It’s Beyond Time to Reform the U.N. Human Rights Council

Not even the world’s most repressive regimes are excluded. Here’s what needs to be done.

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Venezuela. Sudan. Libya. Qatar. Democratic Republic of the Congo. What do they all have in common? Other than shoddy human rights records and authoritarian governments, they are all members of the Human Rights Council (HRC), vested with the power and authority of the United Nations to examine, judge, and, if necessary, condemn the human rights records of other governments. Within weeks, both the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation will almost certainly be elected to join them.

Farcical? Of course. And the United States has voted with its feet, withdrawing in 2018. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, however, has pledged to rejoin the council with no preconditions. That’s a mistake, but if the right reforms are adopted, even the Trump administration could find its way back.

The cause of human rights at the U.N. has a checkered history. The Commission on Human Rights—the body that the current council replaced—was so discredited that then Secretary-General Kofi Annan complained that it “cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole.” But the sins of the commission were largely replicated in the new, marginally smaller council.

The HRC subjects Israel to special human rights scrutiny with its own “agenda item,” a perennial country specific issue that places the Jewish state on the docket at every meeting. The rest of the world is examined in another “agenda item.” Israel was the focus of 90 of 210 condemnatory resolutions adopted by the HRC from 2006 through August 2020.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Phil H

    The only benefit of the US being a part of any UN agency is to curb excessive behavior on the part of the third world dictators that dominate those agencies. The only reason for the US to be in the UN itself is its veto on the Security Council.

    But a new international organization needs to be setup. There have been proposals to setup such a group, limited to nations that are democracies and that respect human rights. That will take a visionary leader in the US and in places like the UK and other nations.

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  2. Token Liberal

    Good luck! You're going to need it! The HRC has been an Orwellian joke for a long time.

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    DougAz

    I was giving you the benefit of the doubt as your integrity and credibility. And your points are good, but weakened by your complete lack of any mention of the tolerance for American "inhuman rights" - We buy from China gleefully - yet... yet.. we cry about Tibet. Worse - we have human right violations right here at home - nada

    But - the World Health Organization - another Conservative whine and attempt to deflect. The WHO and the world all had the same starting information on COVID-19. The US had, up until Trump a first row seat IN CHINA - with expert US CDC virologists but - Trump removed them.

    So no - you can slander the WHO - but you are just wanting to not look at the truth on COVID.

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  4. Jordan Williamson

    Should those with a “citizen of the world” mindset be the first to try and ensure these institutions are not laughably corrupt??

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  5. Connor Fiddler

    Great piece! It's important that the United States protects international norms like human rights. Maintaining legitimacy on these issues increases our soft power, which is crucial to combating China, Russia, Iran

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  6. Avatar photo
    The Bell Tower

    Is there a more effective example of Jonah’s point about the absurdity of consensus across a community of bad actors?

    Does the UN really need a human rights council? It seems to me if even the definition of human rights is clay in the hands of abusers, the existence of any such council is counterproductive.

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    Victor Clairmont

    I agree with the statements in the article to a degree. The UN is corrupt and has turned into a mockery of a league used for the benefit of dictators. If it can’t reform, pull out and make something new. If America goes, and with it our military power, other nations will see if for the toothless tiger it has become.

    And even if it wasn’t toothless, do we really want to be in something that China and Russia holds so much away over?

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    1. Avatar photo
      Phil H

      The only reason to be in the UN is the veto power of the US on the Security Council. that is too valuable to throw away. Otherwise, I agree with you.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Bill Nelson

    I do not believe there is any incentive for reform of the HRC or any part of the UN. And I expect none to occur. Is there anyone, either inside or outside, the HRC who truly believes that this group has any function? The very structure of the UN affords oppressive regimes the same legitimacy as free nations.

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