On March 15, 2006, the United Nations General Assembly (GA/10449) voted overwhelmingly in favor of the creation of a Human Rights Council. The Council will be a subsidiary body of the General Assembly, thus granting it higher status than the current Human Rights Commission, and will effectively replace the latter on June 19, 2006.

 

Addressing the shortcomings of its predecessor, the Human Rights Council will meet more frequently and will introduce a periodic review to assess how well each state is fulfilling its obligation to “respect human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, free of distinction of any kind”. A review of the Council’s status will be effectuated after five years. The new Council will be composed of 47 regionally representative members, who are expected to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights”. Another important change is that states will be elected by secret ballot and by absolute majority, and may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms. Furthermore, setting an important precedent, there will be no de facto memberships to the Human Rights Council.

 

The Council will retain certain provisions that were seen as being the strengths of the Human Rights Commission. Notably, the Council will retain the Commission’s unique system of special procedures that allow for independent experts and non-governmental organizations to participate in its work, thus recognizing the fundamental role played by NGO’s in the promotion and protection of human rights. The importance of eliminating double standards and selectivity, and preventing the politicization of human rights, was underscored in the process leading to the creation of the Human Rights Council.

 

The Council is charged with working to further imbed human rights into all aspects of the UN system, bearing in mind that the United Nations is built on the ‘three pillars’ of development, peace and security, and human rights, and that all three are intrinsically linked and mutually reinforcing. In addition, the Council is not only responsible for promoting human rights, but also addressing and preventing human rights violations. Overall, the aim of the Human Rights Council is to ensure that all people are able to enjoy all human rights, including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, as well as the right to development.