Reconceiving the UN human rights regime: challenges confronting the new UN Human Rights Council

What can really be learned from the mistakes of the previous UN Commission on Human Rights

By: Alston P
Published by: Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) [New York University Law School] , 2006
Via: Eldis

In 2006, the UN Commission on Human Rights, established 60 years earlier, was replaced by a new Human Rights Council. This working paper contends that three recent debates about the new Council have failed to identify or address the more important factors in the Commission’s loss of credibility. It examines these in turn and seeks to draw lessons relevant to the new institutional regime which the Council must build.

The first topic of debate was over the membership of the new Council, with some member states argued that human rights violators should be excluded. The paper examines the various positions put forward by member states and non-government organisations, and then outlines the structure and outcomes of the new system for nominating and electing members to the Council. The paper concludes that the composition of the new Council will be largely similar to that of the old body, and that many of the challenges faced by the old Commission remain.
Secondly, detailed consideration is given to the potential strengths and pitfalls involved in establishing a system of universal periodic review of the human rights performance of every state, and of the need to learn from the dismal failure of a very similar exercise undertaken by the Commission between 1956 and 1981.