Introduction
The task of promoting and protecting human rights, and thereby preventing human rights violations, is one of the most formidable challenges ahead. Evi- dence of gross violations of human rights today is a disturbing reminder of the work to be done. The collective efforts of the largest and most represen- tative number of people must be harnessed in order to develop creative strategies to prevent all forms of human rights violations, both deliberate and inadvertent. Over time, the United Nations has employed various tools to protect and promote human rights. As the protection of human rights is pri- marily the responsibility of States, many strategies have been targeted towards strengthening the ability of States to protect persons within their territory, such as technical cooperation activities. Other strategies have been devised to nurture an understanding of human rights in areas such as education and development of publications. Overall, the main strategies may be defined as follows:
• Integrating human rights into early warning, humanitarian operations, peacekeeping and development
• Technical cooperation activities
• Human rights education and campaigns
• Human rights monitoring
• Working with civil society
• Publication of information.