UN Human Rights Field Presence as Proactive Instrument of Peace and Social Change: Lessons from Angola

This article examines tentative developments in the area of human rights field operations, outlining the challenges which faced the recent UN peace keeping/building experience in Angola, and analyzing the opportunities, successes, and failures of the UN human rights mission to contribute concretely to improving the human rights situations in Angola. The article provides both a set of recommendations designed to overcome the present limitations of human rights field operations and possible tools to improve the present human rights situation. This improvement is not simply about short term ad hoc visible actions, but, more importantly, how such field operations can contribute to building the foundation for the development of a human rights culture, both on the governmental and individual levels.