Action Urged to Create a Worthy Human Rights Council

2 March 2006

Following the announcement by the UN General Assembly President of further consultations on the draft resolution to create a new Human Rights Council, we urge all Member States -- especially democracies -- to speak out for critical improvements to the current draft. Specifically, Member States should ask President Jan Eliasson for three key changes:

1. Restore Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Two-Thirds Threshold
The Annan Plan of March 2005 required candidates for Council seats to pass a two-thirds threshold of General Assembly votes. As a result, one-third of General Assembly members could block unqualified countries. If coherently applied, this rule would allow democratic States to keep off the Council notorious human rights offenders such as Sudan. Regrettably, the existing draft fails to redress what Mr. Annan and many others recognize as the greatest flaw of the current Commission: its membership. We recognize that the text's proposed requirement of an absolute majority for election to the Council is an improvement over the existing situation, whereby full control lies in the hands of the regional groups. Yet when the General Assembly was recently asked to condemn Sudan for human rights crimes, no more than 79 out of 191 countries were willing to go on record opposing the Khartoum regime - and the resolution failed. If the General Assembly cannot muster a majority to cite Sudan for violations, it is difficult to expect a majority to suddenly support full exclusion. In addition, regional groups should be required to submit more candidates than allotted seats, to ensure that nominations are actually put to a vote instead of the result of horse-trading -- a process that has yielded election of the worst regimes.

2. Remove the Anti-NGO Clause in Operational Paragraph 11. If adopted, this clause would place non-governmental organizations under the constant threat of restrictions on their ability to speak out freely at the Council for human rights victims. In veiled language, the clause insists on "ensuring the most effective contribution" of NGOs and other observer entities. In the context of the relentless attempts by certain Member States to curb NGO participation, this provision is intended as a sword to be wielded against the historic right of NGOs to attend, observe and actively participate in all proceedings and debates of the new Human Rights Council, including by submission of oral and written statements. In recent years, several NGOs, including Reporters Sans Frontières and the Transnational Radical Party, were threatened with suspension by member states seeking to censor NGO criticism of their human rights records.

3. Remove the Blasphemy Clause from the Preamble's Paragraph 7. The clause that answers the demand of 56 Islamic States to prohibit blasphemous defamation of prophets and religions, following the cartoon controversy and the anti-Denmark riots, is anomalous, contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and has no place in the charter for a new human rights body. Although watered down, the provision introduced in the current text would impose special demands on the media to respect religion. Contrary to previous UN statements on the matter, the text omits any balancing language in favor of freedom of speech or freedom of the press. Several other UN mechanisms are dealing with this issue and there is no reason for its inclusion in this text. The clause is an attempt to appease the violent agitators who burned buildings and killed innocent people with a grant of international legitimacy.

Finally, we call on the Community of Democracies, an alliance founded in 2000 with over 100 nations, and its Democracy Caucus at the UN, to take its rightful place in leading the push for the needed reforms. Democracies must stand up and unite -- putting aside regional and other alliances -- to make a lasting contribution to human rights and the UN. Failing to do so would result in a failure not only for the UN, but for the world's democracies as well.


Hillel Neuer
Executive Director
UN Watch

Matteo Mecacci
UN Representative
Transnational Radical Party

Marino Busdachin
General Secretary
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO)

Martin Lessenthin
Speaker of the Executive Board
International Society for Human Rights

Richard C. Rowson
President
Council for a Community of Democracies

Tom Johannesen
Secretary General
International Federation of Socialist Workers

Djingarey Maiga Diarra
Executive Secretary
Femmes et Droits Humains

Virginia S. Muelle
Representative
International Federation of Women Lawyers

Patrick Gaubert
President
International League Against Racism & Anti-Semitism

Alison Brown
Secretary General
International Alliance of Women

Dr. Corann Okorodudu
UN Representative
American Psychological Association

Lex Grandia
President
World Federation of the DeafBlind

Francisco Simon
President
The National Organization of Disabled People in Romania

Ivan Vesely
Chairman
Dzeno Association

François Garaï
Representative in Geneva
World Union for Progressive Judaism

Yasutomo Sawahata
Representative in Geneva
Rissho Kosei-kai

Zudije Sej Shehu
Executive Director
Civil Rights Program Kosovo

Sascha Gabizon
Director
Women in Europe for a Common Future

Rama Enav
Representative to the UN in Geneva
Women’s International Zionist Organization

Feci Damaso
Liaison Officer, Geneva
INTERSOS

Vo Van Ai
President
Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam

Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi
Balkan Affairs Adviser
Albanian American Civic League

Daniela Colombo
President
The Italian Association for Women in Development

Giap Tran
Treasurer
Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation

Kok Ksor
President
Montagnard Foundation Inc.

Marieke van Doorn
Policy Officer International Relations
Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

Vanida Thepsouvanh
President
Lao Movement for Human Rights

Paul Usi Elomien
Secretary-General
Community Social Welfare Foundation

Maria Grazia Caputo
General Director
International Volunteerism Organization for Women Education and Development

Yolanda L. Jackson
International Liaison
Women's Sports Foundation

Robert Triozzi
Chief
Fire Rescue Development Program

Panayote Dimitras
Spokesperson
Greek Helsinki Monitor

Nafsika Papanikolatos
Spokesperson
Minority Rights Group - Greece

Arnel G. Alcober
General Secretary
Justice, Peace and Integrity

Pilar Checa Relvas-Tavares
Vice-President
Fundación "8 de Marzo"

Susan Dayton
President
Worldwide Organization for Women

Milan Nic
Program Director
Pontis Foundation

Jose Mathew
Executive Director
Don Bosco Ahaylam

Edward Carraway
Vice President
National Disability Party

Linda Misek-Falkoff
Director
Persons with Pain International

Frank Weston
President
International Multiracial Shared Cultural Organization

Iñaki Isasi
Executive President
Union of Foresters of Southern Europe

Corrann Okorodudu
UN Representative
American Psychological Association

Gloria Landy
Main NGO Representative
World Council of Conservative/Masorti Synagogues

Source: UN Watch