The democracies are outnumbered, on the defensive, and, apart from the isolated exception of last week’s Burma session, losing badly.īut even if one supports the council and the adoption of the package, by introducing only a few brief amendments the GA has a chance to say no to some terrible wrongs: The backsliding of the past year has no precedent.
How much actually works in this new era of a council that is almost entirely dominated by the agenda of repressive regimes is questionable. Some will say that nothing should be done that might jeopardize the mechanisms of the council that work. If the GA properly approves it, the legal defect may be cured. Now it all goes before the General Assembly. (To try your luck, enter the contest by posting a comment below.) If you can identify any point at which the council legally adopted the June 2007 draft institution-building package - purporting to establish the council’s rules of procedure, governing agenda, country and thematic investigatory mandates, and the much bally-hooed universal periodic review mechanism - I will buy you dinner at one of Geneva’s finest restaurants. It’s an eye-opener into the dark side of diplomacy that sometimes lurks behind international law and its institutions.Īnd now, a contest. If you want to know how it was all conceived, see the compelling new timeline (with photos!) released today for the first time by UN Watch: How the Human Rights Council Was Born. No one’s talking about it, but soon - perhaps in early November - the UN General Assembly will be asked to approve the new configuration of the UN Human Rights Council.