Wednesday, August 9

  Movement in the Human Rights Council

by WFUNA on Wed 09 Aug 2006 11:29 AM EDT

Written by: Teel Lidow

The new Human Rights Council is already finding itself in the thick of things.  After less than two months of existence (the inaugural session of the council was held on the 19^th of June) the HRC is now faced with two major issues: rights of indigenous peoples and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.  Two days ago, the Council affirmed the declaration of rights of indigenous peoples with only Russia and Canada voting against the resolution.  This marks a major step forward for the indigenous peoples’ rights movement in the United Nations, which has been pressing for such a declaration for the last twenty years.  The resolution, newly bolstered by the support of the Council, will move to the GA for approval later this year.

The Council will also be convening to discuss the current crisis in Lebanon in the coming days.  While it is uncertain whether action will be taken (it seems probable since the Council recently admonished Israel for its actions against Palestinians in Gaza), this movement within the council is proving the effectiveness of the new Human Rights structure: the special session was called under the new guidelines, which require only a third of the member states to endorse a special session request (16 states of the 47 backed a request made by Tunisia on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference).  The difficulty of calling such sessions was one of the criticisms levied against the old Human Rights Commission.

Any action taken by the Council on the issue of Israel should be interesting to watch: while the international community has generally looked down upon the “disproportionate” Israeli use of force in the conflict, any action taken on behalf of the Council will be politically contentious.  This is mainly because the United States, which has already objected to the constitution of the new Council, recently reacted to the Council’s focus on and criticism of Israel by threatening to cut Human Rights related funding to the UN.  Any further action relating to Israel may bolster the movement in the US senate to make good on this threat.  The Council will meet on the issue later this week.