HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE

UN member states will continue negotiations on the Human Rights Council on January 11th, 2006 after talks were suspended over the holiday season. UN Member States agreed to create a new Human Rights Council (HRC) with responsibility for addressing human rights abuses worldwide at the 2005 World Summit last September, but, it is not yet clear what the council will look like.

Most human rights experts agree that the council should meet year-round so that it is able to act quickly when new human rights violations are uncovered. It should also be able to conduct periodic reviews of every country’s human rights performance. Still, major disputes remain deadlocked over the council’s size, the procedures for citing individual countries for violations and criteria for choosing membership as well as term limits for council members.

Once created, the HRC will likely replace the now discredited Human Rights Commission, a body which is often cited by UN critics as an example of the institution’s shortcomings. If this is to happen, nations must settle on a resolution creating the new council soon after talks resume in mid-January in order to have it in place by March, when the commission reconvenes in Geneva.

The idea to create a new, effective UN human rights body to replace the commission was first put forward by Secretary-General Annan in his “In Larger Freedom” report, released in March of 2005, and the HRC was quickly embraced by the world community. Several nations with poor human rights records like Zimbabwe, Sudan, Cuba, Egypt and Pakistan have assumed the role of spoiler states and are attempting to weaken any final resolution creating the council.

The U.S. can and must isolate and defeat these spoiler states by exerting bi-lateral pressure on the troublemakers. With several million dollars of annual foreign aid to use as leverage, the U.S. can be very persuasive. In addition, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton must drop his demands that the permanent five (P5) countries of the Security Council receive permanent membership on the council. Fighting for the right of nations with egregious human rights records – like Russia and China – undermines our credibility and isolates us in the UN, making it easier for rogue states to oppose us.


Updated January 5, 2006