Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 2004  [on the report of the Third Committee (A/59/503/Add.1)]  59/181. Equitable geographical distribution in the membership of  the human rights treaty bodies        The General Assembly,    Recalling its resolution 56/146 of 19 December 2001,    Reaffirming the importance of the goal of universal ratification of the United  Nations human rights instruments,    Welcoming the significant increase in the number of ratifications of United Nations  human rights instruments, which has especially contributed to their universality,    Reiterating the importance of the effective functioning of treaty bodies  established pursuant to United Nations human rights instruments for the full and  effective implementation of those instruments,    Recalling that, with regard to the election of the members of the human rights  treaty bodies, the Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly have  recognized the importance of giving consideration in their membership to equitable  geographical distribution, gender balance and representation of the principal legal  systems and of bearing in mind that the members shall be elected and shall serve in  their personal capacity, and shall be of high moral character, acknowledged  impartiality and recognized competence in the field of human rights,    Reaffirming the significance of national and regional particularities and  various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as of different  political, economic and legal systems,    Recognizing that the United Nations pursues multilingualism as a means of  promoting, protecting and preserving diversity of languages and cultures globally  and that genuine multilingualism promotes unity in diversity and international  understanding,    Recalling that the Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly have  encouraged States parties to United Nations human rights treaties, individually and  through meetings of States parties, to consider how to give better effect, inter alia, to the  principle of equitable geographical distribution in the membership of treaty bodies,    Expressing concern at the regional imbalance in the current composition of the  membership of some of the human rights treaty bodies,   A/RES/59/181  2    Noting in particular that the status quo tends to be particularly detrimental to  the election of experts from some regional groups,    Convinced that the goal of equitable geographical distribution in the  membership of human rights treaty bodies is perfectly compatible and can be fully  realized and achieved in harmony with the need to ensure gender balance and the  representation of the principal legal systems in those bodies and the high moral  character, acknowledged impartiality and recognized competence in the field of  human rights of their members,    1.  Encourages the States parties to the United Nations human rights  instruments to adopt concrete actions, inter alia, the possible establishment of quota  distribution systems by geographical region for the election of the members of the  treaty bodies, thereby ensuring the paramount objective of equitable geographical  distribution in the membership of those human rights bodies;    2.  Calls upon the States parties to the United Nations human rights  instruments to include, as an agenda item at their forthcoming meetings, a debate on  ways and means to ensure equitable geographical distribution in the membership of  the human rights treaty bodies, based on the recommendations of the Commission  on Human Rights and the Economic and Social Council and the provisions of the  present resolution;    3.  Recommends, when considering the possible establishment of a quota by  region for the election of the membership of each treaty body, the introduction of  flexible procedures that encompass the following criteria:    (a)  Each of the five regional groups established by the General Assembly  must be assigned a quota of the membership of each treaty body in equivalent  proportion to the number of States parties to the instrument that it represents;    (b)  There must be provision for periodic revisions that reflect the relative  changes in the geographical distribution of States parties;    (c)  Automatic periodic revisions should be envisaged in order to avoid  amending the text of the instrument when the quotas are revised;    4.  Stresses that the process needed to achieve the goal of equitable  geographical distribution in the membership of human rights treaty bodies can  contribute to raising awareness of the importance of gender balance, the  representation of the principal legal systems and the principle that the members of  the treaty bodies shall be elected and shall serve in their personal capacity, and shall  be of high moral character, acknowledged impartiality and recognized competence  in the field of human rights;    5.  Requests the chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies to consider at  their next meeting the content of the present resolution and to submit, through the  United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, specific recommendations  for the achievement of the goal of equitable geographical distribution in the  membership of the human rights treaty bodies;    6.  Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to  submit concrete recommendations on the implementation of the present resolution  to the General Assembly at its sixtieth session;    7.  Decides to continue its consideration of this question at its sixtieth  session under the sub-item entitled “Implementation of human rights instruments”.