The United Nations Human Rights Council (‘the Council’) was created through a decision taken by heads of states and governments during the 2005 World Summit, and codified in the outcome document thereof, General Assembly (GA) resolution 60/1. This decision was put into effect through the adoption of GA resolution 60/251 later that year, which formally established the Council’s mandate. Both …
Combatting global religious intolerance: the implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 16/18
It is almost impossible to turn on the news today without witnessing scenes of hatred, violence and intolerance perpetrated in the name of religion or belief. The march of ISIL across Syria and Iraq, with associated reports of gross and systematic violations of human rights, may be an extreme example of such hatred, but it comes against a background of …
History of the United Nations Special Procedures Mechanism: Origins, Evolution and Reform
The United Nations’ independent human rights experts – otherwise known as ‘Special Procedures’ – are considered by many to be, in the words of then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the ‘crown jewel’ of the international human rights system. From their first appearance in 1967, when the United Nations Commission on Human Rights established an Ad Hoc Working Group to inquire into the …
Glion human rights dialogue: reflections on the future of the UN human rights pillar
On 4th September, the Governments of Norway and Switzerland, together with the Universal Rights Group, presented a report on ‘Reflections on the future of the UN human rights pillar’ containing ideas and proposals generated during the 2014 Glion Human Rights Dialogue (held in May 2014). The report looks ahead to the 10th anniversary of the Human Rights Council and offers …
The Outcome of the General Assembly’s Treaty Body Strengthening Process: An Important Milestone on a Longer Journey
In February 2012, the General Assembly initiated an ‘intergovernmental’ review process aimed at strengthening the UN human rights Treaty Body system. This state-led process concluded on 9th April 2014, with the General Assembly’s adoption of resolution 68/268 on ‘strengthening and enhancing the effective functioning of the human rights treaty body system’. If correctly implemented by all relevant stakeholders, this resolution …
Special Procedures: Determinants of Influence
This report on the United Nations system of independent human rights experts is the result of a year-long project led by Marc Limon of the Universal Rights Group and Ted Piccone of the Brookings Institution. It reflects primary and secondary research, two policy dialogues (in Geneva and in New York) and nearly fifty interviews with key policymakers, including United Nations …