Being a special rapporteur: a delicate balancing act.

Relying on the 14 years experience in various mandates in the UN since 1995 in the Human Rights Commission after 2006 at the Human Rights Council, the work of the special rapporteurs is reviewed in terms of its evolution, difficulties, limitations and repercussions in the respective societies and states targets of such mandates. The so-called special procedures or mechanisms at the UN human rights system are examined in the framework of contradictions present in the very political performance of states in human rights multilateral institutions. The analysis reaffirms the centrality of the victims as a key requirement for special rapporteurs to contribute to increase the visibility of human rights violations and the accountability for their perpetrators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]