Citizens for Global Solutions

INTERNATIONAL LAW AND JUSTICE | CHR 2005 Meeting

2005 COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS MEETING UNLIKELY TO ADDRESS MOST SERIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR) recently released details about the 2005 annual meeting. Sadly, while it is widely agreed that the CHR is in desperate need of reform, the agenda and composition of the 2005 meeting indicate that this year’s meeting will not differ substantially from last year's. Click here to read Citizens for Global Solutions’ recent report on the Commission on Human Rights.

In 2005, the CHR will exhibit all of the structural problems that have plagued recent meetings. For instance, the CHR will again be composed of many countries that participate for the sole purpose of blocking any meaningful investigation of their own human rights abuses. Of the 53 states that make up the CHR in 2005, 28% are ranked “not free” by Freedom House and 30% are ranked as only “partially free.” The membership is a who’s who of countries that disregard human rights and abuse their own citizens. Click here to see an analysis of the composition of the CHR.

Members for 2005 include:

Sudan, which is responsible for orchestrating genocide against its own citizens in Darfur, a region in western Sudan;
China, where ordinary citizens have few rights, opposition parties are banned, and thousands of political prisoners languish in prison;
Nepal, where the democratically elected government was recently deposed by the King, who immediately rounded up political leaders and banned criticism of the government; and
Saudi Arabia, where women are treated as second class citizens, everyone is required by law to be Muslim, and there are no political parties or free press.

All told, only 40% of the members of the Commission on Human Rights respect human rights, according to Freedom House.

The 2005 CHR will have other problems as well. It will continue to meet for only six weeks out of the whole year, hardly enough time to address all of the pressing human rights problems that deserve the body's attention. Moreover, the CHR agenda still does not accurately address the global human rights situation. For example, the CHR agenda once again devotes an entire agenda item to colonialism but neglects to even mention Sudan or the ongoing genocide in Darfur, despite widespread agreement that the conflict there is the greatest humanitarian and human rights threat in the world today. Click here to learn more about the ongoing crisis in Darfur.

Once again, the CHR is headed towards a meeting at which little of substance will be achieved. The Commission has tremendous potential to bring international attention to the world's most egregious human rights abuses, but until the CHR adopts needed reforms, it will remain an ineffective institution.

Updated February 15, 2005

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