The UN Human Rights Council

In a historic moment, the UN General Assembly (GA) voted on 15 March 2006 to create the new Human Rights Council (HRC). The HRC was created to replace and improve the former UN human rights body, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Among the many changes and improvements promised by the HRC, the most noteworthy are listed below:

• The status of the HRC was raised to that of a subsidiary body of the GA.
• The HRC will consist of 47 member states, as opposed to the 53 under the CHR.
• Members will be based on equitable geographic distribution. Specifically the break-up will be: Africa 13, Asia 13, Eastern Europe 6, Latin America and the Caribbean 8, Western Europe and Other States 7
• Members will be voted in by the GA by an absolute majority. Particularly noteworthy is how members will now be able to be suspended for human rights violations by a two-thirds majority.
• Members will serve for three year terms, and will not be automatically eligible for re-election after two consecutive terms. This will guard against de facto permanent membership, as was the case with the CHR.
• The HRC will sit for more sessions, with at least three sessions per year, for a minimum duration of 10 weeks each. They will also be able to sit for additional sessions, where necessary.
• As part of its function to promote and protect human rights, the HRC will undertake universal, periodic reviews of all states’ adherence to human rights norms. This will ensure that all states are properly scrutinised and monitored, and will dispel any notion that some states are granted special treatment – as was the perception under the CHR.
• Not everything about the HRC is new, however. For example, it has retained the special procedures such as special rapporteurs, and NGO participation that functioned so well under the CHR.

Although the HRC did not prove to be such a noteworthy departure from the Commission as many had hoped, it does still hold a lot of promise for the improvement of human rights worldwide. The most notable improvements being having member states be selected according to geographic distribution; having a two consecutive term limit; being able to suspend states for violations of human rights; and having all states’ human rights records subject to periodic review by the HRC. The most notable success for women’s human rights, however, is the retaining of NGO participation in the HRC. This will enable them to continue to engage the HRC to bring about changes necessary for the full attainment of women’s human rights.

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UN General Assembly Resolution on the Human Rights Council, adopted on 15 March 2006

General Assembly establishes new Human Rights Council by vote of 170 in favour to 4 against, with 3 abstentions. See Press Release

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