This week, the Human Rights Council’s Secretariat launched a new and improved website, which offers a ‘new look & feel and improved navigation’. But the truth is there is much more than meets the eye. The new features offered by the Council’s new portal represent an effort towards bringing the Council closer to its stakeholders and people on the ground; therefore, it contributes to enhancing this body’s visibility, transparency, and accountability.
As a recent study of global media trends, conducted by the Universal Rights Group shows, the Council and the wider human rights pillar have to-date built a relatively low public profile, both in absolute terms and compared with other major UN bodies (e.g. the Security Council, the WHO).
Moreover, at a point in time when universal human rights values appear to be under threat in many parts of the world and when the ability of the UN to respond to these threats is at times being openly questioned, it is absolutely vital that the UN – and particularly the Council – effectively communicates its relevance and impact within the international human rights system.
The relevance of the universal norms (e.g. the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights and the Covenants) and the Council’s mechanisms set up to promote and protect those rights, namely, the UN human rights impact and effectiveness has to be constantly underlined, both to close followers of the Council and the people on the ground who ultimately benefit from its efforts and output.
Moreover, it is essential that people on the ground are armed with the necessary information they need to hold their governments to account against the commitments they make, and actions they take – including at the Council and within its mechanisms, be it accepted UPR recommendations, resolutions supported, or reporting to Special Procedures or Treaty Bodies. The media can play a key role in providing that information, but OHCHR and the HRC Secretariat also need to take proactive steps to translate universal human rights norms into local realities. The new Council’s website is a step in the right direction.
This latest development by the Council’s Secretariat follows the initiative of H.E. Ambassador Joachim Rücker, the ninth President of the Council’s efficiency drive in 2015 and delivers – in part – on his PRST on ‘enhancing the efficiency of the Human Rights Council’ at the 29th session of the Council, where he called on OHCHR to develop, manage, and support a ‘more distinguishable, accessible, and user-friendly webpage for the Human Rights Council, its mechanisms and procedures, including a user-friendly extranet, with features such as technical alert functions.’
With the revamped Council’s website, the body is seizing the opportunity to improve its communications and transparency, and is thus actively taking steps to improve its effectiveness and impact on the ground.
Perhaps the main achievement of this new platform is displaying information in a clearer and more organised way. In addition to giving its users a more ‘enjoyable’ experience, this feature allows for better communication of what the Council’s purpose, structure, and working methods are. In fact, a highlight of the new website is the ease with which people can now find a summary of the Council’s history and key documents of the Council.
Another relevant change is the introduction of a tab called ‘HRC Bodies’, under which users can find all the information pertaining the Council’s subsidiary bodies. Thus, the Council’s structure and various mechanisms – before by many considered highly difficult to understand – is now simply summarised and accessible – just a click on the new website’s main menu is enough to access all the relevant information on the Institution-Building Package’s bodies (UPR, Advisory Committee, and the Complaint Procedure); the subsidiary expert mechanism, with its thematic forums; the open-ended intergovernmental working groups, including inter alia, on the right to development, the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action; and the Special Procedures.
Especially important for enhancing the accountability of the Council, is the new page containing, not only information on current and former members – also available on the previous website – but also a link to the – previously hard to access – General Assembly’s portal containing all relevant data on all the Council’s elections that have taken place. It is expected that greater transparency in the selection process of the members of the Board will contribute to making it more in line with the requirements set forth in the GA resolution 60/251.
These are just a number of many new improvements, but the website provides a lot of new features that provide more clarity to the functioning of the Council and further the understanding for people on the ground on what the Council is and how it works. Thus, this new website can be seen as an important step by OHCHR in the efforts to close the gap between Geneva and the rest of the world.
Explore the new Human Rights Council website
Feature photo: © 2018 United Nations Human Rights Council.
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