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[Senate Report 110-137]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                       Calendar No. 287
110th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session                                                    110-137
======================================================================
 
                    THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL FUNDING
                           REFORM ACT OF 2007

                                _______
                                

                 July 25, 2007.--Ordered to be printed

          Mr. Biden, from the Committee on Foreign Relations,
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 1698]

    The Committee on Foreign Relations, having had under 
consideration the bill (S. 1698) to provide that no funds 
appropriated or otherwise made available by any Act for 
contributions for international organizations may be made 
available to support the United Nations Human Rights Council, 
reports favorably thereon with an amendment and recommends that 
the bill, as amended, do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page

  I. Purpose..........................................................1
 II. Legislative History and Committee Action.........................1
III. Discussion.......................................................1
 IV. Cost Estimate....................................................3
  V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................4
 VI. Changes in Existing Law..........................................4

                               I. PURPOSE

    This legislation would prohibit the United States from 
funding the UN Human Rights Council unless the President of the 
United States certifies that it is in the national interest to 
fund the Council, or the United States becomes a member of the 
Council.

              II. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY AND COMMITTEE ACTION

    S. 1698 was introduced by Senator Coleman on June 26, 2007. 
On June 27, 2007, the committee ordered the bill reported 
favorably by voice vote, after approving one amendment 
sponsored by Senators Biden and Lugar.

                            III. DISCUSSION

    In fall 2005, during the UN General Assembly, member states 
endorsed the creation of a Human Rights Council to replace the 
Commission on Human Rights. The Commission had become widely 
criticized, particularly due to the fact that many human rights 
abusers had been elected to the body over a period of several 
years.
    In March 2006, the General Assembly passed a resolution to 
establish the Council, outlining its framework and laying the 
foundation for its procedures. With the intent of making more 
difficult the possibility of human rights abusers being elected 
to the Council, and increasing the ability of the Council to 
address human rights abuses globally, the resolution increased 
the Council's number of meetings annually, reduced the number 
of Council seats from 53 to 47 and established a ``universal 
periodic review'': a procedure by which members of the Council 
will assess one another's fulfillment of their human rights 
obligations and commitments.
    During its first year of work, the Council focused on both 
procedural and substantive issues, holding five regular 
sessions and four special sessions. During the regular 
sessions, members of the Council established the majority of 
its working methods, and addressed thematic issues such as 
country reports on Cuba, Belarus, Cambodia, Haiti, and Somalia. 
However, three of the four special sessions focused on Israeli 
human rights abuses in the Occupied Arab Territories and in 
Lebanon. (Under the procedural rules of the Council, a special 
session may be called by a vote of 16 members.) In addition, 
during the first year, 75 percent of country-specific 
resolutions passed by the Council condemned Israel for human 
rights abuses, while no other country was directly condemned by 
the Council.
    The committee is concerned by this disproportionate 
attention to Israel. So, too, are some UN member states, as 
well as international human rights organizations, who have 
concluded that the Council has unfairly targeted Israel, while 
not paying adequate attention to human rights abuses in other 
parts of the world. Additionally, during its Fifth regular 
session in June 2007, the Council decided to terminate the 
mandates for the special rapporteurs to Cuba and Belarus, a 
decision which has also been criticized by human rights 
organizations and some member states. Finally, although the 
Council has adopted some measures to reform its election 
process, human rights abusers such as Cuba, Saudi Arabia, 
Angola, and Russia were elected as members during the last 
round, held in May 2007.
    The Bush administration has decided twice not to seek a 
seat on the Council, stating that the Council has ``not proved 
itself to be a credible body.'' The United States attends the 
Council, continues to work in its capacity as an observer with 
other like-minded countries, and funds the Council through its 
contribution to the United Nations' regular budget. 
Nonetheless, the committee believes that legislation in 
response to the poor performance of the Council to date is in 
order.
    S. 1698, as introduced by Senator Coleman, is designed to 
prohibit the United States from contributing to the UN Human 
Rights Council. An amendment offered by Senators Biden and 
Lugar, and adopted by voice vote, limits the prohibition on 
funding to fiscal years 2008 and 2009, and provides a waiver to 
the prohibition if the President certifies that funding the 
Council is in the national interest, or if the United States 
becomes a member of the Council.
    Funding for the Council comes from the U.S. contribution to 
the United Nations' regular budget, which will be an estimated 
$1.5 billion in 2008 and 2009. Because there is no specific 
line item for the U.S. contribution to the Human Rights 
Council, S. 1698 would effectively withhold an amount 
equivalent to the U.S. contribution to the Council, 
approximately $3 million, from its payment to the UN regular 
budget.

                           IV. COST ESTIMATE

    In accordance with Rule XXVI, paragraph 11(a) of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the committee provides this 
estimate of the costs of this legislation prepared by the 
Congressional Budget Office.

                            United States Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                     Washington, DC, July 16, 2007.

Hon. Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.

    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1698, The Human 
Rights Council Funding Reform Act of 2007.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Sunita 
D'Monte.
          Sincerely,
                                           Peter R. Orszag.

                                ------                                

               Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate

                                                     July 16, 2007.

                                S. 1698

          The Human Rights Council Funding Reform Act of 2007

  AS ORDERED REPORTED BY THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS ON 
                             JUNE 27, 2007

    S. 1698 would prohibit the United States from making any 
contributions to the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) 
in fiscal years 2008 or 2009 unless the United States becomes a 
member of the organization or the President certifies that such 
contributions are in the national interest. The council was 
formed in 2006 and the United States is not currently a member.
    Based on information from the Department of State, CBO 
estimates that, under current law, U.S. contributions to the 
HRC will be about $1.5 million a year for 2008 and 2009. 
Therefore, unless the United States joins the HRC or the 
President certifies that withholding the contribution would be 
contrary to the national interest, implementing the bill would 
reduce U.S. contributions to the HRC by a total of $3 million. 
Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or receipts.
    S. 1698 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal 
governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Sunita D'Monte. 
This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy 
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

                   V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

    Pursuant to Rule XXVI, paragraph 11(b) of the Standing 
Rules of the Senate, the committee has determined that there is 
no regulatory impact as a result of this legislation.

                      VI. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of Rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by this bill.

                                  
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