Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Abbreviation	OHCHR HCDH
Formation	20 December 1993[1]
Type	Agency
Legal status	Active
Headquarters	Geneva, Switzerland New York City, United States
Head	Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights[2]
Website	ohchr.org

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights^[a] (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The office was established by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 December 1993^[3] in the wake of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights.

The office is headed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who co-ordinates human rights activities throughout the United Nations System and acts as the secretariat of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. The eighth and current High Commissioner is Volker Türk of Austria, who succeeded Michelle Bachelet of Chile on 8 September 2022.^[2]

In 2018–2019, the department had a budget of US$201.6 million (3.7 per cent of the United Nations regular budget),^[4] and approximately 1,300 employees based in Geneva and New York City.^[5] It is an ex officio member of the Committee of the United Nations Development Group.^[6]

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