Membership and the UN Human Rights Council

Established in March 2006 by General Assembly Resolution 60/251 to replace the discredited Commission on Human Rights, the Human Rights Council carries the heavy burden of restoring credibility to the United Nations’ principal human rights institution. This article examines one aspect of this restoration process - the Council’s specific membership provisions. Beginning with a detailed synopsis of the downfall of the Commission this article aims to answer whether the provisions included at the Council’s creation are rigorous enough to prevent criticisms of its membership similar to those which effectively crippled its predecessor. Through analysis of the structure and rules enacted at the Council’s creation, pre-election provisions and election process it will be seen that the current provisions have thus far yielded only moderate success. This article concludes with a series of suggestions for how the current membership framework could be improved for the underlying intention of GA 60/251 to be fulfilled.