On the Reconstruction of the UN Governance Paradigm by the Human Rights System

QI Yanping*

If the world prior to World War II was one where all continents and countries acted on their own volition, the post-WWII world has evolved into an interconnected global community bound by intercontinental interdependence, with the United Nations (UN), founded in 1945, serving as its driving force. The UN system aspires to transcend the various imperial systems backed by military force and faith-based religious systems in human history, and to establish an international order grounded in international law, with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations (UN Charter) as the fundamental norms governing international relations. Among these fundamental norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, respect for and protection of fundamental human rights, the dignity and worth of the human person shall occupy the position of an ultimate objective. They lay the justificatory foundation for the purpose of shaping international relations with the UN at the core, provide value guidance for the progressive development of law in constructing an international order based on international law, and establish a benchmark for the legality of international conduct that underpins the UN’s practice of global governance.