New rules established for U.N. Human Rights Council

With the establishment of the United Nations Human Rights Council, a new set of rules has been adopted as a means of strengthening the U.N. body and further distancing it from its much-maligned predecessor, the Human Rights Commission, BBC News reported today.

The new rules will allow the council to regularly produce reports on the state of human rights in all U.N. member countries. The new mechanism, known as “universal periodic review”, was implemented based on “the broadest possible support”, rather than the two-thirds agreement advocated by China.

“We have all made compromises, it is not a perfect text. Negotiations never achieve a perfect text,” remarked Council President Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico.

There are currently nine countries on the council’s list of states subject to special scrutiny, including North Korea, Cambodia and Sudan.

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U.N. Human Rights Council begins crucial session

As the United Nations Human Rights Council continues to monitor the status of human rights in the world, crucial discussions are underway as member country representatives meet for the body’s fifth session this week, AFP reported Sunday.

To more actively advocate for global human rights, the 47-member Council has until the end of June to determine the apparatus by which to remain impartial yet effective. One of the most important discussions will concern the implementation of a new systematic review process of the human rights record for each U.N. member state each four years. This new mechanism will be known as universal periodic review and seeks to highlight violations as well as progress made by member states as a means of leveling the playing field between political rhetoric and actual implementation concerning human rights compliance.

Still, tensions have surfaced as the West and Latin American countries have envisioned different approaches than those put forward by African and Arab countries. Many have criticized the African group’s suggestions for the creation of a code of conduct for U.N. experts and special rapporteurs. The proposal has been classified by some rights groups as a “straitjacket.”

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For more information on the Human Rights Council, click here.

U.N. human rights chief speaks at CHRC briefing

As part of her Washington visit, Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, spoke today at a Congressional Human Rights Caucus Members’ Briefing. Arbour discussed the international human rights framework and her requests for legislative action on the part of the United States.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is charged with promoting and protecting the rights enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and in numerous international human rights laws and treaties. The OHCHR mandate includes preventing human rights violations, securing respect for all human rights, promoting international cooperation to protect human rights, coordinating related activities throughout the U.N., and strengthening and streamlining the U.N. system concerning human rights. OHCHR also leads efforts to integrate a human rights approach within all work carried out by U.N. agencies.

OHCHR acts as one of the three major U.N. human rights institutions. Along with OHCHR, international human rights treaties and conventions and the Human Rights Council, help to collectively ensure human rights advocacy and protection. One new development emphasized by Arbour today was the likelihood of a new Human Rights Council obligation to perform Universal Periodic Reviews to monitor and critique the status of human rights in all U.N. member nations. In addition to this new additional system of review, the Human Rights Council will also hold talks on the continuation of the primary discussion concerning human rights violations by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. While the council will vote at the next scheduled meeting, Arbour was confident that the issue would continue to be discussed based on the need to ensure that human rights protection is universally implemented in all cases.

The High Commissioner also called for the U.S. to ratify several human rights treaties. Arbour was critical of the disconnect between America’s rhetorical advocacy for human rights and lack of actual formal support for treaties such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the forthcoming Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

For more information on the OHCHR, click here.

For details on binding international human rights law, click here.

U.N. to hold Human Rights Council elections

Despite objections by various international human rights organizations, the United Nations Human Rights Council will hold elections for 14 new council members, BBC News reported today.

According to U.N. Watch, the selection of certain controversial countries, such as Angola Belarus, Egypt and Qatar, could damage the council’s credibility on fundamental human rights issues. U.N. Watch and Freedom House classified the controversial candidate countries as "authoritarian regimes with negative UN voting records [on rights issues]... [who] are not qualified to be council members.”

19 human rights groups joined together on Monday to urge the U.N. General Assembly to reject Egypt’s candidacy for a council seat due to a record “full of serious human rights violations that have been practiced widely for long years.”

After the dismantling of the much-maligned Human Rights Commission last June, there is pressure on the Human Rights Council to maintain a better reputation and not admit countries that have poor records on human rights.

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To access U.N. information on the Human Rights Council elections, click here.

For various NGO press releases and reports concerning the Human Rights Council elections, visit the following links: HRW Freedom House U.N. Watch (1) (2)