In retrospect, human rights and the Cold War were mostly seen as antipodes in history. However, the book shows that both were historically closely linked. East and West used UN human rights protection to attack their counterparts and to raise their profile. In the 1960s, the competition for human rights provided the decisive impetus for the establishment of the first general investigation procedures of the Human Rights Commission and in the 1970s and 1980s it was the driving force behind the application and further development of the system for the protection of human rights.