The United Nations Human Rights Council : establishment and first steps : notes and comments

Human rights play a major role internationally and in the United Nations system. In the Preamble to the United Nations Charter member states undertake '... to reaffirm the faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small ...'. However, a seachange has taken place in 2006 with the United Nations establishing the Human Rights Council (hereafter the Council), which takes over the reins from the Commission on Human Rights (hereafter the Commission). The Commission had recently been plagued with problems. This note will set out the reasons why a new approach was needed and show the first steps that the Commission has taken during its initial two sessions in 2006. However, the first thing to look at is why a new, and some hope improved, system of human rights monitoring within the United Nations was needed in the first place.