I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2376 

To withhold United States funding from the United Nations Human Rights 

Council. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 12, 2009 

Mr. STEARNS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To withhold United States funding from the United Nations 

Human Rights Council. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) The United Nations Human Rights Council 

6 fails to adequately reform the United Nations Com7 mission on Human Rights, thus preventing the 

8 Council from becoming an effective monitor of 

9 human rights throughout the world. 


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1 (2) The United Nations Commission on Human 

2 Rights was created in 1946 to monitor and prevent 

3 the abuse of human rights throughout the world. It 

4 failed miserably to uphold even the most basic ideals 

5 enumerated in the United Nations Charter and the 

6 Universal Declaration on Human Rights. It lost its 

7 credibility as an instrument for the promotion and 

8 protection of human rights and instead allowed re9 pressive regimes to shield themselves from criticism 

10 for their human rights violations. 

11 (3) The membership of the United Nations 

12 Commission on Human Rights constituted some of 

13 the worst abusers of human rights in the world, in14 cluding the tyrannies of Cuba, Sudan, Libya, 

15 Belarus, the People’s Republic of China, and 

16 Zimbabwe. 

17 (4) The United Nations Commission on Human 

18 Rights failed to act or speak out against numerous 

19 cases of egregious human rights abuses, including 

20 the countless atrocities committed by communist re21 gimes, the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, and the on22 going genocide in Darfur caused by the Government 

23 of Sudan. 

24 (5) The United Nations Commission on Human 

25 Rights failed to condemn countries that sponsor terVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:02 May 14, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2376.IH H2376

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1 rorism (a glaring affront to human rights), including 

2 Iran, Syria, and North Korea. 

3 (6) The United Nations Commission on Human 

4 Rights had repeatedly vilified Israel, the only democ5 racy in the Middle East, while overlooking horrific 

6 human rights abuses throughout the Middle East. A 

7 recent study found that 30 percent of all country8 specific resolutions of the Commission critical of 

9 human rights have been directed at Israel, but none 

10 against persistent violators like China, Myanmar, 

11 Syria, or Zimbabwe. 

12 (7) Former United Nations Secretary General 

13 Kofi Annan repeatedly emphasized that meaningful 

14 reform of the United Nations Commission on 

15 Human Rights is a key element for making the 

16 United Nations more accountable, effective, and effi17 cient, and that ‘‘the Commission’s declining credi18 bility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the 

19 United Nations system’’. 

20 (8) The creation of the United Nations Human 

21 Rights Council on March 15, 2006, failed to address 

22 the serious shortcomings of the United Nations 

23 Commission on Human Rights and fell far short of 

24 creating the small standing body composed of appro25 priate countries that was initially envisioned by 


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1 Former Secretary General Annan, in his March 

2 2005 report, ‘‘In Larger Freedom: Towards Devel3 opment, Security and Human Rights For All’’. 

4 (9) The United Nations Human Rights Council 

5 succeeds only in making superficial changes to the 

6 structure of the United Nations Commission on 

7 Human Rights, masquerading motion as reform and 

8 placebo as treatment. 

9 (10) The United Nations Human Rights Coun10 cil does not embody the recommended institutional 

11 reforms necessary to advance human rights. 

12 (11) The United Nations Human Rights Coun13 cil cannot monitor cases of human rights abuse 

14 throughout the world, nor even prevent egregious 

15 human rights violators from being elected to the 

16 council itself. The only supposed protection—that a 

17 country can be suspended if two-thirds of the mem18 bers of the General Assembly agree to do so—is use19 less, since less than half of the General Assembly 

20 could agree that Sudan was guilty of any human 

21 rights violations. 

22 (12) The United Nations Human Rights Coun23 cil only reduces the number of seats on the council 

24 to 47 from 53, which is not enough to make the 

25 Council more efficient or more effective. 


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1 (13) The United Nations Human Rights Coun2 cil also retains geographical quotas that will only en3 sure that human rights abusers will continue to have 

4 access to membership on the council. Indeed, Israel, 

5 a constant target of United Nations ire, had been 

6 discriminated against by being denied full 

7 participatory rights in regional group meetings asso8 ciated with the operation of the United Nations 

9 Human Rights Commission, while nonmembers of 

10 the United Nations, such as the Holy See and the 

11 Palestinian observer, participated in such meetings. 

12 The geographic quota system ensures a majority of 

13 membership slots for the world’s least democratic re14 gions. 

15 (14) The United States, while voting against 

16 the resolution creating the United Nations Human 

17 Rights Council, was unable to ensure that the Coun18 cil would be structured to best promote and protect 

19 human rights around the globe. 

20 (15) If the United States, working with other 

21 like-minded countries, is not able to adequately re22 form the corrupt United Nations Human Rights 

23 Council, then the chances for the United States and 

24 other like-minded countries to effect the broader 

25 changes to the United Nations that are desired and 


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1 needed to make the institution more effective are 

2 much reduced. 

3 (16) The first group of Member States elected 

4 to the new United Nations Human Rights Council 

5 includes nine countries that the democracy watchdog 

6 Freedom House designates as ‘‘not free’’, including 

7 the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, 

8 Russia, Pakistan, Tunisia, Algeria, Cameroon, and 

9 Azerbaijan. 

10 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

11 It is the sense of Congress that— 

12 (1) the United Nations Human Rights Coun13 cil— 

14 (A) should be a body that upholds the 

15 ideals enumerated in the United Nations Char16 ter and the Universal Declaration on Human 

17 Rights; 

18 (B) should allow full participation by Israel 

19 in all operations associated with the Council; 

20 and 

21 (C) should be made up of countries that 

22 hold regular, competitive, and democratic elec23 tions, allow for freedom of expression, and have 

24 a credible civil society; and 


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1 (2) the United States should not support the 

2 United Nations Human Rights Council, and should 

3 withhold any financial support for the Council until 

4 meaningful reforms related to the responsibilities of 

5 the United Nations for the protection of human 

6 rights are carried out. 

7 SEC. 3. WITHHOLDING FUNDING FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 

8 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall with10 hold from a United States contribution to a regularly as11 sessed biennial budget of the United Nations an amount 

12 that is equal to the percentage of such contribution that 

13 the Secretary determines would be allocated by the United 

14 Nations to support the United Nations Human Rights 

15 Council. 

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take ef17 fect and apply beginning on October 1, 2009, with respect 

18 to annual dues paid by the United States to the United 

19 Nations each fiscal year in connection with United States 

20 contributions to the regularly assessed biennial budgets of 

21 the United Nations. 

Æ 


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