Council for a Community of Democracies

Civil Society Groups, Parliamentarians Comment on New Human Rights Council in Letter To President of the United Nations General Assembly

3 November 2005

Over forty diverse civil society groups and parliamentarians joined to write the President of the United Nationals General Assembly regarding the proposed UN Human Rights Council. The letter can be found here. The letter called for the following "essential points" to be included in the resolution creating the Human Rights Council:

Status: The HRC should be elevated to principal organ status within five years and should have transitional status as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly in the meantime.
Mandate: The HRC should address any matters relating to the protection and promotion of all human rights in any country, including specific situations of gross, systematic, continuing or urgent violations. The HRC should be empowered to make recommendations and report on all such matters to member states and bodies within the United Nations system, including to the Security Council and the General Assembly.
Composition: At a minimum, states seeking election to the Human Rights Council must
commit to abide by the highest standards of human rights and to cooperate fully with the HRC and its mechanisms, and should put forward a platform that describes what they seek to accomplish during their term of membership.
Elections and Voting: Members of the HRC should be elected by an individual and direct vote of two-thirds of the General Assembly. Regional groups should be required to put forward more candidates than the number of seats allocated to their region. When voting, member states should give due regard to the positive contribution which the member state seeking election has made to the protection and promotion of human rights, as well as to the pledges it makes.
Working Methods: The HRC should be a standing body which meets regularly throughout the year and is able to respond in a timely fashion to any matters involving the protection and promotion of human rights. Meetings of the HRC in addition to the regular sessions could be called by one-third of HRC members, the HRC chair, the Secretary-General, or the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Special Procedures: The system of special procedures should be transferred to the HRC with enhanced coherence and support, as well as greater participation in HRC meetings.
NGO Participation: The HRC should ensure a level of participation by NGOs at least as high as that at the Commission on Human Rights by retaining the existing rules and practices for participation by NGOs.