Human Rights Council Begins Second Year with Agreement on Universal Periodic Review, Other Reforms

New York, 21 June 2007 – The UN Human Rights Council has entered its second year of operation, having managed on Monday, the last day of its first year, to agree on the package of institution-building measures that had been deliberated in working groups all year. The agreement established details for implementing the procedural and architectural mechanisms set up by the General Assembly in its March 2006 resolution founding the Council.

Developments this week:

11-18 June During the Council’s Fifth Session, President Luis Alfonso de Alba convened intensive negotiation meetings. His own “institution-building text” served as the working paper for negotiations. At least four versions were produced and deliberated. De Alba had instructed the Council to agree by consensus to his proposed package and ruled out negotiating over individual measures.

Monday, 18 June On Monday, the last day of the session, agreement had not yet been reached. A particular obstacle was China’s position that a two-thirds majority should be required to take action on country-specific resolutions, which are regarded by many countries as “singling out” a member for criticism. The two-thirds majority represents a more difficult threshold to meet than the approximately one third or “broadest possible support ... preferably 15 members” that was in the President’s text. (The Council has 47 members.) In response to China’s position, European Union members threatened to withdraw from the Council, which would have made its overall fate uncertain.

11:59 pm, Monday, 18 June After 14 hours of negotiation, China agreed to the President’s text one minute before the midnight deadline on Monday night. China’s change of position reportedly was the result of the Foreign Ministries of fourteen member states contacting the Chinese government in Beijing to stress the importance of agreement. One cost of China’s agreement, according to government sources, was that the mandates of the Special Rapporteurs on Belarus and Cuba would be terminated. The other Special Rapporteurs were maintained (including Burma, Congo, Haiti, North Korea, Somalia, and Sudan). The text was accepted by consensus “in principle” only; a formal decision-making meeting of the entire Council was set for Tuesday afternoon (19 June).

12:00 am, Tuesday, 19 June In the meantime, the Council’s second year began at midnight on 19 June, and the new members officially took office. The new Council President – Ambassador Doru Romulus Costea of Romania – also took office. Reportedly Costea had been selected informally during a prior session of the Council.

Tuesday afternoon, 19 June Tuesday was the organizational session of the new members of the Council, but it was spent largely on completing the previous night’s work. President Costea decided to hold a vote, because some negotiating was still taking place despite the agreement the night before. The President’s final proposal was approved 46-1. Canada cast the opposing vote reportedly because of the termination of the Belarus and Cuba mandates, and because the Council’s agenda included a permanent item on human rights in the Palestinian territories, which does not exist for any other specific region or country.

Also on Tuesday, the Council elected its vice-presidents for the year. There are four vice-presidents of the Council. Each vice-president represents a regional group not represented by the Presidency. For the Asian Group, Dayan Jayatilleka of Sri Lanka was elected. Uruguay has the vice-presidency for the Latin American and Caribbean Group, Djibouti for the African Group, and the Netherlands for the Western and Other States group.

On Friday, 22 June, the Council will meet to discuss further organizational matters for the next session.

A detailed review of the final text (including comparison to the working groups’ final reports) will be the subject of an upcoming ReformtheUN.org Latest Development.

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