Whilst most legal scholarship focuses on the responsibility of the United Nations for human rights violations few studies have ascertained the legal basis of the primary rules leading to such responsibility. This article fills this gap by reviewing the theories used to bind the UN to customary human rights law: (1) the UN has inherited its Member States’ obligations, (2) participation in the formation of customary human rights law implies being bound by it, (3) the UN is bound by international law because it has legal personality and (4) as the UN is embedded in international law it must comply with its norms. Such theories are further tested against the backdrop of international organisations’ theories. The article draws the conclusion that (1) should be rejected, (2) is not yet legally sound and (3)-(4), despite their flaws, are more persuasive. Ultimately, recourse must be had to the general international law.

中文翻译：

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使联合国受习惯（人权）法的约束

虽然大多数法律学者关注联合国对侵犯人权的责任，但很少有研究确定导致此类责任的主要规则的法律基础。本文通过回顾用于约束联合国与习惯人权法的理论来填补这一空白：(1) 联合国继承了其成员国的义务，(2) 参与习惯人权法的形成意味着受其约束, (3) 联合国受国际法约束，因为它具有法人资格； (4) 由于联合国植根于国际法，因此必须遵守其规范。这些理论在国际组织理论的背景下得到进一步检验。文章得出的结论是（1）应该被拒绝，（2）在法律上尚不健全，并且（3）-（4）尽管存在缺陷，但更具说服力。