This paper discusses ways in which international organizations have in the past and can continue in the future to foster social, economic, and cultural rights on a global scale. Involvement of international organizations such as the United Nations in the realm of human rights expanded after the second world war. Examples of contributions to the protection of human rights since the 1940's include drafting the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and creating international organizations such as the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the International Labour Organisation, the Council of Europe, and Commission on Human Rights, the Commission on Status of Women, and the Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. Although each of these organizations and declarations has had at least some positive impact on human rights, there continue to be many human rights violations due to the fact that the principles and covenants are difficult to enforce. To further realize the objective of protecting human rights in all nations, several suggestions are offered. Among these suggestions are giving human rights a prominent place on the agenda of international meetings, improving monitoring and supervising compliance with human rights standards, encouraging national legislative bodies to report on measures of human rights observances, allowing labor and management organizations to comment on the accuracy of government reports, supporting the International Labour Conference's right to review human rights reports, and extending the jurisdiction of the Commission on Human Rights to include private communications concerning human rights. (DB)