UN Human Rights Council
As part of the recent reform process in the UN system, the Commission on Human Rights ended its six-decade history at the conclusion of its 62nd session on 27 March 2006. On 15 March 2006, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 60/251 (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) 
by which it created a new Human Rights Council to replace the Commission on Human Rights.
The Human Rights Council met for the first time on 19 June 2006, and completed its first year of life with the adoption of an ‘institution-building package’ (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) on 18 June 2007.
© LWF/E. Bares |
The UN Human Rights Council, which meets in Geneva for a total of 10 weeks each year, is the leading international human rights forum. It consists of 47 states, each elected for three year terms. Other states, as well as international organizations, national human rights institutions and NGOs, can participate in the Human Rights Council’s sessions as observers.
The Human Rights Council has inherited from its predecessor – the Commission on Human Rights – an extensive system of Special Procedures (such as special rapporteurs, special representatives, independent experts and working groups) established to monitor and promote implementation of human rights, covering a range of country situations and thematic issues.
An important new role to be undertaken by the Human Rights Council is that of ‘universal periodic review’, whereby every UN member state will periodically be examined by the Human Rights Council with regard to its human rights record.
Latest Developments
The 8th session of the Human Rights Council will take place in Geneva on 2-18 June 2008.
The third session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group will take place in Geneva on 1-12 December 2008, and will examine Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Colombia, Israel, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan.
N.B. Deadline for submissions 14 July 2008
(If you are interested in contributing to an LWF submission to the Universal Periodic Review on one of the above countries, please write to pnp@lutheranworld.org.)
A Special Session of the Human Rights Council on the world food crisis was held on 22 May 2008, and adopted a resolution.
The 7th session of the Human Rights Council took place on 3-28 March 2008.
