The relationship between the United Nations and the human-rights movement has always been ambiguous. On the one hand, human-rights ideology – and it is an ideology, every bit as much as Communism was or neo-liberalism is today – is profoundly legalist, claiming legitimacy from treaties and other international and national instruments.
联合国与人权运动之间的关系一直含混不清。一方面，人权这种意识形态¾就像过去的共产主义和现在的新自由主义一样，人权的确是一种意识形态¾从本质上来讲墨守陈规，依靠各项条约和其它国际国内协定确保其合法性。这里面首当其冲的是《联合国1948年世界人权宣言》。联合国是现代人权运动的发祥地，从很多方面来讲，人权运动从发端后从未真正离开过这里。