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[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 387 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 387

    Recognizing the need to replace the United Nations Human Rights 
              Commission with a new Human Rights Council.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 2, 2006

Mr. Coleman (for himself, Mr. Smith, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Coburn, and Mr. 
  Kyl) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
    Recognizing the need to replace the United Nations Human Rights 
              Commission with a new Human Rights Council.

Whereas the United Nations Human Rights Commission (hereinafter ``UNHRC'') has 
        lost its credibility as an instrument for the promotion or protection of 
        human rights, instead allowing repressive regimes to shield themselves 
        from criticism for their human rights violations;
Whereas Secretary-General Kofi Annan has also 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 Human Rights Commission is directly 
        related to its membership, where 6 of the 53 current members, namely 
        China, Cuba, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe, are listed as 
        the worst human-rights abusers by Freedom House, and many other members 
        have serious deficiencies concerning commitments to democracy and human 
        rights according to the Department of State Country Reports on Human 
        Rights Practices;
Whereas the lack of membership criteria of the UNHRC, particularly when combined 
        with the relatively large membership of 53 countries, hinders efforts to 
        filter out countries with poor human rights records from membership;
Whereas the UNHRC spends a disproportionate amount of time vilifying Israel, its 
        primary target for criticism, but fails to direct such sustained 
        criticism at states engaged in the systematic abuse of human rights, 
        with 30 percent of all country-specific resolutions critical of human 
        rights records over the history of the UNHRC have been directed at 
        Israel alone, while there has never been a single such resolution on 
        China, Syria, or Zimbabwe;
Whereas the UNHRC has consistently failed to take decisive action against member 
        states implicated in the massive violation of human rights, which is 
        evidenced by the fact that the UNHRC has never held a special emergency 
        session on Sudan despite millions of deaths over 2 decades in Sudan, but 
        the UNHRC has held a special sitting to criticize Israel on the death of 
        Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas;
Whereas the UNHRC only meets for 6 weeks each year, providing the UNHRC with 
        insufficient time to review and take action against the most flagrant 
        human rights violators;
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-United Nations members such as the 
        Holy See (WEOG) 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 the United Nations Summit Outcome Document, signed by all United 
        Nations member states in September 2005, stated that ``Pursuant to our 
        commitment to further strengthen the United Nations human rights 
        machinery, we resolve to create a Human Rights Council. The Council will 
        be responsible for promoting universal respect for the protection of all 
        human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of 
        any kind and in a fair and equal manner. The Council should address 
        situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic 
        violations and make recommendations thereon. It should also promote 
        effective coordination and the mainstreaming of human rights within the 
        United Nations system.''; and
Whereas efforts by the United States and other committed democracies to carry 
        out the mandate of the Summit Document to create a new credible Human 
        Rights Council have been strongly opposed by human rights abusers at the 
        United Nations: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the United States remains strongly committed to the 
        creation of a new Human Rights Council to replace the 
        discredited United Nations Human Rights Commission (hereinafter 
        ``UNHRC''), and the proposal for such a Council should work to 
        assure the integrity of its membership as well as provide a 
        strong mandate for action;
            (2) the Senate urges the President to use the present 
        opportunity that has been generated by the international 
        recognition of the need to replace the current UNHRC, and to 
        refrain from supporting any proposal for a Human Rights Council 
        that would result either in only cosmetic changes or changes 
        that would even further degrade the membership and mandate of 
        the current UNHRC;
            (3) the Senate urges the President and the governments of 
        other member countries 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 Senate that an acceptable 
        proposal for a credible Human Rights Council would--
                    (A) establish criteria for membership that would 
                serve to exclude the worst human rights abusers, and 
                such criteria would include, but should not be limited 
                to, the automatic exclusion of member countries that 
                are subject to Security Council sanctions;
                    (B) include a provision allowing full participation 
                by Israel in all operations associated with the 
                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 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 member countries to the 
                Council; and
                    (F) utilize a formula for the distribution of 
                membership among United Nations member countries that 
                gives priority to countries that respect human rights, 
                while also giving consideration to geographical 
                distribution, the representation of different forms of 
                civilization, and the principal legal systems.
                                 <all>
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