As a global structure aimed at protecting Human Rights as enshrined in the United Nations Charter and
other legally binding treaties and non-binding declaration in a bid to promote Human Rights throughout
the world, there is a need to critically examine the activities of the United Nations since its inception in 1945. This paper examines the historical aspect of the United Nations contributions to Human Rights
promotion and protection as well as its threat and triumph in the advancement of Human Rights across the world. In a world bedeviled by arbitrary arrests, imprisonment without trial, attack on freedom, inhuman and humiliating punishment, mass killings, ethnic cleansing, enslavement, and other serious attacks on a person’s physical and moral integrity, this paper is focused on an analysis of the United Nations activities in promoting and protecting Human Rights, its origin and evolution, as well as the challenges associated with this effort. Amongst all, this paper recommends that agencies of government must be adequately funded, trained and equipped for responsible use of firearms in consonance with International Human Rights standards. In addition, any officer found to have participated in the unlawful termination of life should not just be dismissed from service but also be prosecuted, and a system should be set up to cater to the needs of victims and their dependents.