The Human Rights Council
How the UN's primary human rights body works, why it replaced the discredited Human Rights Commission, and the ongoing debate over its effectiveness and membership.
From Commission to Council
The UN Commission on Human Rights, established in 1946, played a historic role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But by the early 2000s, it had become a symbol of UN dysfunction. Countries with egregious human rights records like Libya, Sudan, and Zimbabwe won seats and used them to block scrutiny of their own abuses while attacking geopolitical rivals. The Commission's credibility collapsed when Libya was elected chair in 2003.
In 2006, the General Assembly replaced the Commission with the Human Rights Council, intended to be more credible and effective. The Council has 47 members elected by the General Assembly for three-year terms, with regional distribution requirements. Members are supposed to uphold the highest standards of human rights, and the General Assembly can suspend members by a two-thirds vote, as it did with Russia in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine.