The final session

The CHR provided crucial support for the struggles against apartheid; for the protection of victims of the Latin American dictatorships; and has for many years has provided the “front line troops” to bring to light, or protect from, some horrific abuses. Through the active participation of NGOs, very rare in international forums, victims of abuse were able to bring governments to the court of world opinion, and even on occasions victims were able to confront their abusers.

But as it moved from being the body setting the norms for governmental behaviour, to one which monitored observance of these norms, membership of the CHR became attractive to countries which had little regard for the norms, as membership provided a way of deflecting criticism.

An organisation made up entirely of representatives of governments is always going to be political. Indeed through much of its life, the CHR was an intensely political forum for the Western and Eastern blocs to fight the Cold War. But since the end of the Cold War, the “selectivity, double standards, and politicisation” of debate at the CHR has been intense, and has masked the positive work, supported by the overwhelming majority of nations, that has gone on quietly in the background.

The new Human Rights Council - consisting of 47 nations to be elected from the General Assembly on May 9 this year, and meeting for the first time on June 19 - will be as effective as it is allowed to be by nations of the world. Over the coming weeks before the elections and the first meetings, NGOs will be meeting to push for the best possible start for the council, and to ensure that the positives are taken forward, and the negatives left behind.

It is a shame that the Australian Government has decided not to seek membership of the first Human Rights Council - it’s indicative of how far human rights and international development has slipped down the national agenda, and also a reaction to the increasing international criticism of some of Australia’s domestic policies, to which the Federal Government is a lot more sensitive than they pretend.

But Australia has committed itself to working with the new council, and this extract from Australia’s joint statement with Canada and New Zealand earlier this month expresses the challenge clearly:

To make a success of the Council will require a conscious commitment to bringing practical improvements to the lives of people far removed from the Council’s location in Geneva. Together we must cultivate a new culture. One which is inclusive, operationally focused and in which there is no place for double standards. The Human Rights Council will be effective if it retains the respect of UN member states and civil society, adopts an equitable and robust program of work, involves the active participation of all UN members and if it has the authority to ensure its voice is heard and listened to by human rights violators. It will be effective if its voice gives hope to those whose rights have been violated.

The chairperson of the final session of the CHR said in his concluding statement:

The Commission will close its doors with a historic record that is on the whole positive from the stand point of human rights and international human rights law … The Human Rights Council will open its doors on 19 June. We hope it will be more effective and legitimate than the Commission … The Council has one intrinsic value in that its creation has been decided by an overwhelming majority of wills. As was the case with the Universal Declaration in 1948. The difference being that then there were 48 States of the United Nations, and now there are 192.

The world is a much more complex place, and memories of universal horror are fading for some. The new Human Rights Council provides an opportunity for a renewed commitment to the old standards, for application in a more complex world, and for situations that were not envisaged when the Universal Declaration was adopted. It will therefore be a much contested organisation, but one for which today there was a lot of sincere hopes expressed.