Features
The Human Rights Council. A Butterfly or a Caterpillar in Lipstick?
by CURE
By Irene Martinetti
On March 15th 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nations approved, 170 to 4 votes against (US, Israel, Marshall Islands and Palau) and 3 abstentions (Belarus, Iran and Venezuela), the draft resolution A/60/L.48 creating the Human Rights Council. The newly born Council, which is meeting in Geneva on June 19th, is being constituted to replace the Human Rights Commission. Will the Human Rights Council achieve the hard objective of “mainstreaming” human rights? Or will it simply be a slightly improved copy of the politicized Commission? The article analyses strengths and weaknesses of UN's new organism for the promotion of human rights.