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[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 714 Introduced in House (IH)]

109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 714

 Urging the replacement of the United Nations Human Rights Commission 
                    with a new Human Rights Council.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 8, 2006

 Ms. Harris submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
 Urging the replacement of the United Nations Human Rights Commission 
                    with a new Human Rights Council.

Whereas the United Nations Human Rights Commission (referred to in this 
        Resolution as the ``UNHRC'') has lost its credibility as an instrument 
        for the promotion and protection of human rights and has instead allowed 
        repressive regimes to shield themselves from criticism for their human 
        rights violations;
Whereas the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has 
        acknowledged that ``the Commission's declining credibility has cast a 
        shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system'';
Whereas the primary deficiency of the UNHRC is directly related to its 
        membership, as many members have serious deficiencies concerning 
        commitments to democracy and human rights, according to the Country 
        Reports of Human Rights Practices of the Department of State;
Whereas the lack of membership criteria of the UNHRC hinders efforts to filter 
        out from membership countries with poor human rights records;
Whereas the UNHRC spends a disproportionate amount of time vilifying Israel but 
        fails to direct such sustained criticism at countries engaged in the 
        systematic abuse of human rights;
Whereas 30 percent of all country-specific resolutions of the UNHRC critical of 
        human rights have been directed at Israel, but none against China, 
        Syria, or Zimbabwe;
Whereas the UNHRC has consistently failed to take decisive action against Member 
        States implicated in severe violations of human rights, as evidenced by 
        the fact that the UNHRC held a special sitting to criticize Israel 
        regarding the death of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, yet the UNHRC 
        has only ever held five special emergency sessions in its history, with 
        the last special session in 2000, about Israel, and the UNHRC has never 
        held a special session on Sudan despite the millions of deaths in that 
        country over the past two decades;
Whereas the UNHRC meets for only six weeks each year, providing insufficient 
        time to review and take action against countries with the most flagrant 
        human rights violations;
Whereas Israel has been consistently discriminated against by being denied full 
        participatory rights in regional group meetings associated with the 
        operation of the UNHRC, while non-members of the United Nations, such as 
        the Holy See and the Palestinian observer, participate in these 
        meetings;
Whereas the overwhelming failures of the UNHRC led to an international consensus 
        that it must be abolished and replaced with a new Human Rights Council; 
        and
Whereas efforts by the United States and other committed democracies to carry 
        out the mandate of the United Nations Summit Outcome Document to create 
        a new and credible Human Rights Council have been strongly opposed by 
        human rights abusers: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the House of Representatives is strongly committed to 
        the creation of a new Human Rights Council to replace the 
        discredited Untied Nations Human Rights Commission, and the 
        proposal for such Council should include assures regarding the 
        integrity of its membership and provisions for a forceful 
        mandate for action;
            (2) the House of Representatives urges the President to use 
        the present opportunity that has been granted by the 
        international recognition of the need to replace the current 
        UNHRC with a new Human Rights Council and to refrain from 
        supporting any proposal for such a Council that would result in 
        either only cosmetic changes or changes that would even further 
        degrade the membership or mandate of the current UNHRC;
            (3) the House of Representatives urges the President and 
        the government of other Member States of the United Nations to 
        continue with negotiations for the creation of a Human Rights 
        Council that is a credible human rights institution; and
            (4) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that an 
        acceptable proposal for a Human Rights Council should--
                    (A) establish criteria for membership that would 
                serve to exclude those countries that are the worst 
                human rights abusers, and such criteria should include 
                the automatic exclusion of Member States that are 
                subject to United Nations Security Council sanctions;
                    (B) include a provision allowing full 
                participations by Israel in all operations associated 
                with the Human Rights Council;
                    (C) set a size limit that is consistent with the 
                goal of ensuring that only countries that respect human 
                rights are members of the Human Rights Council or other 
                primary human rights body of the United Nations;
                    (D) establish a human rights review requirement 
                that is tied to a mandatory outcome and takes place 
                prior to elections for membership;
                    (E) exclude any provision that prevents the 
                consecutive election of countries to the Human Rights 
                Council; and
                    (F) utilize a formula for the distribution of 
                membership among United Nations Member States that 
                respect human rights, while also giving consideration 
                to geographical distribution, the representation of 
                different forms of civilization, and the principle 
                legal systems.
                                 <all>
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