MEMBERSHIP IN THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Though the CHR was originally intended to be a group of eighteen independent experts from UN Member States evaluating the human rights conditions around the world, today it has evolved into a rotating group of 53 governmental delegations that meet annually for six weeks at the UN European headquarters in Geneva. As one of the functional commissions of Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the resolutions passed by the CHR are subsequently subjected to ECOSOC and General Assembly scrutiny; the CHR is also dependent on ECOSOC for the election of its Members and for its budget.

Election for membership on the CHR is conducted by regional groupings; there are five regional groups - 1) African; 2) Asian; 3) West European and Others Group (WEOG); 4) Eastern European; and 5) Group of Latin American and Caribbean (GRULAC). However, these groups are not entirely based on geography. For example, the WEOG group is comprised of European Union States, the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Korea and others. The chairmanship of the CHR is rotated through the regional groups. After the regional group has selected their nominee for chairperson, the whole Commission must then approve the decision. Traditionally, this selection process is completed by consensus. However, the CHR's 2003 session witnessed the first-ever full Commission vote on the nominated chairperson when the African group nominated the representative from Libya.

Analysis

The Commission on Human Rights was initially envisioned as an independent body of human rights experts. This plan envisioned concerned individuals free from national political constraints fairly evaluating States' human rights practices. However, since the CHR is currently a body of State representatives, political biases and constraints remain very much part of the process and the problem of the CHR.

Evidence of these biases is demonstrable in the regional groupings system. The regional groupings of the CHR were established in 1971 by the same resolution which expanded the membership of ECOSOC. This expansion was agreed upon to ensure equitable regional representation. At that point, election groups based on regions were formally instated by the UN; regional group meetings and decisions still form the starting point for a great many of the initiatives at the UN. These regional groupings, especially as they function within the CHR, unjustly allow exclusion of certain States and over-inclusion of others. For instance, Israel geographically should be a member of the Asian regional group. Israel's participation in that group, however, is barred by Middle Eastern States; WEOG and the other regional groups also disallow Israeli participation in their regional grouping. This leaves Israel excluded from membership on CHR altogether. On the other hand, during the Cold War, Turkey was able to maintain membership in three regional groups: Eastern European, Asian and WEOG.

Recommendations

In recent years, the CHR has witnessed a "race to the bottom" among its membership. Countries with a demonstrable interest in international human rights are regularly thwarted from gaining membership by those countries that want to have a seat on the CHR in order to stymie attacks against their own human rights record. Many groups have called for qualifications to be placed on membership in the CHR, such as ratification of the 6 key human rights treaties or issuance of a standing, open invitation for the "Special Procedures" to investigate their country. Conditions for membership on the CHR should be established; the effectiveness of the CHR will be enhanced by guaranteeing that Commission Members are truly interested in promoting human rights.

Consistently, the Commission spends too much time either evaluating situations that have already been discussed and ignoring issues that are in great need of discussion. While this is due in part to the previously mentioned "race to the bottom," the current regional groupings system facilitates this with bloc voting based on arbitrary geographical lines rather than similar political ideologies. Resolutions highlighting the human rights abuses in the occupied Arab territories are so common that there is an agenda topic devoted exclusively to this topic, while other agenda topics deal broadly with issues such as the rights of women or the conditions of human rights in the world. The antiquated regional groupings system should be revised to form new voting blocs, drawn on political, rather than geographical lines; a democracy caucus should work to promote political human rights issues.

Click the links below for further information about the Commission on Human Rights.

The Commission on Human Rights

A Brief Overview of the CHR

History of the CHR

Participation by Civil Society

Agenda and Resolutions

The Use of Special Procedures

Other UN Human Rights Bodies

Conclusion