The United Nations Human Rights Council: Issues for Congress

Abstract

On March 15, 2006, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution replacing the Commission on Human Rights with a new Human Rights Council (the Council). The U.N. Secretariat and some governments, including the United States, view the establishment of the Council as a key component of comprehensive U.N. reform. The Council was designed to be an improvement over the Commission, which was widely criticized over the composition of its membership when perceived human rights abusers were elected as members. The General Assembly resolution creating the Council, among other things, increases the number of meetings per year; reduces the number of Council seats from 53 to 47; and introduces a universal periodic review by the Council to assess each Member State's fulfillment of its human rights obligations and commitments. Council members are elected to a three-year term by an absolute majority in the U.N. General Assembly. One-hundred-and-seventy countries voted in favor of the resolution to create the Council. The United States was one of three countries to vote against the resolution, stating that the Council was no better than the Commission and that it lacked mechanisms for maintaining credible membership. In addition, the Bush Administration decided the United States would not run in the first Council elections held in May 2006. Despite these initial concerns, the Administration has said it will continue to fund and support the work of the Council, and may consider running in the 2007 election depending upon the progress of the Council in the next year. Currently, the United States is an observer to the Council and has no voting rights, though it can submit proposals for vote at the request of any Council member. The first meeting of the Council was held in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16 to 30, 2006, and participants addressed a mixture of substantive and procedural issues.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 08, 2006
Accession Number
ADA486099

Entities

People

  • Luisa Blanchfield

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civil Rights
  • Congress
  • Correctional Facilities
  • Department Of State
  • European Union
  • Foreign Relations
  • Governments
  • House Of Representatives
  • Human Rights
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Law
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • Law
  • Security
  • United Nations
  • United States

Readers

  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • International Relations and European Studies