IV 

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 


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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 


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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 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) the House of Representatives is strongly 

3 committed to the creation of a new Human Rights 

4 Council to replace the discredited Untied Nations 

5 Human Rights Commission, and the proposal for 

6 such Council should include assures regarding the 

7 integrity of its membership and provisions for a 

8 forceful mandate for action; 

9 (2) the House of Representatives urges the 

10 President to use the present opportunity that has 

11 been granted by the international recognition of the 

12 need to replace the current UNHRC with a new 

13 Human Rights Council and to refrain from sup14 porting any proposal for such a Council that would 

15 result in either only cosmetic changes or changes 

16 that would even further degrade the membership or 

17 mandate of the current UNHRC; 


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1 (3) the House of Representatives urges the 

2 President and the government of other Member 

3 States of the United Nations to continue with nego4 tiations for the creation of a Human Rights Council 

5 that is a credible human rights institution; and 

6 (4) it is the sense of the House of Representa7 tives that an acceptable proposal for a Human 

8 Rights Council should— 

9 (A) establish criteria for membership that 

10 would serve to exclude those countries that are 

11 the worst human rights abusers, and such cri12 teria should include the automatic exclusion of 

13 Member States that are subject to United Na14 tions Security Council sanctions; 

15 (B) include a provision allowing full par16 ticipations by Israel in all operations associated 

17 with the Human Rights Council; 

18 (C) set a size limit that is consistent with 

19 the goal of ensuring that only countries that re20 spect human rights are members of the Human 

21 Rights Council or other primary human rights 

22 body of the United Nations; 

23 (D) establish a human rights review re24 quirement that is tied to a mandatory outcome 


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1 and takes place prior to elections for member2 ship; 

3 (E) exclude any provision that prevents the 

4 consecutive election of countries to the Human 

5 Rights Council; and 

6 (F) utilize a formula for the distribution of 

7 membership among United Nations Member 

8 States that respect human rights, while also 

9 giving consideration to geographical distribu10 tion, the representation of different forms of 

11 civilization, and the principle legal systems. 

Æ 


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