Human rights guarantee citizens to live in peace and dignity. 
They are intended to protect civilians from abuse by those in power, from violence and repression. Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.
"We need evidence, not just some promises." "We the victims of 1965, are already old."
Human rights violations are breaches of those rights that have been agreed upon by international treaties and convenants. Torture is a clear human rights violation, as well as censorship or enforced disappearancies. It is not sufficient to consider "the authorities" or "the police" as responsible for those violations. The individuals, such as police officers who carry out the violations, should also be held to account. Often it is the police themselves that have to do the prosecution of their colleagues. In the same way government officials may be responsible for human rights violations as well as for the prosecution of those violations.
Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law , general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups. ( http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/WhatareHumanRights.aspx)
The Member States of the United Nations have committed themselves to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights according to the convenants and treaties they have ratified. Indepent committees of international human rights law experts have been elected by the Member-states themselves to monitor the realization of rights on the ground and to hold the state accountable for violations that have occurred. These procedures are called "quasi-legal" judgments, and not really binding. In other fora in the United Nations the accountability is a political affair. States can often make deals in order not to be held accountable, depending on their power within the United Nations itself. More about thesse monitoring procedures on the page legal instruments.
