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UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (UNHRC)

December 10, 2024

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (UNHRC)

The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide.

Functions and Roles

  • Protection of human rights: Enforcing international norms to protect human rights and ending impunity for violations.
  • Forum for dialogue: Serves as a forum for states to discuss human rights issues with stakeholder input. The Council may issue resolutions or create mechanisms to investigate or monitor concerns.
  • Universal Periodic Review: Manages a review process through which each UN Member State’s human rights record is assessed.
  • Addressing violations: Promotes human rights assistance, reviews state records, prevents abuses, responds to emergencies, and serves as a forum for human rights dialogue.
  • Education and protection: Provides a platform to address human rights challenges, acting as the focal point for research, education, information, and advocacy.
  • Special Procedures: These are universal knowledge sources on human rights themes and country-specific conditions, aiding in understanding human rights law.

 

Recent developments

  • Resolution on Russia: The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. India abstained, choosing “peace and an immediate end to violence.”
  • India abstains: India abstained from a vote at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where a resolution sought to set up an international commission to investigate Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
  • US returns: Recently, the United States announced it would rejoin the United Nations Human Rights Council, which it left in 2018.
  • India re-elected: India was re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council for a sixth term (2022-24) with an overwhelming majority.
  • India abstains: India also abstained on an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution concerning the safety of four nuclear power plants and nuclear waste sites in Ukraine, including Chernobyl, because the Russians had taken control of them.  ​​

 

Significance of Human Rights

  1. Global reach: UNHRC has a broad mandate to address human rights cases worldwide, enabling civil society members to voice concerns about local human rights issues.
    • For example: Between 2006 and 2015, country-specific reports submitted by special procedures increased by 104%, and the number of governments issuing standing invitations to independent experts almost doubled to 114.
  2. Source of knowledge: UNHRC’s Special Procedures serve as a universal knowledge source on human rights themes and country-specific conditions, improving the understanding of human rights law.
    • For example: In 2012, UNHRC adopted a resolution to protect free speech on the internet—the UN’s first resolution of its kind.
    • Recent example: In 2021, UNHRC members adopted a resolution recognizing the human right to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
  3. Motivate nation-level dialogue: The Universal Periodic Review encourages dialogues on human rights within nations, mandating that every UN member state regularly examines human rights.
    • For example: A 2020 resolution highlighted the need for UN support in national resilience, promoting dialogue and cooperation to prevent violations and respond to human rights emergencies.
  4. Condemning violations: UNHRC resolutions have recently condemned various human rights violations, even against the opposition of some HRC members.
    • For example: During the Arab Spring, the HRC unanimously suspended Libya’s membership. More recently, the Council barred Syria from seeking a seat due to human rights violations and launched an investigation.
  5. Issue-based coalitions: Increasingly, countries worldwide are collaborating to advance human rights, beyond historical and regional differences.
  6. Controversial subject areas: The HRC has tackled issues like LGBTQ rights and religious discrimination.
    • For example: South Africa’s acknowledgment of LGBTQ rights faced opposition from neighboring countries but was supported by distant countries like Brazil, Colombia, and the United States.
  7. Role of special rapporteurs: UNHRC’s Special Rapporteurs have initiated actions on issues like torture in Jordan, protecting journalists in Cambodia, decriminalizing blasphemy in the UK, and reducing prison sentences in China.
    • For example: Special rapporteurs on Iran highlighted serious human rights concerns, citing high execution rates, constraints on the judiciary, violations of due process, and systemic discrimination against women and religious minorities.

 

Issues and Challenges

  1. Institutional
  • Related to Membership: The Council’s membership includes countries often perceived as human rights violators.
  • For example: China, Cuba, Eritrea, Russia, and Venezuela have all been accused of human rights abuses. ​​
  • Recent example: China was appointed to a seat on a Consultative group of the UNHRC, holding the position until March 2021.
  • Lack of effectiveness: The UNHRC sometimes prioritizes certain projects over common concerns, failing to implement its decisions and recommendations.
  • For example: Detention of political opposition in Cuba and destruction of civil society in Venezuela have not been questioned in UNHRC. Similarly, the HRC’s stance on Libya and Syria has been insufficient.
  • Confusion between OHCHR and HRC and their mandates: The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is often confused with the HRC, although they have separate mandates and functions.
    • For example: OHCHR is a distinct institution that presents independent reports, such as the recent report on Kashmir.
  • Flaws in election process: In some cases, countries run unopposed after regional groups nominate the exact number needed for Council vacancies, limiting choice.
    • For example: In 2018, all five regional group members ran unopposed, and in 2019, two regional groups had unopposed elections.
  • Ineffectiveness of UPR: The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) has been criticized for accepting government statements at face value, even when those governments are perceived human rights abusers.
  1. General Issues
  • Definition of Human Rights: Tension exists between Western countries advocating for individual political and civic rights and developing nations emphasizing socio-economic and cultural rights.
  • Intrusion into state sovereignty: It is challenging for UNHCR to promote human rights without interfering with state sovereignty, causing recommendations to be discarded.
  • Disproportionate Focus: The US withdrew from the UNHRC in 2018 due to perceived focus on Israel, which has received the most critical council resolutions.
    • For example: Israel received more scrutiny than authoritarian countries like North Korea and Yemen.
  • Manipulation of forum: Some countries use the forum to justify state-sponsored human rights violations, citing family and religious values.
    • For example: In 2013, the UN Human Rights Office reportedly handed names of Chinese activists to Beijing, allowing surveillance of dissidents.
  • Reprisals against Human Rights defenders: NGO representatives often face harassment from repressive delegations during Council sessions.
  • Increasing influence of authoritarian governments: Some governments push new interpretations of human rights, challenging the concept of universal and indivisible rights.
    • For example: China actively works to shape global human rights norms and institutions.

 

Way Forward

  • More emphasis on general issues needed: Efforts should focus on broader issues rather than some country-specific resolutions might be better invested in other ways. More attention should be given to addressing visibly deteriorating human rights situations before they become chronic or crises. 
  • Focus on thematic issues: It is important that HRC formulates necessary regulation on themes such as biotechnology, administration of justice, healthcare, and artificial intelligence, which have significant human rights implications.
  • Ensuring effectiveness: It is important that the members and observers invest greater effort in connecting HRC work with other parts of the UN system and implementing it at the national level.
  • Less politicized and more practical exchanges: The HRC’s momentous resolution on combating intolerance based on religion gave rise to the Istanbul Process, which embodies this approach and serves as a model for addressing similarly challenging issues.
  • Visibility: For the UNHRC to increase the relevance of rights-holders, it is vital to work towards becoming more visible at the national level, with the consultation of national-level stakeholders.
  • Accessibility: The effectiveness of the UNHRC can be improved by enhancing accessibility to a broad range of actors, including victims, rights-holders, civil society, and human rights defenders.
  • Reforms needed: Experts have called for open ballots in Council elections to make countries publicly accountable for their votes. Some also suggested lowering the two-thirds votes threshold to make it easier to remove a Council member.

 

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