Writing in The Guardian as the UN Human Rights Council session opens in Geneva, Archbishop Tutu and Mary Robinson say it is not just Sri Lanka's people that the Council must serve this week, but the cause of international law.

“If we let the UN Human Rights Council fail, we leave the field free to tyrants to call the shots.”

In response to calls to abandon the UN Human Rights Council as a mechanism for protecting and promoting human rights around the world, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan argues in the Christian Science Monitor that giving up on the Council would be a mistake.

At the World YWCA International Women's Summit in Zurich, July 2011, Mary Robinson speaks about the role of girls and young women as human rights defenders and leaders of their communities.

Desmond Tutu has given his support to Amnesty International’s campaign to free the 2,200 political prisoners in Burma. He calls on everyone who values human rights and justice to do the same.

In an article for The International Herald Tribune, Kofi Annan explores how learning about the Holocaust can teach young people across the world to oppose racism and promote tolerance in their own societies.

Writing in The Guardian, Mary Robinson argues that extreme poverty robs people of their human rights and that countries behind schedule with their Millennium Development Goals will stay that way unless they're made accountable.

Writing in The International Herald Tribune, Kofi Annan argues that our challenge is to protect the innocent by building an International Criminal Court so strong, universal and effective that it will deter even the most determined of despots.

In an interview with The Guardian, Mary Robinson describes her life and work - as a child growing up in County Mayo, Ireland; as a young senator and later first female President of Ireland; as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; and as a member of The Elders and the founder of a new organisation campaigning for climate justice.

Commenting in The Washington Post, Desmond Tutu expresses his concern about the discrimination and "wave of hate" in Africa directed at gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.

In his column in The New York Times, Nicholas D. Kristof argues that while religion has often been used to justify discrimination against women, religious institutions can work to become forces for female emancipation.