"This endeavor began with a conference entitled: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: -- Conscience for the World, which was convened on February 7-8, 2012."-- Acknowledgments.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 389-392) and index.

Preliminary Material / Felice D. Gaer and Christen L. Broecker -- Introduction / Felice D. Gaer and Christen L. Broecker -- Rights Inflation and Role Conflict in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights / Michael Ignatieff -- The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: From the Personal to the Institutional / Harold Hongju Koh -- Address by the High Commissioner at the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights / Navi Pillay -- A Conversation with the High Commissioner / Felice D. Gaer and Navi Pillay -- Future Preventive Strategies of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights / Bertrand G. Ramcharan -- The High Commissioner and the Treaty Bodies / Michael O’Flaherty -- The High Commissioners’ Promotion of Universality of Human Rights / Sunila Abeysekera -- The High Commissioners and the Special Procedures: Colleagues and Competitors / Felice D. Gaer -- Protection Through Presence: The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Field / Christen L. Broecker -- Enhancing UN Human Rights Work on the Ground / William G. O’Neill -- The High Commissioner and National Human Rights Institutions / Tseliso Thipanyane -- The High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Council / Suzanne Nossel and Christen L. Broecker -- Human Rights Prosecutors? The High Commissioner for Human Rights, International Justice, and the Example of Syria / David Kaye -- The High Commissioner, OHCHR, and China 1998–2005: Challenges and Achievements / Stephanie T Kleine-Ahlbrandt -- The High Commissioner for Human Rights and North Korea / Roberta Cohen -- The Role of the High Commissioner in Protecting and Promoting Human Rights in Afghanistan and Sudan / Sima Samar -- The High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation / Karinna Moskalenko , Maria Goldman and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick -- The High Commissioner for Human Rights and Burma (Myanmar) / Jared Genser -- The Impact of the High Commissioner on Human Rights Protection in Colombia / Victor Rodriguez-Rescia -- Selected Bibliography / Felice D. Gaer and Christen L. Broecker -- Index / Felice D. Gaer and Christen L. Broecker.

In this first systematic examination of the role of the top United Nations human rights official, editors Felice Gaer and Christen Broecker analyze the achievements, leadership styles of, and obstacles encountered by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and propose recommendations for the future. The editors are joined by 18 expert contributors including present and former UN policymakers, human rights practitioners, legal scholars, and current High Commissioner Navi Pillay. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Conscience for the World examines how the six individuals who have served in this post have worked to end atrocities, hold perpetrators of abuses to account, promote equality and justice, and provide protection and redress to victims.