclusive global governance of human rights. Lastly, we highlight the current vision of the universal human rights system, particularly concerning the work of the United Nations Human Rights Council and its mechanisms and the attempts to reduce this body to a mere instrument of Western interests.