Challenges and opportunities for the Human Rights Council in 2015

by Ambassador Joachim Ruecker, President of the Human Rights Council Blog BORRAR, HRC BORRAR, Human Rights Council BORRAR, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Human rights institutions and mechanisms BORRAR

The work of the Human Rights Council is definitely underestimated. This point immediately struck me when I was elected President of the Council for the year 2015, and international and German media representatives approached me for interviews. “Isn’t the Council a tiger without teeth?” “What can the Council achieve without being able to impose sanctions like the Security Council?” “Looking …

URG launches global media analysis of HRC visibility and relevance

by the URG team Blog BORRAR, HRC BORRAR, Human rights institutions and mechanisms

To mark Human Rights Day 2014, the Universal Rights Group has commissioned a global media survey analysing the quantity and content of coverage of the Human Rights Council. Such an analysis of media interest in and opinions on the Council and its mechanisms is a useful means of understanding how the body is seen beyond the cantonal boundaries of Geneva, …

The 2015 Human Rights Council

by Marc Limon & Toby Lamarque Blog BORRAR, HRC BORRAR, Human Rights Council membership, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Human rights institutions and mechanisms BORRAR

On October 21st the UN General Assembly held its annual election for seats on the Human Rights Council. A total of fifteen seats were available across the UN’s five regional groups, with the candidates and results shown in the table below (those elected in bold). The new members will start their three-year terms on 1st January 2015. In the African …

Human Rights Council President, Bureau and Member States must respect the role and rights of NGOs

by Phil Lynch, Director of the International Service for Human Rights Blog BORRAR, Civil society BORRAR, Contemporary and emerging human rights issues BORRAR, HRC BORRAR, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Thematic human rights issues

The right, and indeed the responsibility, of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to critique governments, expose and pursue accountability for human rights violations, and advocate for changes in law, policy and practice should be uncontroversial and uncontested. This is particularly the case at the UN Human Rights Council, the world’s apex body for human rights debate and dialogue, the mandate of which …

Living up to our own standards?

by H.E. Ambassador Hanns Heinrich Schumacher, Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany Blog BORRAR, HRC BORRAR, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Human rights institutions and mechanisms BORRAR

The United Nations Human Rights Council emerged in response to the failures of the former Commission on Human Rights to effectively implement the rich normative framework of human rights standards that most members of the international community have committed themselves to. Our human rights architecture in 2014 appears to be both solid and comprehensive: The Universal Declaration on Human Rights …

LDC-SIDS Trust Fund is key to promoting universalism

by Subhas Gujadhur Blog BORRAR, HRC BORRAR, Human rights institutions and mechanisms

On 27th March 2014, H.E. Ambassador Omar Hilale Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations delivered a cross regional statement on the operationalisation of Human Rights Council resolution 19/26 on ‘The Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund to support the participation of Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States in the work of the Human Rights …

URG welcomes cross-regional statement on strengthening effectiveness of Human Rights Council resolutions

by the URG team Blog BORRAR, Contemporary and emerging human rights issues BORRAR, HRC BORRAR, Human rights institutions and mechanisms

Improving the effectiveness of Human Rights Council resolutions is one of the Universal Rights Group’s current projects, and in that regard we are pleased to have contributed, through our empirical and qualitative research, policy dialogues, and side events with delegations from all regions and political groups, to the delivery of the following consensus based cross-regional statement led by Norway and …

Building the ‘Cooperative Council’: Recalling the Universal Spirit of 1946-48

by Professor Susan Waltz Blog BORRAR, HRC BORRAR, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Human rights institutions and mechanisms BORRAR

Many observers are expecting the 25th session of the Human Rights Council, which opened this week, to be a particularly bumpy ride. The combination of latent ill-feeling leftover from the General Assembly’s 2013 decision to only partially accept the Council’s annual report, significant changes to the Council’s composition, and the presence of a number of difficult and sensitive issues on …

General Assembly

The Emerging Struggle over the Council’s Prerogatives

by Marc Limon & Toby Lamarque Blog BORRAR, HRC BORRAR, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Human rights institutions and mechanisms BORRAR, UNGA borrar

It seemed innocuous enough. In December last year, the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee adopted a short resolution taking note, as per normal practice, of the annual report of the Human Rights Council, but deferring consideration of one particular Council resolution ‘in order to allow time for further consultations thereon’. This additional wording, which was subsequently endorsed by the General …