COLONMUN 2008

Human Rights Council

COMMITTEE

On 15 March 2006 the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to replace the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights with the UN Human Rights Council. Its purpose is to
address human rights violations. The UNCHR had repeatedly been criticized for the composition
of its membership. In particular, several of its member countries themselves had dubious human
rights records, including states whose representatives had been elected to chair the
commission.

There are now seven UN-linked human rights treaty bodies, including the Human Rights
Committee and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Secretariat
services are provided regarding six of those (excluding the latter) by the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights.

The United Nations and its various agencies are central in upholding and implementing the
principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A case in point is support by
the UN for countries in transition to democracy. Technical assistance in providing free and fair
elections, improving judicial structures, drafting constitutions, training human rights officials, and
transforming armed movements into political parties have contributed significantly to
democratization worldwide. The UN has helped run elections in countries with little democratic
history, including recently in Afghanistan and East Timor.

The UN is also a forum to support the right of women to participate fully in the political,
economic, and social life of their countries. The UN contributes to raising consciousness of the
concept of human rights through its covenants and its attention to specific abuses through its
General Assembly or Security Council resolutions or ICJ rulings.

Early 2006, an anti-torture panel at the United Nations recommended the closure of
Guantanamo and criticized alleged U.S. use of secret prisons and suspected delivery of
prisoners to foreign countries for questioning. Some Democrats and human rights groups
argued that the CIA’s secret prison system did not allow monitoring for abuses and they hoped
that it would be shut down.

The Human Rights Committee is a group of 18 experts that meets three times a year to consider
the five-yearly reports submitted by United Nations member states on their compliance with the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

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